I return to this blog, not as a champion but as a failure for a human being. Not long after my last post, I suffered what appeared to be an insigificant injury whilst running on the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin. I was moving along at a substantially rapid pace (3:45 per mile clip) which is like a really good tempo run. I was about ten miles deep into the run when it hit me.... I tripped over a root and collapsed about 100 feet into a deep gorge. To put the fall in laymen's terms, try to compare it to the Chicago Bears second half game plan against the Tim Tebow.. Except in this situation, the Tim Tebow could not perform a miracle on my leg. The fall lasted what seemed like a lifetime over the course of 7 seconds. The 7 seconds to change my life. There was a bone protruding from my leg and it was at that moment, when looking at my bloody leg, that i realized that my biggest fears would come true: I would not be able to finish today's run.
I had been averaging around 205 miles per week for quite some time, like around 10 days. I felt like spiderman when it came to my running form because it was perfect... except without all that spidey web goo. There was about 30 days left before my big test to get into the Olympic Qualifier Marathon. So as you can imagine, i needed this 23-mile tempo run. I needed it more than it needed me. And i failed. As the ambulance took me away, some guy kept touching my arm asking me if i was ok... What a jerk! Here i am sitting there with a bloody leg knowing damn well that i was unable to fulfill my daily miles today and he is trying to horse around with me like Jerry Sandusky... Well as they took me to the hospital, i knew in my mind that things needed to change. BADLY. SO I planned on reducing my workout for the next day to only 30 X 400 repeats on the 1:20, that way i can get :25 seconds rest. Easy stuff....
Well the accident occurred about 3 months ago. I just returned home from the hospital and the doctors, who obviously are SLOW people, wouldn't even let me run or try to figure out how i could run in bed. I think that Ryan Hall set this up because he knew how great I was. I bet he hired those doctors to hold me back to keep me from running, to feed me gallons of vanilla ice cream while i watched people dance on the Ellen show. Sometimes a bird would fly to my window and i would hold great conversations with it.... It was boring though. Life without running is like rock music without Lifehouse.
The good news is that i can walk again. The bad news is that I've gained 50 pounds since the accident. I have returned home to my parents basement and have come to grips with the reality that i will not be able to race in the Olympic Trials Marathon in January. However, i know i am fast because you just don't lose fast. Slow people can't lose their slowness, but i will never lose my fast. Tomorrow, i begin my new journey. After three months off, i will begin training again. Not because of the Olympics, no that is four years from now. NO, this time i am going to train so that i can once again step on the battle field and defeat Ryan Hall in a foot race... because he is a pussy.
Tomorrow's run is scheduled for 25-miles at a 5:45 clip. I figure with three months off, i am probably fat & slow so going at a recovery pace is probably the best idea. My sponsor dropped me, so i will probably have to stop by Kock Lake's running store and pick up their complementary shoes that are located in a basket near the door. I think they leave them there so elite runners like myself will always have something to run in. Not like music by Gavin Degraw which creates sound you want to run from. The only problem is they don't clean the shoes and they smell... but oh well, new beginnings.
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