Over the last two years I’ve run three ultramarathons that were longer than 50 miles. I ran the Georgia Death Race in March 2023 (70 miles), the Cruel Jewel 50 in May 2024 (58 miles), and the Georgia Jewel in September 2024 (100 miles). After each of these longer ultramarathons I’ve had to work through injury. After GDR I had post-tib pain for a couple of months. After Cruel Jewel I had shin and calf issues, and after Georgia Jewel I had foot and shin issues. Going back to March 2023, I’ve been injured to some degree about half the time.
It’s time for a reset.
I registered to run the Cloudland Canyon 50 mile race this coming Saturday but last night I logged into Ultrasignup and cancelled my registration. I am registered to run the Georgia Death Race in March 2025 and I’m about 90% certain I’ll cancel that registration before the end of the month.
It’s time for a hard reset.
I am sick of being injured all the time. At the end of the day, I love to run, and while these long ultras are appealing to me, they don’t seem to be aligned with healthy running, for me, at least for now.
The plan for right now is to take the entire month of December off of running and then to resume running very short distances and very slowly on January 1, 2025. If all goes well, I’ll spend 2025 building a healthy base of consistent running and focus on races that are 25k or shorter. For the month of December I’ll focus on strength training and spend some time on the exercise bike to try and maintain some basic aerobic fitness.
