On the Comeback Trail

For once, I have followed my own advice and listed to my body. I never thought it would happen but earlier this month, I skipped a 5k because I did not feel well enough. It was the first time I have allowed myself to miss an event and feel good about it. I have also been listening to my body. When I feel tired, I don’t run. I’ve had light and easy runs from work and on the weekends and I have been cross-training to build up my core and to strengthen my legs. I guess you can say I have been rebuilding myself from the ground up. Just like they rebuilt the six million dollar man. Getting over injuries take time and you really have to be patient.

I was most proud of my race performance on Thanksgiving at the Topanga Canyon Turkey Trot. Topanga has to be one of the toughest trails to run and it did not help that I was suffering from a cold. I guess it serves me right for jumping in the lake up at Lake Arrowhead at night the week before. All week I contemplated whether or not I needed to skip the race because I knew that I could barely manage running Topanga on a good day. I promised myself that I would wake up Thanksgiving morning and decide whether or not I would run the race and when morning came, I felt like crap but I also knew that I could at least go and give a good effort.

When I got to Topanga, it brought back memories from running the race the year before and from running the trails there over the summer. I have always left Topanga exhausted. That is just the nature of the trail. The 10k, which I was running, starts uphill for about 2 miles but it will feel like 4. I knew my legs and endurance were not where they needed to be for this race but my goal was to just finish the race. I did not care about time or looking good so I walked when I had to and ran when I had to. To tell you how hard it is, I started cramping at mile 3 and there was still 3 miles to go but I just took what my body gave me and I just enjoyed being out on the trail. The last mile, my legs cramped and cramped and cramped but I just slowly pushed to the finish line. Funny thing is, I felt like I could run another 3 or 4 miles.

I forgot to even start my watch for the race. I feel like I am finally getting back to the basics of running. I’m weaving my way back to the top but just one step at a time and one race at a time and it feels good.