Running Back to My Life

It's hard to believe that it's been over two months since I was considering doing my 16th Ironman.  I had literally started feeling the desire to do another Ironman when COVID-19 struck the United States and my life changed dramatically.  For the last four days I've gotten up in the morning and went for a run.  I haven't run very far, or for very long.  Today, I probably ran somewhere around 3 1/2 miles.  Not a lot, and I included some very short uphill sprints.  I'm not wearing a GPS device, so I'm not tracking my distance or my pace.  I don't want to care about that.  I just want to get back the joy of running.  I'm hoping that biking will be next.  I'm not sure what to do about swimming, as the thought of getting into a public swimming pool is not very appealing at this moment.  I may very well have to depend on upper body strengthening and my long standing good swim form if I choose to do another Ironman. Time will tell.

Running is good for me.  I remember when I was thirteen, I decided to take up running.  It lasted about a day.  I ran down the street at home and back, probably not more than half a mile. It was hard. Funny, I've always gravitated to doing things that were hard, but at the time, running wasn't one of them.  Over the years, running has taken on a sort of a love:hate relationship for me.  I remember thinking about it during medical school, but I never took it up.  It wasn't until I turned 32 that I began running on a treadmill.  I'll always remember that first 5K in Canoga Park.  It was hard.  And then, my first marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon in 1994.  I'm not sure that I really enjoyed or appreciated or even looked forward to running back then.  But at some point that changed.  At some point, I actually did look forward to going out for a run or going to the track to do intervals.

At the beginning of last year, in preparation for Kona, I ran for nearly a month straight.  I don't know if I need to repeat such a streak again, but daily running has some mental and physical value.  I'm not sure what's next in my life when it comes to running or biking or swimming, but the running habit is a healthy one.  When I'm out running, there are times that my mind wanders and I am just enjoying the feeling of running.  I that regard, I miss my twenty mile runs.  Maybe I'll work towards them again.  Maybe it's time to start running back to my life.