47 Days of Running: Pre-birthday challenge 2023

Yesterday was Day 17 of '47 Days of Running', my annual pre-birthday 'challenge', which I started in the year I turned 35. 

This annual pre-birthday game sees me running (or another activity) every day, in the days leading up to my birthday, for the number of days of the age that I'm turning. Yes, I'm turning 47 this year. 

2020 was the last year that I enjoyed a 'Days of RUNNING' as I struggled with not-my-knee right-knee inflammation and pain for almost two years.

Last year's 'Days of Running' had a yoga focus as I was mostly walking and trotting with some parkruns; too scared to do too much in case my knee flared up again.

What the last year had taught me is that my knee has primarily been a physical manifestation of stress, of which there has been a truck-load the last three years.

In April last year, I went to a chiropractor for the first time and it was my first big leap towards recovery (following months of biokineticist exercises). Earlier this year I did a number of high-intensity track sessions, in preparation for a biathlon. Interestingly, this was another big leap forward. I'm now running more - further, harder and faster - and benefitting from every step I take. I'm not doing any big distances (mostly trail up to about 12km); it will take me some time yet to find my footing and confidence psychologically to know that I can run hard and not be laid up for two weeks dealing with inflammation of my knee, which has no problem.

While I've designated this year's challenge as a Days of Running, a majority of the days are running but I've also got my usual walks with dogs (Rusty is getting older now and running at my pace for a few kilometres is now too much for her) plus a number of proper runs each week. Achieving some kind of balance with the weekly GTR Social Run on Mondays (8km), the Thursday timetrial (5.5km), some parkruns and runnings of the FKT-route of the month (10-12km). 

For the April/May FKT route, I took seven minutes off my time over three runnings of the route, I'm doing really well on climbs and I'm definitely running fitter and easier. Steady and consistent is my mantra.

This coming weekend is the MUT (Mountain Ultra Trail) event, a feather in my hometown's cap. I'll be volunteering again as a marshal at The Cross and looking forward to seeing 1000-odd runners through my checkpoint, especially those on the 100km and 160km routes. I know a lot of the trails around here and I can just say that this is no easy run - even the 10km and 25km routes pack a punch.