Back on Treadmill

On Tuesday September, 22, I ran for the last time in 2009. At the time, I didn't realize I was finished for the remainder of the year. I thought two months would be sufficient for my achilles tendon to stop hurting. By the end of December, however, while it did hurt less, it still wasn't perfect. This cost me one of my most treasured New Year's day rituals -- running past the drunk attendees of the Mummer's Parade.

The tendon still wasn't perfect at the end of January either. By then, however, the combination of the economy's impact on my checking account, the cold weather, the short days and the lack of running had turned me into Cranky McCrankypants. Really. Godzilla meets the old guy who yells at you to get off his lawn-cranky. Ask anyone who had the misfortune of trying to communicate with me then and only heard some gutteral combination of a hiss and a growl in response.

At this point, I had to weigh the pros and cons of running. Con: I could still snap the achilles tendon. Pros: I could start training for spring races; I could start working toward meeting my New Year's resolution of a four-hour marathon; I could be fit without having to sit for 90 minutes on a bike trainer, the most boring piece of exercise equipment ever created; I could prevent my mood from descending from slightly grouchy to top story on the news psychotic.

In this particular mind-body war, mind won. With a well-taped ankle, I hopped on the treadmill in the last week of January. It wasn't bad. I obviously lost speed and stamina, but all that time on the bike trainer did leave me with some level of fitness.

Six weeks later, I have added mileage and speed, and the ankle is no worse than before. I even ventured outside for the first time last week, and all was well.

So I'm back in training. Despite being far behind where I was last year at this time, I am still hoping to get a 5-k personal record at a race I'm doing in April. I am planning on completing the Broad Street Run in May.

Then there's the four-hour marathon. To do that, hopefully in the second week of October, I'll have to do more weekly mileage than ever before. To do that safely, I can only add that mileage slowly. Which means that as of right now, I'm in marathon training. On a taped-up ankle. But I guess a torn tendon is better than a ruptured soul.