Running Update

I didn't run much over the Christmas break. An old injury to my right Achilles was starting to flare up, and it was giving me those messages that warned of serious consequences if I didn't pay attention and give it some rest. So, I rested.

But now I'm back, and on my third run of a deliberately easy running week, everything feels sluggish. With every step, my quads tell me that they'd really rather be doing something else. I'm trying to treat them like my students: ignore their whining and have faith in the knowledge that one day (perhaps one day soon, perhaps one day in the distant future), they'll be glad they ran today.

On a side-note, I saw two of those lanky, I-ran-in-high-school-and-yes-even-in-college, slightly taller than average guys running on the trail today, cruising along, running what looked to me like 8s with almost no effort. It always makes me wish I were taller, or at least that my legs were a little longer. It makes me want to run up to them and ask them if they know how good they have it to be biomechanically geared for running. To ask them if they appreciate the gift they have.

But then I see somebody chugging away, killing himself with 11s or 12s, and I feel like one of those lanky guys, just for a second.

And then I remember that it's always hard. Everybody who runs faces the same struggle, even though we face it at different paces. I guess it all works out.