I think I have a high ankle sprain. I think I need to rest it for six weeks to fully recover. I’m going to a sports doctor on Monday, so I’ll know more after speaking with him. The last two weeks I’ve run once a week. Both times I ran my ankle hurt while running and afterwards. While resting it, it definitely began to feel better.
If I rest it for six weeks, then I should not attempt to run 31 miles on Jan 9. I could probably gut it out, but my legs would not be in shape to have a good race and I would definitely risk injuring the ankle again. Typing this feels pretty devastating.
I think that I will volunteer at the Bandera race. It will be nice to get out there. Then I’ll plan to run either a 25k or 50k in March. Joe and Joyce Prusaitis are directing a brand new race the “Nueces 50″ in March, which includes a 26.2 mile race.
I will probably wait until the last minute to register for races in the future until I am very comfortable at the distance. This might cost me a little extra money and I might not get a T-Shirt, but it will keep me from overtraining and then feeling devastated.
I have a lot of respect for people who run ultra distance trail races. There are probably a few that never experience problems, but my guess is that most everyone deals with this sort of thing.
I have achieved athletic feats in the past year that I never expected I would achieve. A few years ago I thought the days of me considering myself an athlete were long gone.
Napoleon Hill wrote that you should always look at adversity as opportunity. Adversity always deals with perspective. Currently I can’t reach my goal of running the Bandera 50k in 6 hours. But does not running that race, open other opportunities?
