The Journey Continues

"Make each day your masterpiece." ~ John Wooden

 I've decided to keep a b(log) this year, mainly for my running buddies.  I run 4 Fisher, who just turned 11 in December, and Cameron, my IR4 Siblings buddy, who will be having a birthday in just a couple more weeks!  These boys keep me motivated and give me the strength to carry on, on those days when I just don't feel very motivated to do much of anything.  I love my boys!

I'm also doing this in order to keep better track of where I'm at in my training, what works for me, and what doesn't.  And maybe it will inspire or assist someone else in their own running journey along the way.

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I've always been a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of runner.  I just wanted to get out there and run.  But in May of 2013, I found out I had some major muscular issues that were causing me to experience some pretty massive pain when I ran.  My physical therapist gave me some pretty horrific exercises to work on (several times a day) and I was told not to run.  AT ALL.  But that simply wasn't going to happen with me.  I MUST run.

So we got together and came up with a plan.  It was an awful, horrible, terrible very bad kind of plan, but through sheer grit and determination we pulled it off.  2014 was my year to run.  I ran a total of 26 races.  1,005.5 miles.  Marked both an Ultra and a Marathon off of my bucket list.  And I completely wore my muscles, joints and tendons to the screaming point.  There was pain.  Lots and lots of pain.  But I found out that the heart is truly stronger than the brain and that by sheer force of will, the impossible can become possible.  Somehow, during all that training, the muscles on my right side miraculously started improving, but there was still a lot of pain involved.

So I spent the month of December recovering from a marathon, by focusing almost completely on stretching and strength training, and letting my "running" muscles rest. 

Now I get to pay for pushing myself so hard last year, by starting over.  Slowly and deliberately.  I get to re-train my muscles.  And hopefully by the end of this year, I will be running pain free 100% of the time.

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Today, I did a 10 minute Pilates warm up, ran 3.11 with a 10'08" pace on a 2.0 incline on the treadmill, did some post run stretching, and did a couple of reps with the 5 lb weights.  And it's time to get ready for a one hour taekwondo class . . . so I'm off and running.  Again.