Starting again, from the bottom…

Wow, it seems surreal getting back on the blog when it looks so good! I admit, I haven’t been excited at pdating the blog for some time. It was getting to be a nuisance as it wasn’t well laid out, causing me to have to spend about twice as much time editing it as I should have. That said, now that it’s formatted properly, I feel a little more motivated to plug in new information.

Like the fact that I’m continuing to support the Wounded Warrior Project via my running and racing! I just can’t give it up. Frankly, it sort of grows on you over time. You feel good at your contribution, and just can’t let it go. Even from New Zealand. Even with your first child, a daughter, soon to be born. Even with a full class schedule. And, unfortunately, even when injuries have taken you down for the past 5 months. As a lot of you know, I’ve had problems with the patella tendon in my left knee since last April/May. After completing my running schedule last year (4th overall at the TransRockies Run), I did one more race here in New Zealand (3rd overall at the Abel Tasman Coastal Classic), and decided to take some time off to heal.

That started in October. I went to see a sports doctor, who prescribed rest, rehabilitation exercises, and blood injections to the tendon in question. Slowly, over time, with a lot of hot yoga and light strengthening exercises, it’s come around. So well that, on the day after Christmas (Boxing Day in NZ), I went for a jog in a local park, tripped on a root…and broke my right foot! It was a minor break, nothing serious, but tough to take. The knee wasn’t fully healed, the foot was broken…what else? No joke, I’ve even had my fill of the painful minor stuff too: three toenails came off after the TRR and one malformed when it grew back – it was ingrown and had to get pulled. Lastly, I’ve just had a plantar wart on my left foot!

All that said, I’m feeling like I’m close to getting back on the horse. I’m just over 5 weeks since the broken foot, and should be fully healed around the end of February. The knee is significantly improved as well, and should be good by then as well. Right now I’m still consumed by stretching and strengthening as I can, with some biking to feel a little like I’m still getting some cardiovascular work in.

Over the next month, I’ll lay out my goals for this coming running season, as well as illustrate how I’ll connect them to the WWP. I expect to be back to regular run training by March 1st, and by then I’ll start writing once per week…

All my best & Keep moving forward, Matt