Running again
After I gave up on The Bear 100 and Black Squirrel in August, I stopped running for 6 weeks to let my Achilles tendonitis subside. I quit using the stair stepper and elliptical machines at the gym, too. My only activities were bike commuting, yoga, weight lifting, and a weekly "HIIT the water" class. I've joked about aquasizing, but have really been getting into this class. The instructor is gung ho, the regulars are friendly, and it's a good, low impact, workout. I'm going to keep doing it this fall and winter, for sure.
On the 20th of September I went for a flat 2 mile run at Pineridge Open Space. It felt great to run outdoors on dirt, and I didn't feel any worse afterwards. I did another easy, flat trail run 4 days later. This week I did two 3.5 mile runs on trails and another session on an elliptical trainer. 2 hours in all. I'm going to try to increase to 3 hours a week by the end of the year.
I'm grateful to be able to run again. With some luck, 2025 could be a good year.