Optimism is just hard to find sometimes.

Injury, an endurance athlete's worst enemy.  Injury starts as doubt and culminates in constant pain and eventual time off.  This is a result of our effort to be the best.  We push our bodies right up to the point where we are teetering on the brink of injury.  Our bodies are constantly fatigued, tight, and sending those signals to the brain to stop.  To be an endurance athlete, especially in today's competitive world, means pushing the body.  

I started 2016 with the goal of becoming a professional triathlete.  I am half way through 2016 and don't even know if I can really run again...  I finished 2015 with a nagging foot problem and I started the season the same way.  Every time I ran more than 30 minutes my first metatarsal joint would throb, my second toe would scream, and my left leg would fatigue.  All of this is related to that gruesome accident I encountered in 2014.  I pushed through most of the pain going into the 2015 season and set new PRs.  Eventually it caught up to me which started with my first podiatrist visit in May 2015.  Four podiatrists and over a year later I am indefinitely finished with running.  Man, I can honestly say it is extremely tough to write those words.  Running is what changed my life.  It brought me out of depression, thoughts of suicide, and just a tough time of my life.  I am attached to running.  I love cycling, don't get me wrong, but it just doesn't fill that void.    

Raleigh 70.3 was the last triathlon I raced.  I came off the bike in 2nd place after biking the top amateur bike split.  The first mile of the run felt great but then the foot pain started to creep in.  I tried to fight the signals to my brain.  The pain grew with every step.  After 3000 impacts my left foot started to overpower my determined mind...  I pulled out while I was in 2nd place in AG.  I just wasn't mentally capable of suffering through another 12 miles.  I decided it was time to stop messing around and just get this foot problem resolved.  I am only 25 year old and there is no reason to suffer for another 50+ years.  So with that, I am seeing a foot and ankle surgeon at the end of August.  I am always hopeful that the next doctor will give me the answer I want... to be able to run again.