Week 63 of My 8 Week Running Program.

Look. Some goals take longer than others okay?
Here's the thing. I used to run a lot. Obsessively one might say. It started with one of my good customers at the Sawmill in Edmonton, a guy named Aaron that was a real inspiration to me. I then began to befriend a few other runners, and before I knew it was rollin' with some uber-l33t athl33ts.
I didn't compete at all, at least not against others. I set targets for myself and crushed them weekly.
My longest run was a 26k here in Saskatoon.

Shortly after that run I started in sales, which involved a lot of sitting on my butt in meetings and in the car, and a lot of overnight trips and poor nutrition. I tried to maintain my running habit, but I found myself missing a run here and a run there. Sundays (my long run days) were still open to me however, and determined not to lose my earlier gains, I pushed myself hard on those long runs. A little too hard actually. Without maintaining a proper base, long runs like that can lead to injury. Which is what happened.

I've tried off and on to get back into running, but it seems that every time the same injury flares up again. I went to get a bone scan a few years back to see if perhaps it was some sort of stress fracture.
The bone scanner person (technician, specialist, doctor, nurse?)was looking at my scan and called over his shoulder. "So are you some kind of pro athlete?" and I said "No, I just run a lot", and he said "Ah, your scan shows a lot of build on your bones like athletes get." and I felt damn proud of that let me tell you. Anyone that has known me from years previous could tell you that there would generally have been no way in Hell I would have been confused with an athlete when I was younger.

So I've tried a few times again and again to get back into running, but the old pain in the leg keeps coming back a few weeks in and I have to stop again. Which is why I've taken up biking so enthusiastically this year. But here's the thing. I think I've figured out a little bit of why I kept getting injured. I've generally been living a pretty sedentary lifestyle, and I had put on some weight. I've been about 20 pounds heavier than I was when I did my long run, and even with awesome cushioning in my shoes, that's a little too heavy for distance running. I've also been off of my feet a lot, which allowed my legs to get a lot weaker.

Lately however I've been on my feet for 10 hours a day again, and I've been biking to work a lot. I think the time might be right for me to jump back on to running again. And I think I'm going to start tonight.