So it turns out...
That my brief return to running has resulted in a not-insignificant injury to my left achilles tendon. I've been given some exercises to do, and instructed not to run again for at least a month (potentially longer) AND not if still experiencing any pain. My running/touch football/etc. career is pretty much over. And that's fine. I can still use an exercise bike, and should be able to use an elliptical again soon. I am going miss my running tours of Allen/Whitehall/Delaware/Madison however, no better way to see the neighborhood. I'm going to miss that nod of recognition when you pass someone else running the other way.
Putting a positive spin on it though... What if this had happened in a different country? In a different century? Hell, with a different background I'd probably have lots of manual labor injuries by now, a stooped back, no teeth, etc. Instead I just have to change up my exercise routine, and walk around like a penguin with a yardstick up its butt for a little while. I'm very lucky. Lucky in so many other ways too.
I've gotten better at realizing that. The decline in this journal is mostly due to a decline in time, a decline in the long-form worthiness of my anecdotes, but also a decline in journal-prone angstiness. If you had told me when I started this thing that at 30 I'd be unmarried, un in-love, and still in Albany I would have cringed in horror, certainly. But I'm also fully independent, with a good job, with great friends (located in more than just Clifton Park and Geneseo now, all over the place), and (actually my injury reminded me of this) my health. All of my close family is alive and doing well. I went kayaking with my Dad last week. We all got together for my mother's birthday. I got to hear my Grandmother's take on Bobby Valentine.
On the romance side of things, this has probably been my quietest year since I was a freshman in college. Ilana and I broke up in January, which was really hard at the time, but was also the right thing. I've had precisely two dates since then, both with the same woman, which were pleasant but without spark for either of us. I'm weirdly content with all this. Life is good. Slowly, constantly changing. I'm going to bang out my last two years of grad school and re-evaluate then. In the meantime, I'm ok with where I'm at now. Maybe I will end up settling down with that pug farm after all.
Putting a positive spin on it though... What if this had happened in a different country? In a different century? Hell, with a different background I'd probably have lots of manual labor injuries by now, a stooped back, no teeth, etc. Instead I just have to change up my exercise routine, and walk around like a penguin with a yardstick up its butt for a little while. I'm very lucky. Lucky in so many other ways too.
I've gotten better at realizing that. The decline in this journal is mostly due to a decline in time, a decline in the long-form worthiness of my anecdotes, but also a decline in journal-prone angstiness. If you had told me when I started this thing that at 30 I'd be unmarried, un in-love, and still in Albany I would have cringed in horror, certainly. But I'm also fully independent, with a good job, with great friends (located in more than just Clifton Park and Geneseo now, all over the place), and (actually my injury reminded me of this) my health. All of my close family is alive and doing well. I went kayaking with my Dad last week. We all got together for my mother's birthday. I got to hear my Grandmother's take on Bobby Valentine.
On the romance side of things, this has probably been my quietest year since I was a freshman in college. Ilana and I broke up in January, which was really hard at the time, but was also the right thing. I've had precisely two dates since then, both with the same woman, which were pleasant but without spark for either of us. I'm weirdly content with all this. Life is good. Slowly, constantly changing. I'm going to bang out my last two years of grad school and re-evaluate then. In the meantime, I'm ok with where I'm at now. Maybe I will end up settling down with that pug farm after all.