Running

This one is about running for two reasons. First, my own running. It's been around three months that I've been without running (due to a weird injury). May 5th was the last day I competed, and I've probably run four or five times since then. I tried running on Wednesday, and I don't think there's much improvement in my leg. This is discouraging after many many weeks of rest. But then again, my running career has pretty much been defined by injuries, so it's somehow appropriate that college running came to an end for me because of an injury. I feel totally powerless to do anything about my leg at this point, so I'm trying not to worry about it.

During my senior year when I was still competing I wondered if I'd still want to run after graduation and how often I'd do it. Well, this injury has pretty much not given me a choice in it. I'm hopeful that it'll all sort out eventually.

Not running has really been a bummer. I've been feeling lethargic, and I feel like being able to run would help. Also, I feel like I've lost a ton of fitness (I guess not running for three months will do that. Go figure) and I'd really like to be able to get some of that back. It'd be great to have a run every morning... but again, I don't know what I can do about it.

Now the second reason I'm writing about running. I learned this week that my college coach, Connie Putnam, has retired after 21 years as head coach at Tufts. It's really hard to put into words how I feel about this. At first I felt kind of lost. I think that despite the fact that I'm done competing, knowing that Connie was still coach made me feel like I was still part of the team. Now it feels like a big part of that connection is gone. On top of that there are so many other things to consider that are just too numerous to name. This will sound a bit elitist, but you just wouldn't get it unless you were on the team.

Basically, just some serious shock and surprise, and serious thought about how this changes the team that was so important to me.