That 50K Goal Won’t Happen This Year
I just deleted all the “beginner 50K” websites from my Bookmarks Bar. When I need them again, I’ll Google them. They are no longer aspirational to me. They are a reminder that I still have tons of work to do to heal an injury and that 50K is too far away right now.
My goal of running 50K will not be met this year and while I still keep it tucked away in the back of my mind, I don’t know when I will be ready to meet it. I have a foot issue that I can’t seem to fix. Some days a mile-long dog walk is too painful to manage. (We adopted a pit-bull mix last year; he needs a lot of exercise.)
I’ve run a marathon. My favorite distance to race is the half marathon and I enjoy a good ten-mile race, too. Several years ago I made the switch from road racing to trail racing, and I love that trail racing accepts both my slow pace and my love of running uphill (high school and college coaches noticed my natural skill for it). I hadn’t planned on running 50K ever, but last year, when we adopted a dog who loves to run but needs some training, and I was just getting back into running after a long year off, I thought 50K by the end of 2021 was a reasonable goal. But injury and life and so many other things interfered. For some of the things, I need to suck up and do the work. For some of it I may still need medical intervention. I’m figuring it all out, day by day. But for now, seeing those bookmarks every time I open my laptop is not helpful. I even managed to derail a 5K training plan this month. 50K is just too far away right now. Maybe by the end of 2022. I’m aiming for 5K by the end of October, with my doggo trained for it, too, and I will go from there.