In February, I wrote about racing the Moab Red Hot 15km trail race.
Well, Mother Nature had another idea in mind, and a storm brought several inches of snow and abundant ice to the race course. The race was canceled.
New Plans
We ended up going to Moab regardless, and having a great family mini-vacation. The trip was actually probably more fun than had I been planning to race, since we were able to be totally schedule-free. We also brought our eldest daughters’ best friend with us. Together, they planned out our itinerary in detail. It was awesome.
While we were there it was cold (<20s in the AM), so we stayed inside our rental until about lunchtime. This left us plenty of time to hike, do some running and walking, and play in and around Moab and Arches National Park.
Three steps back
Returning from Moab, I jumped back into running and started to scale up my lifting schedule, excited to perhaps sign up for another race. Pretty immediately, I managed to irritate my Achilles tendon, calf, and right knee. It’s been close to 5 weeks, and I am just now able to run-walk 10-15 minutes and then I require a full day of repeated icing of the lower leg.
So, instead of running, I’ve been swimming. I love the feeling of being in the water. My daughters are on a local swim team, so I can usually sneak in 30-45 minutes of swimming during their practices. I can usually squeeze in 1500-2000 yards during this time, and it just feels a great way to move my body.
Slow progress
I’ve put myself back on a walk-run plan, and am slowly adding body weight exercises back into my “lifting” routine. I have some solid hiking goals for this summer and fall, and so I know I need to get my legs back into shape, but first, I need to get them healthy.
I am fascinated by how my body response has changed over time to the stresses of running. While I might not enjoy the injury side of things, I sure do enjoy learning about how different activities stress different parts of the body as I age. I have not lost any love of running, but I do have a greater appreciation for the support required to run as I age.
Hopefully more running updates will be coming soon! In the meantime, I’m enjoying the extra time for swimming, walking, and writing I have at the moment.