Friday, May 04, 2007

A Clean Slate

I could nearly lay out the five stages of grief leading up to a recent decision to wipe my race schedule free this summer, but I don't want to sound whiny so I won't expand on that. But looking forward, it's obvious my knee needs more time to recover and I've decided running the Sugarloaf Marathon in a few weeks is not a good idea, and neither is the Pineland 50K. Furthermore, I've already lost a lot of my fitness, and don't think I'll be in shape to run the Vermont 100 the way I'd want to this July, so I've decided that I'm going to withdraw and do it next year.

It came down to the following: I could either scramble to play catch-up and almost inevitably set myself up for major frustration, disappointment and/or injury... or, recover slowly and properly, spend the summer focusing on getting back into the running shape I want to be in, and hopefully run a really great marathon at MDI in mid-October (i.e. BQ). The latter makes more sense, so that's the route I'm going to go. I'll do a few smaller races this summer, with the grandest being the Mt. Washington Road Race next month and the rest being 5Ks or not much more.

Hard decision, but I feel it's the right one.

5 comments:

Runner NYC said...

I think the hardest decision to make is not to run. I'm sure this was difficult, but, ultimately, it'll be the right thing for you to do. Take good care of legs and your legs will take you far! Looking forward to hearing your progress and to the BQ recap!!

Love2Run said...

Very smart move Jamie. There's lots of time to get those races in next year and the BQ will come too.

Phil said...

Smart decision. You've got nothing but time to get yourself back in shape while staying healthy and hit a BQ somewhere down the road. Enjoy the summer, volunteer at a race or two and just enjoy yourself.

Banking Miles said...

I think that this is a good choice - not necessarily the most desirable in terms of racing but I think that it will turn out good in the end, especially when you are running well down the road completely healed. Good luck with the rest, recovery, and eventual running.

Rose said...

Sorry to hear that, but it sounds like the right decision. If there's one thing I've learned from running, it's patience. Best of luck with your running this week.