Well, I made it to 12 days with a consistent running streak at over two miles running each day, before getting hit with an injury. On day 13 I ran through the pain of a strain on the outside of my left calf. I’d planned to only run two miles that day, a recovery run. On day 14, when I’d planned to run six miles, I only ran half that distance, also fighting through the pain. Do I attempt day 15, or take a pause here?

In a normal week I run only three to five days out of the seven. Pushing my running habit to two weeks in a row, even though it’s by no means a major effort each day, may have caused the issue/injury. It’s frustrating. If my intent is to get to 50+ miles a week, and I’m hitting an injury wall at around 35 miles a week, how do I get beyond that barrier and back to a place where it was the norm?

The question now is whether I take some days off and hope the issue resolves itself, or keep the streak going but at a lower mileage than planned. I’ve tried ice, tried ibuprofen, tried compression. At this point, I guess the only option is rest. I think it’s a matter of pride and spirit that kept me running, and I have to set that aside for a few days.

So it goes. Getting older sucks.