My go-back will be my comeback…believe it.

Always Starting…The Art of Never Giving Up is what this blog is all about and it will forever define me. In the spirit of the blog I have officially started Half Marathon Training to go back to the place where it all ended December 7th, 2018.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I know the psychic told me not to run but I did check with my surgeon, and yes I told him a PSYCHIC gave me this advice and he promised me my running had nothing to do with the tumor and to keep running!)

The story has been told in great detail except THAT story was actually the start of a new one leaving the one I was in without a conclusion. It is an impossible ending, it is not where or how it was supposed to end. I was at the Islamorada Half Marathon ready to race when I came down with the stomach flu that would coincidentally be the symptoms that would find the stomach tumor that would ground me for 9 months. I was ready to get that sub-2:00 that I had been chasing all year, trained hard, trained well and then…nothing.

The next 9 months would be defining as running has been as much mental as physical health for me. Running clears my mind, it changes my mood, it makes my organs hum and my bowels move :). Not running has been tougher than any race without an outlet; I have had to improvise; reading books by the dozen and ultimately publishing my writing. These things are not necessarily bad but they are not running; they do not give me that same “high” and mental fortitude that holds me together.

After much going back and forth, and some admitted laziness I have decided it is time to lace back up and get back out there. I am using Runkeeper Go Half Marathon training to get me back in shape to run. The first run today was proof that this slower approach to training is the right one as two miles just kicked my butt!!

I am going to close yet another chapter the right way and pick-up the chapter that ended in Islamorada back up and finish it. The chapter that is being closed is the one that took a stomach tumor, gallbladder, appendix, small intestine and a stomach. For goodness sake I am lighter without all of those organs which should equal speed…right!?

It is what I do, I am a finisher. It just simply does not end this way. It does not end with me never running again. The reality is that if I have it my way it won’t end; I will run forever, free, unencumbered and mentally well. I hope that you will follow my next 12 weeks and start something of your own, pick-up a chapter where you left off incomplete and do the hard work. It’s the hard work that builds character, courage and stamina for the fight.

Life as a runner…L.