Rolling right along...sort of.
Here's the thing about no longer being in the clear-skinned blush of youth: we all know it, I suppose, but the impact of injuries is often more considerable than we care to admit. Injuries, small and large, are far more significant, and take far, far longer to heal than they did in our youth. That much is obvious, especially after you've suffered a few bouts of plantar fasciitis and so forth, but for me what's really significant about these setbacks is not just the impact on your training and fitness, but the mental anguish they cause. It's like someone pinning you to the floor and shouting in your face, "You're old! You've had it! Why bother? Just give up!" over and over again.
It's often very difficult, even when the injury has healed, to overcome the burdensome inertia and mental fatigue these setbacks so often leave in their wake. And just when you most need the life-affirming vigour that regular running gives, it becomes ever more difficult to find your mojo once more. And it's very frustrating because, and let me be clear here, it's increasingly important as you age to get back on the horse (so to speak) as quickly as possible. The importance of this grows in direct proportion with the setbacks which are larger, and the recovery times which are longer, and also the fact that in terms of time it takes orders of magnitude more to return to previous levels of fitness. And the longer you put off your return to the sport, the heavier the weight of indifference becomes.
There's no easy way around this. Oh, of course the solution is simple: put on the running shoes and head out the door. But finding the enthusiasm to restart a training programme and begin working towards a goal again is daunting, and increasingly so after each setback. And it may not be just an injury of course; life has a ton of different ways of interrupting your training plans and goal-setting. Once the routine of running disappears off the calendar due to illness or injury, a small mountain of other things quickly step in to take its place. Clearing those off the overloaded schedule to slot running back in again is seemingly no simple task.
And so it will be no surprise to you, dear reader, to find that this, of course, is the fine pickle I find myself in. Again.
It's not just a case of getting back on the treadmill; there's a whole training schedule to re-write, with new races to aim for. Races to aim for, that is, if I can clear the schedule enough to permit such ambitious plans. Well, we will get there. Somehow, I always do. Races come and go, and there'll always be another one. The important thing is to not lose focus on the significant benefits that a life of running gives.
I'm sorry if you've invested some time in following my progress this year. That it comes to a grinding halt over what was, in reality, a fairly minor injury is somewhat embarrassing. The reasons are of course never so simple. But injuries tend to compound with illnesses, which then compound with work hassles and which soon all come together and shove even the thought of running far, far into the background of our everyday, busy lives.
I (and others here) have alluded before to the Greek myth of Sisyphus; but it's so apt. You push and you push to get that boulder up the hill, only to have it roll back on you and you have to pick yourself up and start all over again from the bottom. The older we get, the harder it is to get back up each time.
But, for all the heartache and toil of Sisyphus's endless work, the tragedy isn't the pain of starting over. Tragedy really only comes when you quit. And I haven't quit, so I'll put my shoulder to the boulder (sorry) once more and get on with it again.
Chin up!
Thigh July
