Reboot

OK, it's been a really long time since I posted. I actually signed in to delete the blog since I've been so inactive, but then I reread my entries and I really liked what I'd written and the photos I'd included. So I'm back.


The biggest reason it's been so long since I've posted is that I was pretty seriously injured last fall into the winter. I struggled for about a year with pain and numbness in my right foot and when I was nearing the end of my marathon training for an October race last year, it got so bad I basically couldn't run. I ended up bailing on the marathon (though did take a leg in a relay for the race so it wasn't a total loss) and feeling really, really discouraged and burned out on running.


Then about a month after the marathon (relay), I got an e-newsletter from a local running shop. They were looking for volunteers to mentor a team of new runners in a Couch to 5K program. I signed up thinking it would keep me running in the cold weather (short distances, anyway) and hoping it would re-inspire my love of running. It did both of those things! I got out 2-3 times a week with the group and they were amazing. Everyone was super nice and committed and really receptive to my encouragement and advice. It was so great to think about someone else's running instead of my own! - and feel like I was helping these people reach a goal. (My trainer says I was "changing lives." I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it did feel good.) The group completed its first 5K in February and now many of them are training with a 10K group I'm mentoring. Truly incredible.

As a side benefit, though, the people who own the store that sponsors the training programs really know shoes. And they helped me figure out that the problem with my foot was that I was wearing the wrong shoes...in the wrong size. And had been for YEARS. Basically my entire running career. No wonder I was in pain! I've been in my new shoes for about 3 months now and I am pain free. It is awesome! I'm still not running big distances (today I did 6 and that was my longest since October), but it's so refreshing to feel good and to feel like I want to run again.

I hope to post more regularly now. Until next time, I leave you with this photo taken on a run through the US Naval Academy. Whenever I run there, I am struck by how peaceful and beautiful it is. At least until some young mid goes sprinting past and leaves me in his dust.