Real David H.

As good as things were going in the first few months of the year, the drastic opposite has happening in the past few months. After my repeated issue with my right foot went away, I had issues with my left foot. This happened simultaneously while moving this summer, so it’s taken a long time to have any energy to even think about running.

Then last week after a couple of mile-long runs back, I wore some really old shoes for a day … and you guessed it, my foot bothered me again. This happened on the day I purchased new running shoes, so I haven’t even been able to test them out.

Along these past few months, I’ve had so many thoughts. Now as the calendar flips over to a new season, I’m hoping that I can usher in a new season of running. Before I do that, though, I needed to type out my various thoughts along the way. Maybe a mind reset can help with a physical reset, too.

• About this title …

  • Yes, this is my 1,307th blog post since I started this in 2007. Had I kept pace with my first few years of writing, I’d probably be at quadruple that. I have occasionally used the number of the years when I don’t have a centralized typic.

• I miss …

  • Writing about running. This is true for having a blog, tweeting, Instagramming, etc. My May 5 blog post about focusing on 1,000 miles this year was to set the stage for a lot more content coming out of my brain.

  • Training for an in-person race.

  • Morning runs when no one else is out.

  • Number-crunching.

  • Casual conversations through random texts or messages on social media.

  • Running.

• I still plan to …

  • Run the Surf-n-Santa 5-miler in Virginia Beach in December. I feel comfortable with in-person racing with the assumption that certain guidelines are in place.

  • Run the Shamrock Half Marathon in March.

  • Cross the finish line of the Blue Ridge Marathon in April.

• I will get to these races by …

  • Resuming cross training. I have a new basement, and a portion of that space needs to be cleared out for alternative workouts.

  • Being patient. Time isn’t fully on my side since I haven’t logged many miles since June, but I know I have a solid base from above-average running (for me) from most of last year into early this year.

  • Developing a better training plan. I can’t really “wing it” anymore.

• I need to …

  • Eat better. I don’t blame my lack of running on this at all. Moving, though, has led to too many easy meals of ordering out.

  • Drink less.

  • Rely on a support system. That’s happening this month as a join a group focused on a nutrition reset.

  • Listen to my body. I started running through some pains in the spring. I know better than that.

• I’ve also thought about …

  • Quitting on running altogether until 2021.

  • Dropping this blog.

  • Changing my social media accounts back to something running related, which I know is the drastic opposite of the first two bullet points.

I probably have some more thoughts buried in my mind, but this is a nice start to try and get things turned around mentally. Now I need my body to cooperate …