Today was the Celtic Solstice 5 miler and was to have been my come back race from my foot problems. I decided not to participate, thus officially ending my 2011 running season in a dull thud. While I have started running a couple of miles here and there, I was not confident that I could get through all 5 miles without problems. The truth of that matter is that after 3 months of physical therapy, I still have some degree of discomfort/pain in my foot on practically a daily basis.
I have started planning ahead to next year and being healthy to train for Spring races. I am not going to do a full marathon in 2012, mainly because I don't want to spend a third consecutive summer in training mode. If I can get through 2012 without any problems, then I will consider a full for 2013.
Right now I'm registered for and hoping to do:
3/18/2012 - Shamrock 1/2
4/29/2012 - Iron Girl 1/2
5/6/2012 - Frederick 1/2
5/20/2012 - Run for the Dream 1/2
10/13/2012 - Baltimore 1/2
The optimist in me registered for these as a way to have something to look forward to, especially the time that would be spent with friends. The pessimist thinks it was dumb and a waste of money when I don't know what the future holds. More than once I've thought of just quitting. The problem is, I've never quit anything. However, rather than fuel the desire to heal and improve, all I can think of is the hard work ahead of me. The last 3+ months have brought back alot of old habits - mainly making me lazy and complacent. There is a very long road ahead of me to get back the conditioning and endurance I had. It took so long to get and so quickly to lose.
