The title here, a bit tongue-in-cheek, is my motto if not an outright battle cry for coming back from an injury. I had a lot of time to think about that in my 2016 rehab and comeback.
I fell on August 6 and had surgery about three weeks later. I could only hunker down for the first week, but got in a few short walks. Hobbled around in one of those big super slings with the hefty arm pad. I got on the exercise bike at the fitness center within a few days and started out with 20 minutes a day, was up to 45 to 60 minutes within no time, and after two weeks I added 30 minute walks a few times a week. In late September I got clearance to start up on the eliptical trainer (hand free of course).
The big break came in early October when they said I could start running easy a few days a week. I ran outside a couple times but was told to stay on the treadmill, and for the most part I did that. Felt great to be back running again. Through October and November of that year averaged about an hour a day of cross training and running, thinking a lot about what I wanted to accomplish in 2017.
In the meantime we moved from 5,500 feet elevation in suburban Denver, into to the foothills at over 7,000 feet. This has proven to be a big bonus. A little more hypoxia for 12-15 hours a day means more red blood cells and more oxygen carrying ability. This, along with the diet changes earlier in the year were two of the three factors that got me onto a track that have allowed me to reach levels I would not have dreamed of.
In December of 2016 I was up to 40 miles a week, following rehab routines to the T, and without the doctor’s approval jumped into a snowy 10K race with my son (was still supposed to be running indoors at this point). I ran that in 39 minutes, outkicked by my son.
In first comeback race, Mikko takes down Dad with a half K to go. Shhhh. Don’t tell the doctor!
I finally got full clearance from the doctor in early February. Ran a few low key local races as tune-ups, and had my sights set on a March New York Road Runners 10K in Central Park. In that race I started cautiously, not really knowing where my fitness was, but by 2 miles locked into a 5:50 pace, and finished in 36:08, my fastest 10K since 2009 (8 years) and 89.9% age grade (a PB). Three weeks later I ran the Platte River Half for the third year in a row and posted a 1:21, a course PB, and the next month a 2:58 at the Colorado Marathon, to win my age group and BQ by more than 55 minutes. And to cap off the comeback of 2017–in which I got more than even–we traveled back to Alaska following our son’s graduation from college. There, I ran the Midnight Sun run in 35:43 and for the first time ever nabbed an age grade of >90 percent. Comeback Mission Accomplished!
September 2017, a new state half marathon record for 55-59 age group! 1:18:40.
To close out the year, I traveled to Tulsa and ran the USATF 15K masters championships, and ran 55:29 to place 3rd in the 55-59 age group and nab my first age group medal a bronze. Six weeks later, I returned to the Club Cross Country Championships in Lexington, KY in the biting winds and 20 degree temperatures placed 5th, bumping up three spots from my last outing in San Francisco two years earlier.
2016 had been a rough ride with some great times, but 2017 was better than I had dreamed of. In 2018 I would turn 60 and couldn’t help but look forward to that
rrunnin234 