Healthy Doses of Optimism

With four and a half months down since my partial knee replacement, I am finally starting to build up real miles.  The Zero Runner has been instrumental in helping me work my way back to this point, but there is just no substitute for running outside.

My doc said I could return to ‘normal’ activity at the 6 month mark.  Since the 6 month mark won’t be until August 20th, I am a bit ahead of schedule with my training.  Even so, running right now is far from comfortable and I find myself getting discouraged periodically.  The hip on my left side seems to be in a battle with the new knee on the right side.  This battle is really messing with my stride and I am unable to get into that ‘zone’ that all of us runners like to escape to.

And the pace…..ohhhh the pace……..sooooooo slow……soooooo frustrating.

Yesterday I decided to run a route that I have been running and see if I could pick it up a bit.  Just a little 3.4 miler to see what I could do.  It was a hot run.  It wasn’t fast by my past standards.  The average pace was 7:52 per mile.  Way off my pace from past years.

But…….

Strava showed that I was ‘trending faster’.  It was the fastest I’d run this year and the first time I had averaged a consistent string of sub 8 minute miles since before the surgery.

It reminded me that I need to practice what I preach.  I always tell everyone to ‘Stay optimistic!’  ‘Believe that it will happen and it will!’  ‘You will run again!’  This site is all about giving you support so that you can achieve your goals.  Now it’s my turn to hear those words and take them to heart.  Based on how I feel right now, I would understand why people might give up running after trying a few times after their hip replacements.  It just doesn’t feel right right now.

I picture this recovery period much like running through a long dark tunnel.  That light at the end of the tunnel seems so far away, but with every step I take, that light gets a little bigger and brighter.  I know I still have a ways to go before I start posting times that are respectable for my age group, but I do know that they will come.  I am staying optimistic.