Uh-oh! Fitness!!! Fitness!!! Come back!!! Where did you disappear to??? Fitness!!!
“Excuse me sir, have you seen my fitness? I’m agonizing over my lost friend and the suffering is nearly unbearable.” “Can you help me find my fitness?”
Unfortunately, these thoughts plagued me during my first running “workout” since my return from a six-week injury-related hiatus. Evidently, my time on the bike and on the rowing machine was not enough to prevent the deterioration and ultimate disappearance of my running fitness.
Months and months of time, effort and hard work appear to have vanished into thin air. My lungs scream for oxygen while my legs move as if in quicksand. There is no pop, no fluid motion, no effortless change of gears. I struggle and fail to achieve a pace that four months ago seemed laughable easy.
Now, I stand 8 weeks away from Marathon Monday searching my fitness. It feels like I’ve lost my best friend, as though my mojo has gone south for the winter.
It was not supposed to be this way. Back in December, 2 weeks before the start of my Boston Marathon training plan, I was fit and I was fast. I was near invincible.
But then, reality struck. I pushed too hard, too often and my body reached its breaking point. I wrote a check my body could not cash.
Oh, how I have fallen. But please, do not pity me. There is a light ahead in the darkness and I’m running towards it (albeit slowly). I now have a baseline to start from. I’m healthy, and I have a training plan that will allow me to run smart and healthy (and eventually fast).
As with anything in life worth pursuing, it’s going to take time, sacrifice, patience, and hard work. However, the satisfaction of improving and staying injury free shall be well worth the effort. I may not run a personal best in Boston, but I’m going to give it my best shot.
So while I am downtrodden, I’m running in the right direction.
In the meantime, if you find my fitness, please let me know!
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