I’ve been trying to get back to 50K running form for over a year now. After my 50 mile race in 2016, everything has been a struggle. I DNF’d at the Superior 50K and didn’t bother even trying a second loop of the Surf the Murph 50K in 2016. Then, 2017 found me trying once again to ramp things up and just not having the mental or physical fortitude to make progress.

Now that we’ve entered 2018 I started to feel like my mind was getting back to where it needed to be. Despite getting a late start I am aiming for getting my training back in order to tackle at least one 50K this year. January was hit/miss because of illness, which led to it’s own frustration. However, February has been a nice solid ramp up. I ended January with a 26 mile week, and then backed down to 15 before climbing back to 18, 25, and 39.5 this past week. For the first time in a long time, I completed the mileage on the training plans that I use from Relentless Forward Progress.

The best part is that I’m actually feeling good, both physically and mentally. My head is in the right place, and I’m enjoying running again. This past week I went out for a 10 mile run on Monday and found myself at mile 8 before I really even thought about it. Perhaps it’s helped by the slow progress toward Spring with it’s warming temps and brighter skies, but I feel like I’ve turned a corner. There’s nothing like that feeling when you get your groove back again (hopefully for quite a while).

With my run scheduled for tomorrow I should top 100 miles for the month, which I haven’t done in a long time. It feels good to be back to a place that I was proud to be at before. Granted, I’m not nearly as fast as I used to be, and I still want to lose 20 lbs, but I’m making progress. Sometimes all we need is a bit of a break to reset things and learn to love running again. It’s hard to go through, but it’s fun to recover on the other side.