"IT IS WHAT IT IS!"

The shirt and crutches speak for themselves. When you're used to running almost every day for almost eight years, have surgery and are told that you may not be able to run again you go through the same stages of grief that you go through with any other loss. I found a funny list that had donuts and beer as two of the stages of grief. Unfortunately in my case that may have been more truth than fiction. I wound up putting all of the weight that I had lost back on between being limited in what I could do physically and both drinking and eating too much it was a bad situation. Instead of eating and drinking less to offset the lack of exercise I was doing more of both as a stress reaction.

I think when I finally realized that in this case, "It is what it is", didn't mean I had to accept what it was is when I decided to do the Greenland Trail 8 Mile when I was in Colorado. While it was hard and I did have some soreness afterwards I realized that if I couldn't run races then I was going to at least walk some races.

Before I knew that I was going to have surgery I had signed up for the Bay to Breakers, an iconic San Francisco race. I knew that walking it wouldn't be a problem after I had done Greenland. I had signed up to do the race four years ago but decided against it because the logistics seemed overwhelming. In the meantime I have run enough races in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area that I was confident in getting around. The event was basically a rolling fair or carnival right from the tortilla tossing at the starting line. I'm glad I did it but it would be more fun doing it with family and friends.

The next race I decided to do is one that I had done each of the past three years. It is a Shadow Chase Club race, the Modesto Memorial Run to support veterans. It was a one mile race and I was glad I did it for the 4th straight year. I finished right behind a friend, Don Harris who is having some health issues of his own.

So now I've walked races of 8 miles, 12K and 1 mile. I decided to do a 5K next and signed up for the Marina Bay race in Richmond. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed being involved with the whole running community atmosphere.

So while I'm still eating to much of the wrong things I did make June a "No Beer" month and that has helped take a few pounds back off. I came to the realization that "It is what it is" doesn't mean it has to stay that way. I have now done four "races" even though I have had to walk them and I will continue to do so until I can try running again sometime in the future.

It would have been easy to do nothing and feel sorry for myself. I'm glad I chose to just try something different and walk rather than run events until I can run them again. Next up is a 5K in Eugene, Oregon next month when I go for the Olympic Trials.