Back on the Damned Horse

The very first advice I got after announcing my failure was from my good friend Jimmy, who said "Stand up, brush yourself off, and get back on the damned horse." What seemed impossible in the immediate aftermath has become reality over the past few days. I've done some standing and some brushing (and a lot of thinking, OVER-thinking, and looping back around to rational thinking), and this morning I got back on the horse.

It was just a leisurely 25-minute jog, but it was a start. I've backtracked on my training a little bit. There had been quite a few weeks of overlap between my 5K training program and my 10K training program, but I backed up about a month on the 10K training, to repeat some really manageable runs and rebuild my confidence. I never expected to be ready to run the whole 10K on Oct. 31st anyway, so it should work out just fine.

I feel good about my recovery time. I ended up taking off only as many days as I'd originally planned to take. Considering how badly this whole experience threw me for a loop, I'm proud of how quickly I've been able to fight my way back. I wish I could have orchestrated a similar rebound during the stupid race, but better late than never. As always, I have to thank all of you for your support! It's amazing to see that so many people care. And several of you really got what I was going through in my head...I thank you most of all for helping me see that I'm not completely crazy, just mostly crazy. ;-)

Now I can answer the question "where do I go from here?" The answer is "FORWARD." And despite how I closed out an earlier entry, I do hope you will come along for the ride. I've decided to "Cowboy Up" at the suggestion of my friend Maria (thanks for that, by the way...it made me smile!), and I'll be registering soon for another 5K. Details on that will be coming soon, so stay tuned!