The End Of The Streak

I originally wrote this article for my running club newsletter in August of 2007. It gives you an inkling on why I'm obsessed with running.

The End Of The Streak

My stack of logbooks say that It had been 21 years and 8 days since I missed a day of running. It started on January 25, 1986 and ended on February 2, 2007. I don’t even remember the reason why I started running every day. It just sorta happened and became a habit or a necessity like brushing teeth or eating. I could not imagine not being able to run, be it to force myself to do at least a minimum of 15 minutes, all the way to 3 hours or more when preparing for a marathon. The last three years have been a struggle as I have suffered through some painful injuries. The left achilles tendon injury in 2004 which lasted a whole year, then the posterior tibialis tendonitis on my right foot the past two years which prescription orthotics failed to remedy. In other words, I had become brittle. Through all the aches and pains I struggled to maintain my daily running ritual. In recent years, my weekly mileage had dropped steadily from a high of approximately 40 miles a week , down to about 15 miles a week. The decrease was due to my body's inability to recover as quickly as it used to. To compensate for decrease in mileage, I cross-trained by using a stationary bike, and a rowing machine with an occasional weight training session.

On January 21, 2007, I was out for a slow one hour run. At about the 50th minute, I was about to cross a street when the traffic light suddenly turned red. I made a quick right turn then stepped off a curb on my left foot. Due to the quick turn, I miscalculated the height of the curb and landed awkwardly and heavily. I felt a twinge of pain on my outer left thigh but was able to continue running and finish the hour undoubtedly the pain numbed by the endorphins circulating within me. I managed to hobble/jog for 20 minutes each of the next 3 days, then was able to do about 30 minutes on the 4th day.

Its kinda difficult to run when your stronger left leg which is now injured is being supported by a right leg with an ongoing posterior tibialis tendonitis problem. It creates all kinds of imbalances and compensations by other muscles just to keep upright and keep moving forward. Either that or you just pound away on the same pre-existing injuries.

A few days later on my regular every other Sunday run with AREC, I was even able to do some pick-ups on a 7 miler (10 minutes warm up, then 5 sets of variable intervals: 3 minute pick-up, 1 minute recovery jog, 2 minute pick-up, 1 minute recovery jog, 1 minute pick-up, 2 minute recovery jog, then next set). I felt twinges of pain and was ready to stop anytime the pain got worst, but somehow I managed to run the whole 7 miles. I was thinking my leg must be getting better. Five days later, I tried doing the 3/2/1 interval workout again. This time things didn't go too well. I tried pushing past the pain and in doing so, not only aggravated the left thigh injury, but made the pain unbearable. I wasn't sure if I could even run the next day. Tomorrow came and I planned on running for only 20 minutes. I tried to run to my neighborhood video store to return some rented DVD's. I hobbled with excruciating pain from my door to the video store, all 5 1/2 minutes to cover 1/2 mile. After placing the DVD's in the return slot I tried to resume running but after a few steps the pain was too much to bear and I had to stop. I walked slowly back home a beaten man. My 21 years plus daily running streak had ended, and not by choice. Was it a great endeavor to try running everyday for the rest of my life? Or was it just a foolish obsession despite the cumulative injuries? If it were you, what would you have done?