In This Mad Season

Oh what to see in these days. I've been silent for a while and not for any good reason. I think that some of it is laziness and finding that I had the same blah-blah to post. Some of it was that not much had happened other than one race (see below) and trying to heal injuries and entering 2020. Then... well last week happened as it did to everyone in the US and things aren't what they used to be. So, I thought as I have some time to reflect, perhaps I'd jump back onto this page and just tinker around and update. More for myself than anyone else which is okay. There's a lot of "just yourself" moments these days so what is one more? Let's start with the end of 2019. Per some previous post, I'd been dealing with a hamstring/back/Achilles/who-knows-what injury after the Surftown half. I did run the Cambridge half even though I had convince myself it was a a bad idea. It turned out to be a new PR and, overall, not the worst of ideas. I don't think it hampered my recovery and didn't cause further injury that I knew of. Plus, as I said, new PR which is pretty cool (now a 1:42:20). What it did do, though, was cause me skip/miss the Turkey Trot this year. After the half, I decided to try and take two weeks off entirely minus elliptical and bike at the gym. I went back to running and never really felt much better as the hamstring still fairly constantly hurt. But, whether this is accurate or not, my husband and I got a Peloton in December and... now things are vastly different. Although I still have twinges here and there, the constant discomfort has pretty much vanished. I was getting really down and, in some ways, worried about how I felt towards the end of 2019 and wondering what I would need to do including seeing a doctor. But the spinning on the Peloton has seemed to assist in recovery by, I'm assuming, building strengthen where I was lacking and helping with the balance of my body. I am not sure if that is entirely true, but honesty... I don't really care. I know that there were no other changes other than that and so I don't feel as if something else magically healed me and my issues. So, sufficient to say, 2020 was starting off pretty good. There was a collective decision to skip Hyannis and run Easterns States and PRovidenceand so training has been focused on that. I haven't really picked up on speed work, hoping that my run club tempos and Orangetheory will give me a boost. I decided that I didn't ahve the energy, mentally or physically, to take on another hard speed day and I've come to terms with that being okay. So maybe I'll not qualify for Boston... that doesn't take away form who I am as a person or a runner. But now... March happened and things have changed. The ES is off and OT is closed. The world is temporarily on hiatus in many ways and everything is just different. And off. And anxiety-filled. I try to keep up-beat and try to release my anxieties but it is not easy. This is not forever, but there is something about it that has that feel at present. Worrying about things like a marathon seem both less and so much more important right now. It's rather crazy when you stop and think which is all anyone can do these days. So what I'll do is keep running and working out. I'll try to no panic and think that I am sick. I will try to keep up with my friends and loved ones and hope that, before we know it, this too will have passed.