Real David H.

Dec. 1, 2017 was the day I chose to “start over” with running after a series of injuries, which came to a peak in October after I ended up in a walking boot.

I pretty much did no running for two months because my starting over point of a quarter mile on Dec. 1.

Over this past year, I haven’t documented my runs or thoughts very well – real life (including baby No. 3!) – prevented that and will continue to prevent me from blogging very much. 

But in the past few days, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the past year from Dec. 1-Nov. 30 in which I ended up running 477 miles. I almost want to put “only” 477 miles, but distance is relative … and honestly it’s right about the amount of mileage I expected after so many injuries. 

To keep the mileage in perspective, I ran about 50 more miles in this past year than the prior Dec. 1-Nov. 30 time frame. 

But I’ve easily done at least twice as much cross training in the past year than the year before – probably even more than that. 

I feel really good right now and I just keep wanting to run more even though I continue to hold myself back. 

That said, I’ve been asking myself lately if marathon training is right for me. 

Don’t I need more mileage? Do I have time? How much is too much to increase my miles? 

December has always felt like a really important running month to me for a variety of reasons and this year feels like the most important December I’ve faced. 

I’m no longer “starting over,” and it’s time to start running like it.