After having to stop my run streak earlier this summer due to some Achilles tendinitis, I rested and gave my heel time to…well, heal.

Within a couple weeks, I learned that I had significant soreness in the back of my heel when I first woke up in the morning and those first few steps out of bed where quite painful. However, within a few minutes, the pain lessened as I walked around. The more my tendon stretched, the more the pain went away. Most days found me without any pain at all by the end of the day. I’d wake the next morning with the same soreness again.

I decided June 19 to do a cautious 1-mile run. It went much better than expected. The first hundred yards were a bit sore, but as expected, the pain was dissipating by the end of the run. A little more stretching of the tendon afterwards made most of the pain go away. I chose to see what happened the next day…and then the next day and so on.

The biggest accomplishment was a week later, running a virtual half marathon because I’d already paid and signed up for the Hospital Hill Half Marathon. This race was to be on June 6, but made virtual due to COVID-19; the virtual race was to be done by the end of the month and my time was running out. I cautiously ran 1-2 miles each day until waking on Friday morning, June 26 and decided that I would attempt to run the half marathon. Because I was worried about my heel, I ran a 1-mile loop in my neighborhood … 13 times around. It was hot and I was not in my best half marathon shape, but I did it. My heel actually did okay, but my legs were out of practice for running that far. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to have met my goal.

I continued to run a little bit each day, mostly 1 and 2 mile runs with occasional longer runs mixed in. I wanted to make sure that I gave my heel the best opportunity to not get injured.

So, here it is in August and my streak continues to grow each day. Will I get back to a year again? I don’t know, but I do know that the run streak is a daily motivator and allows me to do something that I enjoy and look forward to each day. Let’s see how this goes…