Alive and sort of well.

Artsy “I am ~le tired~” post bike ride photo

It’s been literally ages since I last wrote anything meaningful here (wait did I ever write anything meaningful here…?). That is not to say that nothing has been going on, more that way too much has been going on and I haven’t felt much like writing nor had time too.

I am the kind of person that I never make small changes over time. Instead I make one massive change at all once and then force myself to adapt to it. I did this in a big way recently when I moved out, changed jobs, transferred schools, joined the injury list, and started another sport. It took me a few weeks to adjust and it definitely wasn’t easy. There may have been a couple breakdowns where I thought I was putting too much on my plate, but I have come out on the other side a stronger and happier person. I really feel like in the last three months I am really started to grow into who I really am as lame and corny as that sounds.

Part of this coincided with my birthday in which I joined a new decade and a new age bracket (I am saddest about the age bracket). It was a little bittersweet since I was planning on a big race for my birthday to celebrate, but after being injured and only just hitting 20 mile weeks of running, that was not a possibility anymore. In fact I ended up working all day on my birthday but I made up for the crummy day by sandwiching it between two days of fun bike riding. So although I still wince a little when people ask for my age, there was no catastrophe and I can still lie and tell people I am only 24.

Since this is mainly to record my running adventures I guess I can update on that as well. Being injured sucks. Being injured for months really sucks. The amount of time that I missed out on can never be recouped, and neither can all the money I spent on race entries I didn’t get to use. What I did do, was to put all that anger and frustration and channel it into getting better. It is no lie that I have been covering up and getting by with lingering issues for awhile. This injury is almost certain to have been cause by overcompensation of major weaknesses in my entire right side. After doing some strength testing and power ratings, this was confirmed and I was completely sobered up to just how much work it was going to take to come back. This meant a lot of careful, easy running and work outs, and some physical therapy and strength work to even myself out. It has felt like a long and lonesome road, but if my last couple of work outs are anything to go by, the hard work is paying off.

Now you would think with my fitness returning I would be chomping at the bit to start racing again and I am, but I also want to be patient and come back as strong as possible. Short distance is in the cards for awhile and I am enjoying challenging myself in a completely new way. Also besides running, my biking skills are improving and every time I did I want to ride more and more. I am balancing both and I feel like so far they are complimenting each other well. It is strange to go for a 2+ hour ride instead of a 13+ mile run, but it is also much more enjoyable to be cycling in a group having a laugh than freezing on a long run in February. I never thought I would choose a bike ride over running, but it has happened several times.

So I really find myself at an odds with what to do with this blog. I used it to track my Chicago progress, and then was planning on using it for tracking my first ultra distance. I now find myself with a schedule of track meets and bike rides and I don’t know if that is interesting enough to even bother writing about. Track meets will be starting soon but my fitness will not peak until the season is almost over. Do I just keep a running training log with my usual bitching and complaining? My not-funny quips on my running life? Does anyone really care? I don’t know but for now I will think of updating it every once in a while as I get stronger running, and continue to be an idiot biking.