Salt Lake. I drove out to my usual starting point near the salt lake and headed out towards the airport. It turned out to be a pretty good run and I ended up going further than I was originally planning. I almost made it to Tekke and took a detour to run the last kilometer or so of what used to be my high school cross country course. It wasn't exactly as it used to be but it still brought back some memories. On my way back it occured to me that this was the last run of 2008 and I thought I should do a year recap.
It's somewhat sad that I don't have many good things to write about this past year. I was on a rollercoaster as far as my training goes, as I managed to sustain high mileage for a decent number of weeks, peaking at just over 100, but also hit rock bottom a few times as I spent a good part of the year sidelined because of injuries. In total I only ran 247 out of 366 days so almost 4 months without any running. Somehow my mileage total, which ended up at 2478, is higher than 2007 and is actually one of my highest yearly totals. I don't know if this speaks more about my lower mileage past or about the high volume I was putting in when I was able to run this year. In any case, averaging under 7 miles a day is not something to brag about. I don't have many positive things to write about as far as racing goes either. I ran a couple of decent half marathons but anything else fared from mediocre to bad. I wish I could say that I'm hoping for a better 2009 but unfortunately that won't be the case. I'm going in for Achilles tendon surgery on January 16th and I won't be able to run a step for almost half the year. It goes without saying that I'll need a lot of time to build up the mileage and get my training to full swing. I can't, therefore, expect too much out of this year.
I hate to write depressing posts so I'll try to end this on a positive note. I know I have a tough year ahead of me but I need to look at the bigger picture and think of the years to come. After all what I'll go through was my decision with the hope that it will lead to better things in the future. I've been dealing with this Achilles injury for about 7 years now and I'll take a few months of suffering if that means I never have to worry about my Achilles again. I'll only set one goal for this year: stay motivated throughout the recovery period and deligently go through all the physical therapy, strengthening stuff and cross training that I'll have to do. I'm optimistic and I think that I can bounce back from this stronger than ever.
