Crossroads

When I ran my virtual half marathon a few weeks ago, I was hoping to run under three hours. My training had gone much better than the previous year's Twin Cities Marathon, so I thought I could do better than the 3:07 I ran there. 

Unfortunately, the last few long runs before the marathon my foot started acting up. At the marathon, it began to hurt at mile seven and by mile twenty-one I was ready to drop out of the race. You can read more about it on my race report.

Now, I'm getting tired of always being injured. I would say that I've joked before that running is just something I do between injuries, but it's not really a joke. Running is actually something I do between and during injuries.

So, after long consideration, I've decided to cut significantly back on my running. I'll use the extra time to work on strength and mobility as well as walking.

The hard part will be setting goals to stay motivated. Running fewer miles will most likely lead to slower race times, so I'll have to give some consideration as to how to structure my goals.

This decision-making process has given me conflicting feelings. Part of me feels optimistic and excited to be running without pain, but part of me feels disappointed that I'll most likely be running slower times. There is a remote chance that the extra strength and mobility work I'll be doing will make up for the reduction in running volume.

I'm interested to see how this goes. I know I won't enjoy it quite as much as running, but I will enjoy running injury-free (I hope).

Stay well.