It's the triathlon's fault.
So I fell off the wagon. Not as hard as it may look from posting history - I fell harder off the blogging wagon than I did the running wagon. But I have fallen.
I still run. I do. But somehow, it's not the same. Remember how I started out as a "runner"", and then finally graduated to being a runner? Well, now it's like I'm the person formerly known as a runner. I started running on March 15, 2004. 2004! That means five years later, I'm still reaping the benefits of the journey I started. Reading over my old entries (you should try it - it's pretty amusing if I do say so myself), I can see the love I once had for it. But somehow, somewhere along the way, it's become much more of a chore.
I think it was gaining some of the weight back that made it harder. I stopped running for a bit, and spent the time eating cookies instead. (I never have gone back to real Coke, I've replaced it with the much healthier Diet Coke. Hey - it's caffeine free Diet Coke!) Then, when I started again, there was more of me to haul around, I couldn't run as far, and it just seemed - impossible - to get back to where I was. Plus, there was the hills. Hills just aren't as friendly as they used to be.
Actually, maybe that's not it. I know when it happened. It was training for the triathlon that did me in. I got really burnt out, and have never really recovered. The fact that the triathlon was almost three years ago is not relevant, right? Three years isn't long enough to recover from burnout, it takes much longer than that. Right?
Oh, no, it was actually before that. It was the plantar fasciitis. Sometime in the past (maybe in 2006? 2007?), I developed a problem with my heel. I think it was due to some poorly fitting shoes - curing me of buying shoes from people who know not of which they speak. It persists to this day - sometimes more, sometimes less. So when the spirit moves me, and I run more than a couple of times in a week - I can be sure that my heel will start hurting again.
Or maybe I'm just making excuses. And I should stop. Fat, burnt out, broken down... does it really matter? Running is good for me, and makes me happy. I should run more. I really should.
3 Comments:
2010 - 2004 = 6 years, not five. =)
I just had a chat with a ~34 yo friend of mine about perceiving bodily harm more as you get older. I have in my head that my knees react more to cycling than I used to, but when I thought back to that first trip that I started in Halifax, on the third (long!) day, my knees were hurting somethin' fierce.
Now I'd be all worried about that, but for no good reason.
Someone "did a study" with older folks, making them live a youthful sixties lifestyle again for a few weeks, and physical signs of aging – like hunched backs and pain levels – dissipated, apparently basically from perceived youth and possibly activity levels.
The body is meant to live a long, healthy time. People run 'til they're 70..or 80. The more I think about it, the more I think it's all in my head.
I think much of the reasons for not exercising are in people's heads. I don't get it though - you think we'd be hardwired to seek out exercise, not avoid it.
I don't think that's true – we're hardwired to collect food and possibly to play in a savannah. The exercise is implicit, not explicit.
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