Focus

Contrary to how it may seem, I don't actually stop every minute on a run to take pictures of pretty (or not so pretty) things. But I've definitely been taking it easy these days, playing with my new Elph 100 Canon and rarely pushing myself physically.

You see, I’ve had this nagging knee issue. Not serious enough to keep me from running, but debilitating enough to keep me from working toward the things I like to do. Like epic runs in wild places and challenging races. It came on strong in December, backed off last month, but has persisted enough to keep me from upping the mileage on “long” runs, or running anything very steep. For awhile I embraced this unusual injury as a chance to run without a plan, however many miles I felt like running that day, for the pure pleasure of it all. Sounds wonderful, and it worked out nicely for a time. But now the lack of clarity, combined with the fact that my knee is still not completely healed, is starting to have a negative effect. Its the routine weekday runs that have me asking “why bother?” in the mornings as I pour another cup of coffee. Beautiful hills and Riverparks aside, running around here eventually requires a goal or you will stop bothering.

The trick now is to find a reasonable but satisfying goal for Spring. One that is realistic enough to allow my knee to its continue healing and yet provide some sort of motivation for my efforts.