Acceptance

I saw my physical therapist yesterday. I have to admit that I've never been great at anatomy, or any kind of science really. By anatomy I mean knowing which muscles/bones/body parts are which and where they're located and how everything works together. I hope anatomy is the even the right word to use. I'm giving this disclaimer because it seems like I should be better able to understand my physical therapist's diagnosis but I really don't. It's not that I wasn't paying attention, but just that it made sense at the time but now trying to put it into my own words is difficult. She said something about the pain being in the fifth metatarsal area and that it could have been caused by a tight calf muscle throwing off my stride, or that I did something during my trail run that decided not to manifest until a couple days later.

Anyway, I do know the most important part... I can try running again on Saturday, just taking it easy for a few miles and of course stopping if I feel any pain. In the meantime I can do other types of cardio at the gym. I'm also supposed to really focus on stretching, particularly my tight left calf. And I should keep icing too.

It sucks to not be running, especially when I look outside and see the nice weather and when I think about all the races coming up that I need to be training for. But I keep trying to tell myself that it could be worse and it's better to have this happen now then for example right before I'm supposed to head off to Walt Disney World. Plus there's nothing I can do about it right now. It is what it is and I'll just have to wait and take things a step at a time.

Last year was a really good running year for me, but I shouldn't expect every year to be like that. There are going to be ups and downs. I've been in a worse place before and fought through it to emerge an even better runner. (Sorry to be vague, but it's a long story.) I just need to pack my patience and bring back my phrase "does it really matter?" There's no use worrying about how fast I can run a 5k or how quickly I can ramp up my weekend long run mileage again. And it's not the end of the world if I don't do well at Expedition Everest or get a new marathon PR. By reminding myself that ultimately none of this really matters in the grand scheme of things, it helps me stop dwelling on the past and thinking too much about the future.

Along the same lines, there's a quote that I really like that I got from a slightly unusual source... the movie Kung Fu Panda.

Po: Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.
Oogway: Quit, don't quit? Noodles, don't noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.