• If you got to it once, you can do it again •
[2 MIN READ]
I started showing up to recent SRC runs after a few months of absence. Two recent weeks were because I had the good fortune to be on a Rhine River cruise (with Viking, if you want to know). This here Rumination isn’t about that, but I did give a few SRC friends a heads up and there was some feeling of overlap with the club. For the one and only thing I’ve written, you’ll have to go to the Jenkintown Running Club’s Cerebrun incarnation of this little feature (iCandybyWangC.com and elsewhere unless otherwise stated).
This piece is about the obvious fact of how much an injury can change physical conditioning. A year ago, I was commenting regularly about how much the ability to do a Shawmont Avenue run set me in good stead for marathon training (in particular, feel free to check out this 2023 Rumination (“Thankful for Shawmont 14-Mile Runs“).
In December, after this fall’s 2025 Philadelphia Marathon, I broke two toes (“Be Careful“). Suddenly, the conditioning underwent a complete change. Twenty-mile weeks went to 1-3 — which is still more than anyone would recommend — but it did take time to properly diagnose what was going on, and, in the meantime, I could at least do those low-single-digit efforts without excessive pain. All along, I’ve been champing at the bit to ramp up, but realism is a thing. I had been thrown back to the earliest days of my running, over 10 years ago (Midlife Crisis).
March saw those single-digit weeks go double with the addition of Saturday long runs near home. Experienced runners who have been injured know that the body knows what do as mileage starts increasing again. This body’s body did. Last month saw me starting to do some SRC 10 milers. And finally, last week, I was ready to do a Shawmont Avenue.
Thanks to Tall Dave, it wasn’t nearly the point of anxiety I expected it to be. In fact, I was planning a Shawmont Short 13, but he convinced me the trail from Northwestern Avenue south to NW north was a bigger threat than the extra mile. Thanks, TD! I finished fine and didn’t experience nearly the soreness I expected.
With Philadelphia 2026 in my sights and my fingers and healed toes crossed, distance reconditioning is underway.
–CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue (iCandybyWangC.com)
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 5/9/26), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination with added caption, duration, and enumeration.
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