Thinking About.

This week, or whatever, thinking about injury.

My current crop of running ailments. Swollen right knee that doesn't stop me running but doesn't let me sprint with the kids in PE class. Something in the arch of my left foot which makes me limp for the first 20 minutes of the day, before it somehow warms up. (This has developed since I started treadmill speedwork.) Something in the lower back that prevents me tying my shoelaces in comfort- developed since I started the big downhill jumps.

I'm sure as a younger runner any one of these would have been plenty excuse to take a week off, maybe more. Now I just keep going. I'm just getting old, I figure. I'm more habituated to pain, and I've stopped expecting to be pain free. Plus, I have the sense that time is limited. I guess I'd rather run today, creaking, than hope for a perfect run at some time in the future. Pure and simple, get out there and do it.

My insight is, unless you are very blessed with a light frame, good bones, and the kind of work ethic that makes stretching something less than a grim chore, you might as well get used to the steady pain. Take a week off at the end of the season if you got to. You're saying no, but I'm talking to myself.