Return from the Dead

My boss when I worked in Toronto used to say to clients that something was 'a process, not an event' to temper their expectations of an unrelealistic timeline. My return from the grips of the grim reaper called Injury has had its ups and downs over the past few weeks, and I'm seeing that it is a process, not a matter of having one decent run and - presto - being back to where I was.

It does seem now that the ups are getting higher, and the downs are fewer and farther between.

After last week's big down of not getting very far into a race attempt, I actually ended up having a great week. My first tempo run in nine months was on tuesday night during the heat wave, and it went quite well, considering. Then some barefoot runs on our property trail, which I always love. And finally, today we capped off the week with my best long run in ages and ages and ages at Frontenac.

It was a beautiful loop, including a cut-across trail that we rarely use (Bufflehead), which was gorgeous. Early on we saw a sweet Canada goose family very close up. Two adults and five little fuzzy ones just about ready to start getting their feathers. I felt good running, really at one with the trail, and finally felt that some long-run fitness was returning. When we finished at 3:08, I was happy to be done, but still felt really great. It was nice that the humidity had dropped and we were mostly in the shade of trees and clouds the entire run.

The most amazing thing was sitting in the car on the way home, when I realized that my left hip area wasn't seizing into a painful throbbing knot of spasms. I just sat there peacefully and it blew me away.

So with a little more patience and some good training through the summer, I think I'll look at the Haliburton 50k again as a goal race. If I feel ready for something before then, then maybe Finger Lakes 25k, but I really need to feel confident before I race again. Today was a good step in that direction.