Starting Over

Today I'm starting over.

I had to end training last year for the 2006 New York marathon because I developed a stress fracture, which only worsened during my climb and descent of Mt. Kilimanjaro last August.

But today I hope to begin building my base in time to start a training program for this year's marathon.

Sometimes I can feel a little tenderness in my right foot, where I'd developed the stress fracture last year, and sometimes I think I might be developing a new stress fracture in my left tibia. Let's keep my fingers crossed that it's merely a shin splint or something else.

I'd planned to run in the gym because it's so cold out, but it's Easter Sunday and so the gym was closed. I started out doing some yoga, but I realized that if I'm going to be serious about training, I need to be serious about running even when it seems inconvenient. So I put on a few extra layers, and I ran my favorite path, the bridle path from Columbus Circle to the reservoir and back. I took my time, and it didn't hurt. I tried running with more hip action, to engage the hamstrings and hips where I think I may have been using them less post-ACL surgery. Hopefully that will take pressure off of my tibias and foot bones.