Yearning to Break Free

As I finish up another great tome by Dean Karnazes (Run! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss), I find myself holding back the urge to lace up my shoes, head out the door, and hit the open road once again. It's been 19 months since my last ultra, a 50K (31 mile) run along the Potomac in Washington, DC, part of the North Face Endurance Challenge.  Since then, I've struggled with persistent achilles pain that began long before DC but eventually getting to a point of having had to scale back significantly, even stopping my running for several months. A few physical therapists and a personal trainer later, coupled with an extensive gait analysis leading to orthotics and a change in shoes, I'm pain free and ready to ratchet it up once again.

I''ve set my sights on the Wisconsin 50K leg of the North Face Endurance Challenge this September. Between now and then I'll work through a 25K and a marathon (or two), while getting back into the swing of long weekend runs in early morning hours to outlying towns and other destinations.

Don't really know how it will all work out, but I recognized long ago that I'd rather run with pain then live life without running. Dean's extreme passion inspired me to run ultras the first time. Since then, I've accomplished more than a few marathons, 50K's and 50-milers, even taking on a 100K and a 100-miler. His latest writings convince me that it's time once again to hit the roads and trails. There's really no sense explaining why. I just need to break free.