The Comeback Trail


 The Comeback Trail


I’m always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I’ve been.

-Billie Holliday


    I’ve lost count over the years of how many times I’ve had to comeback from something. There was a former boss that said to me “you remind me of that song about getting knocked down”. It was a reference to the song “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba released back in 1997. I struggled in that business but somehow I had these triumphant moments that would erase the memory of all of the things that made me look cursed with lack of success. 

    After having two surgeries in 2024 I am back on the roads running one mile at a time. I can only run one mile because of doctor’s orders as well as current fitness. When I came back from my run a few days ago I was dripping sweat and I sat in front of the fire place as though I had just run a half-marathon. My last run before my first surgery last year was in January. My first run after my first surgery was in July. Are you keeping up? My last run before my second surgery was in October. 

    I can count the amount of runs over the past year on my hands (and feet) so of course, I’m on the comeback trail. Before this was the Great Covid Comeback of 2020. High School football brought a pulled hamstring and a separated shoulder. Marine Corps boot camp delivered a hamstring pull, pneumonia, MCL and LCL issue that put me on crutches and a new affliction called costochondrtitis. 

    The good news is that I’ve done this so many times it isn’t unfamiliar. By no stretch of the imagination do I enjoy this but I know what it looks and feels like. I know how to push through it. I would love to run two marathons in 2025 so my training begins now. Actually, it began a week or so ago when I was given the go ahead to run again. I guess I have thirty weeks or so to get marathon ready. I’m excited to write the program and start running it but it’ll be a long time before my program looks like the other programs that I’ve written or seen. It’s literally starting at the equivalent of ground zero as a runner. My VO2 Max is like an NFL quarterbacks number and the accompanying weight gain has made the comeback that much more difficult. But it’s a comeback and I know what it looks like.

    Before the Brooklyn Marathon a few years back I was emotional at the start. Just making it to the start was an accomplishment that year because of the amount of setbacks keeping me off of the roads. What will come of this comeback and how long before a setback? I’m not going to worry about that second bit right now because I am too busy planning my comeback.

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