Mid April I ran the Hyner View Trail Challenge. Ever since that race I have been nursing a nagging injury. It isn’t severe enough to keep me from running, but it does create some pain and discomfort on longer runs. It doesn’t seem to be getting worse when running, but it just doesn’t seem to be healing as quickly as I would like. Last week I had two races in one weekend so I had taken the week leading up to them off from running in hopes of making a full recovery. Unfortunately that was not the case. The injury is still there but I did make it through both of my races relatively OK. I just had to endure some discomfort at times.

The next problem is I have a 50K in a week now and I really should have been focusing on training hard for that in the last several weeks. I already hadn’t gotten in as many long training runs as I would have liked and now I have been forced into resting to just get healthy. So my training is likely to be less than I would like and I will not be as fit as I would like going into the 50k. I am going to go out on a trial run to see how my leg feels during a run this weekend hoping to feel ok after taking another week off from running. If I am not 100% during the run Saturday I will likely be taking the entire week leading up to the 50k off from running. I am not going to gain any more fitness in the week leading up to the 50k anyway and if I need to rest and recover that is the best decision I can make. I know that in my head but all this time off from running is having a negative effect on my emotionally and spiritually.

I can’t help but be worried about the upcoming 50k and worry about my ability to complete it. I am trying to stay positive. I keep trying to remind myself that in the past year I have now gone through three 50k training cycles and I have completed a trail marathon and two other 50k’s leading into this one. I also need to remind myself that the first ever time I completed a 50k distance on trails I did it all alone, with no training build up, when my longest previous run had been a 25k. It was long and hard and challenging, but I was still able to get it done. So baring any worsening of my injury and just letting it rest and heal I should be able to get this 50k done. It might not be the experience I was hoping for but I will still be able to complete the course. I will still finish the race.

I am still in better shape than I ever have been. I just need to get healthy. I need to remain positive. This has been one of the most challenging periods I have faced since I have been running. I have never before experienced a running related injury that actually significantly impacted my ability to run. I especially have never faced this kind of challenge so close to such a big race.

So I am heading into this 50k and I need to refresh my frame of mind. I need to reframe the task and set new goals. Fortunately I was not planning to necessarily run a faster time at this event. I was planning to try and take more photographs and soak in the nature more. Now I am going to lean even more on that. I am going to photograph all the nature and beauty that Worlds End State Park has to offer. I am going to photograph my fellow runners taking on this challenging course. I am going to embrace the struggle and challenge that is not meeting one’s own goals and use it to build new goals and learn and challenge myself in other ways. I am going to run this race, but more importantly I am going to cross that finish line, kiss my wife, and enjoy the fellowship of my friends.

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