I decided to continue blogging occasionally after the
Buffalo Marathon because that certainly was not the end of my running journey. I met Jason shortly after I ran the Buffalo
Marathon and he quickly became a part of my running journey too. He was just
beginning to get into running when we met and we quickly began to compete with
one another in the distance aspect. If one of us went out and ran 5 miles, the
other one would go out and run 6 miles. If one of us went out and ran 8 miles,
the other one would go out and run 9 miles. We were both in pretty good shape
by the end of the summer and coaching cross country helped me to begin to
really improve my speed while running. By the early fall, Jason and I were both
in the best shape that we had ever been in and we began running road races
together. By running road races together, I mean that we would enter the same races
and Jason would always finish well ahead of me. I loved that he was always
waiting for me at the finish line and that running had become an integral part
of our relationship.
The last time that I wrote a blog post was about 8 months
ago, which was the last time that Jason and I had entered a road race together.
I have run 2 more road races since my last blog post so I have now completed 50
road races since I began running 6 years ago. Those 50 road races include
several 5K’s and 10K’s, 6 half marathons and 1 marathon. I had been hoping to
increase the 50 road race total, but my body had different plans for me. It has
been 8 months since I last posted because I have not run much since then and it
has been 4 months since the last time that I actually went out for a run. After
the Buffalo Marathon, some stomach issues began to worsen and I slowly began to
run less and less. I had dealt with acid reflux for 10 years, but I had still
been able to continue running. A hiatal hernia developed over the last couple
of years and the acid reflux started becoming a problem when I was running. I
decided that it was time to stop running until I was able to get my stomach
issues under control.
Since I finally had surgery 2 months ago, running has been
and will continue to be out of the question for a while. I know that running
has caused a lot of wear and tear on my body and it certainly attributed to my
health issues. I know that if I ever get back into running eventually, it will
not and cannot be the same as it was before. Truthfully, I am not even sure
that I will ever really get back into running or if I even want to. In fact, I
do not even really consider myself a runner anymore. I am not even proud of my
running accomplishments anymore since I am no longer running. When I began
cutting back on the running a few months ago, I took my 13.1 and 26.2 magnets
off of the back of my car. I worked really hard to accomplish running several
half marathons and a full marathon so I proudly displayed those magnets for
months. After spending 6 years running 3-4 times a week and entering many road
races, I felt like I no longer deserved to display my accomplishments because I
am no longer a runner. As a former
runner, I had always considered running to be a huge part of my life and that
is no longer the case. Some days I would really love to just lace up my running
sneakers and hit the pavement again. Some days I am jealous of all of my
friends who get to go out run and I am sad that I am not out running too. Some
days I really do not miss running at all, but most days I do. I am not sure
when or if I will ever begin running again so in the meantime I will have to
find something else to fill the running void in my life.
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