New Year’s Eve Runfessions- A Thrill of Hope
Hi there! Well, here we are on the last day of the year. Thanks to Marcia for hosting the last “runfessions” of 2021- let’s get right to it. I only have one big thing to confess, and it’s this: I’m REALLY glad to see the end of 2021. Of course it had its shining moments like any other year: But other than that, to put it as eloquently as possible, 2021 kind of sucked. I dealt with my foot issue (plantar fasciitis and peroneal tendinitis) literally the entire year. I alternated between running, kind of running, not running, and pool running while I tried all sorts of remedies. Let’s not forget the bonus hip injury where I ended up in PT, and the mysterious aching knees after that. By November I was receiving shockwave treatments and running short distances, but running just felt hard. The week before Christmas I had a mysterious digestive issue and my running took a further hit, and THEN, as the icing on the cake, I got Covid on Christmas Eve. At that point is was almost a relief to give up on the whole thing and rest. In a post on Christmas Eve, Elisabeth shared a line from Oh Holy Night: “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” That line ran through my head all day long. “A thrill of hope.” I felt it! Not just for me, but for the whole weary world. I actually had Covid- the thing we’ve all been trying so hard to avoid for the past 20 months- and it really wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t fun, but I was vaccinated so the omicron variant wasn’t dangerous to me. The next variant will be weaker, and the next one after that weaker still. I can see our way out of this whole mess. And for some reason, on Christmas Day I started to walk a little easier.. Something turned a switch in my brain that day, and now instead of expecting pain when I step down, I expect it to feel good. It might have been the ibuprofen I was living on- or maybe it was a Christmas Miracle. Whatever-I’m looking ahead with true optimism to the new year. I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine! Goodbye 2021! Hello 2022- I’m ready for you. Would you say 2021 was a good year for you? Are you ready for 2022?