The returning runner…

Act 57 – The problem with our memory…

I gamely embarked on a run along the east shores of Washoe Lake. The gentle breeze that was blowing was a welcome change from the frequent gales that blow across the lake at this location. I trudged. I seemed to sink a foot deep into the sand (I didn’t really). I was gasping for breath. Stopping to walk, I glanced back. I had gone 100 yards (really). This didn’t make sense at all. Despite the 30-year gap, I could still see myself flying around the track at 9:15 2-mile pace. I was still slender. Well… other people judged me as slender with what weight I had spread over my 6’-4”+  frame. But… the reality was that I was 30 lbs over a good race weight (and 40 lbs over my college days).

I had a plan to overcome my knee injury and the lingering limp that haunted me for 30 years, but I hadn’t counted on this! I had diligently exercised at least 4 times per year whenever business took me to a hotel with a decent gym. How could this be!

Reality. My mind’s eye had played a cruel trick on me. Regardless of what you were prior to injury (or any lengthy absence from training), it will take time to get back into condition. For me, between gradually shaking the limp and my lengthy lapse in conditioning, it took me two years before I could complete a 10k at a decent pace.  At four years on my comeback path I was winning my division in local ½ marathons. Seven years into coming back from my injury, I won a ½ marathon overall at 8,000 feet.

We are talking years for a comeback from a lengthy absence from competition. You’ve got to think “long game”… Sorry, that was reality for me. If you have been “out” for a year or more, you got realize that you are starting over and approach your training from that perspective.

It will get better – in time.

Photo: Me, at 48ish and 30 lbs over race weight.