Monday, September 28, 2009

Still a runner?

My friend Tom wrote a blog post a few months ago, wondering whether he was still a runner or not. I'm feeling that way these days.

Over the weekend, I looked at my training since WS. My longest week just cracked 20 miles. This past week was 9.3 miles. I'm running 1-4 times per week, and the runs are all short and with minimal intensity.

Assuming my hamstring gets back to being healthy, how long will it be before I'm really running again? Soon, I'll be skiing every weekend rather than running. I'm still lifting 4x per week, although I'll drop that to 3x during ski season. But, I worry that after 25 years of calling myself a runner, that I'm drifting away from being able to use that term. It's almost like running is my cross-training sport these days.

Mostly, I want to be healthy and enjoy whatever it is that I'm doing. I'd prefer to focus on running, but my body is not yet ready for me to do that.

Patience...

2 comments:

Laurel said...

I have had a few extended lay offs from running and each time I found myself wondering the same sort of thing, would I ever get back to being a runner. Each time I've come back from a big injury I seem to be a little less of a runner, but still a runner. When it hurts to run, it is no fun. I think that when you feel completely healed and healthy, it will be fun to run again and you'll realize that you're definitely still a runner.

Tania said...

You ARE a runner....and all this down time will make you a STRONGER runner. I have no doubt about that. Both mentally and physically you will be so in the game when you return full force.