Easing my way back into it

September is always a month of transition.

Summer slowly fades into fall.  The hot weather of August gives way to cooler September nights.  Baseball is replaced with football on TV on the weekends.  Kids adjust to waking up early for school.  Parents spend hours filling calendars with all the family activities and arranging carpools to sports practices.  We mourn the loss of hot, lazy days at the pool while we simultaneously embrace the routine that comes with the school year.  

I am definitely easing my way into the transition.  

I am enjoying having all the kids back in school.  I am looking forward to soccer games, school functions, gymnastics practices and swim lessons.  I am loving having a few free hours in the mornings so I can grocery shop in peace.  And I am hungry for some time to write and to connect with others.  But I am most excited about my transition back to running.

I had to give up running completely for most of the summer and relied instead on doing Insanity workouts plus the occasional spin or swim workout in order to feed my addition to exercise-induced endorphins.  But they are really poor substitutes for the joy I feel when my feet are pounding the pavement or hitting the trails.  

The last straw for me was when I had to drop out of the Hood to Coast team that my husband and I had put together with friends and had looked forward to all summer.  I ended up driving the van for the team (and had an amazing time) but I spent the weekend feeling like an addict who had their favorite drug in front of them but wasn't allowed to partake.  I'm not gonna lie -- I was so jealous every time one of our team members jumped out of the van to run that it was painful at times.  

I finally saw an orthopedist and, following an MRI, received the news that the cartilage under my left knee cap is "roughed up".  While I was initially devastated and thought this spelled the beginning of the end of my days as a runner, I have since changed my outlook.  I am seeing a physical therapist who believes strongly that I will be back running pain-free soon if I work on some simple strengthening exercises.  Of course, any damage that has been done to my cartilage is irreversible but there is no evidence that my running is the sole cause of all this damage.  Yes, it would be naive of me to think that there was no relationship between my years of high-mileage running and damage to my cartilage.  But I have also been an active person my whole life and I'm no spring chicken.  So, taken in context, a little damaged cartilage isn't all that surprising.  I am seeing the orthopedist again this week where I am hopeful he will clear me to begin running again.  

Of all the things that I am easing myself back into this month, running is by far the one I am most excited about.  As the days get shorter, my runs will hopefully get longer.  

We celebrated the end of summer with a trip to the Oregon coast over Labor Day weekend

The last ice cream of the summer

Who else has been injured recently?

Do you miss summer already or are you ready for the transition to fall?

- Kristen