Injuries Suck

All that really needs to be noted is that after my PB at the Prince Edward County Marathon a year ago tomorrow I've suffered through a foot injury, sustained in the race, until resuming running in mid-July. Once that happened I slowly built up my weekly mileage from less than 20km to a little over 40km/week before hitting another hurdle: left foot pain that is suspiciously a lot like plantar fasciitis...

So, one lesson learned from that experience is: don't try to streak when you haven't streaked successfully before. In fact, do NOT try to streak coming off of an injury. I ran almost every single day in August... Second lesson is do not ignore tight hamstrings. I think the knot I felt in my left hammy ended up radiating down to the left foot and ultimately caused the pain that stopped me from running in early September.

Anyway, yesterday I went with my older son for a walk/jog in the trails to test the foot as it has stagnated in its recovery and I think was due for some stimulation and it felt great. Why? Because I left the Garmin at home. I walked a minute, jogged a minute, walked, then jogged two, walked, then jogged three, and then back down the pyramid. I was only conscious of how I was feeling and used that as feedback while ignoring pace, cadence, distance, and any other metric that has gotten me in trouble in the past. I can for 23m30s and, after plugging the route into Gmaps Pedometer, managed 3.5km. Shitty by all accounts except the one that ultimately really matters above all else: I had FUN!

Here's to running without a Garmin for a while. Will I keep myself honest and not get seduced by the lure of the metrics? Hmm...