Running in Place

I was running on the treadmill today and thinking about how I felt like my running progress was not coming. True, I was running for two days in a row for the first time since October of last year, but something about being on the treadmill panting at a pace that felt easy last fall gave me pause. I won't ask why I keep doing this because that is hardly the point. Not now, maybe not ever. I waited too long to get my left leg working and endured the broken foot, so asking why is not on the menu. Not now.

The pause was just an acknowledgement that when I got off the bike in October of last year and hit the dark streets in running shoes it was easy. The running flowed as if I hadn't just taken 2 years off. I wasn't fast, but I didn't struggle. Of course, the argument can be made that I was never fast, but this is really tough. I feel aches and pains in places I never felt them before and I wonder if I can get over the hump to where the running makes sense again.

The funny thing is that the cycling is coming back real fast. I have been out five or six times always with plans to take it easy and then I find myself hot on someone's wheel pushing 22-25 mph and I am doing it and it's OK. It is a far cry from the 30 mph pacelines of last summer, but it's still May. It isn't time to try that humbling experience yet anyway. A little here, a little there and it builds.

While I was writing this, I got an email from a running friend I have never run with. He lives in Fort Wayne, has clocked upwards of 50 marathons and is about my age. He was telling me about some older guys by him who are doing track workouts together. Track workouts? I can't even imagine. Not now, maybe not ever. I have no history of that. But then, he offered advice that I have given others, but that's always nice to hear. His words:


"I know what you're going through as I've started from scratch many times over the past 15 years. It's a really slow process and gets slower w[ith] every year we get older. Take it slow, Dan! "

You'll get no argument from me on that. I guess I am supposed to enjoy the process. I try to remind myself that complaining about running pain is much better than complaining that I can't run.

So this is a marker I will revisit in a month. With luck, I will be raving about how well the running is going. With lots of luck, I will still be talking about running.

Running in place has running in its name. Just need to keep it there.