A few years ago, no longer being a guy that could literally jump into his running shoes and bang out (seemingly, at least) any amount of miles, I invented a little running trick that I employed today.

I have shared that I found that the transition from treadmill to roads is no longer simple and easy for me.  Running on roads has been much more challenging.  The hills, the asphalt, the uneven surfaces… all of it, makes running on roads hurt – a lot.  It doesn’t hurt in the sense of an injury, it just causes pain.

I never used to mind pain.

And I won’t again, once I get strong.

But it’s the getting strong again part that hurts!

I don’t like to have to walk on any runs.  I feel it is cheating.  One can’t say “I ran three miles” if he walked part of the distance.

A few years ago, I developed a technique to counter this problem.  If I did have to walk on a run (like I did today), I would walk forward for a bit and then turn around and go back to the spot where I stopped and begin running again from there, not a tenth or a quarter mile up the road like what normally might happen when one takes a walking break.  

I used that technique today as I went outside (not the treadmill) for a two-mile run.  

I can do two miles on the TM, and have.  I need to get to the point where I can start covering distances outside on the roads.  

I’m not pleased that on today’s run I stopped three different times to walk, but I am proud that each time I returned to the spot where I stopped and resumed running from there.  Because of this I ran two full miles outside on the roads.  It wasn’t two miles without stopping, but I ran all of the two miles I covered.  Because of the walking ahead and back, my body probably covered 2.6 miles, but I’ll just count this as a two mile run.  

As I ran, I kept telling myself, “In order to get stronger, you need to get stronger.” Sometimes these little running mantras that I make up help me.  I think it helped a little today.  

I need to build up my mental toughness, my physical toughness, and my ability to put up with the discomfort and pains that come from running.  I need to get stronger in those areas, but the only way to do this, is to push through and get stronger.  We get stronger by being stronger.

I’m getting stronger.

My Achilles surgery was 123 days ago.  I am making progress.

One step at a time…