Once A Runner...

“Why would you let anything stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?”  Tony Dungy

Last June I came across this quote scrawled on a blackboard in the Alma High School pool locker room.  I read it, paused...then looked down at my foot and ran my hand across the healing incision on my low back.  I emailed the quote to myself and have read it every day for the past six months. 

By late 2011 I thought I had accepted the fact that I was a runner no more.  It wasn't until December when I actually said the words out loud that I realized I'm far too stubborn to give up so easily.  I reached for my copy of Once A Runner.  Thumbed through the pages and read the following:

"Running to him was real; the way he did it the realest thing he knew.  It was all joy and woe, hard as a diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension.  But it also made him free."  

It's been a big month for me...full of hope and warm fuzziness.  I'm slowly getting back into the routine and desperately trying to regain my fitness.  My stride is not perfect and I'm working on tweaking some things, but its pretty darn good for what I have to work with.  I'm running with an AFO device called Toe-Off which is made in Sweden.  When I first tried it on and walked in it I didn't feel like it did anything.  It wasn't until I took off running down the road that I realized just how well it worked.  It's shocking!  

I'm not saying that I'm back, but I'm certainly headed in the right direction.  I've continued to fit in plenty of time on the cycle trainer and am hoping to get some time in the pool soon.  As far as the 2012 race season, I'm really not sure right now.  I have a bunch of ridiculous goals in my head that are far too outlandish to disclose at the moment...but I know one thing for sure and that is, for me, 2012 is going to be a much better year than 2011.  

Thanks to all of my friends and family for their love and support.  I wouldn't be who I am or where I am without you.  May we all look forward to a bright new hope.  

Steve Jobs put it best:  "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."