This is a quiet path in my hometown. Little snow flurries flew as I ran through the woods the day before Thanksgiving.

It was a chance to get off the streets of the city and ‘into the woods’. It came at the right time. A change of scenery and, to some extent, terrain. I was happy to take advantage of a series of paths and trails that run through my hometown. It felt a bit like I was running over the river and through the woods. I always seem to forget that hills exist outside of Chicago. It felt like an adventure even though I considered these same paths to be pretty boring when I lived nearby.

Last week, I ran a total 30 miles, 5 runs. I haven’t run more than 30 miles in one week since the week of September 9th. (what….). That week, I ran 45 miles with two strong workouts and a long run to prepare for the Grand Rapids Marathon. I was on my way to peak week. And then, the breakdown abruptly happened.

Last week, my legs welcomed the miles and my lungs craved some hard work. I probably would have scoffed at 30 miles a few months ago. Today, I’m celebrating it.

I’m getting back to basics.

The base mileage is slowly coming along, with a very gradual increase in miles each week. Along with weekly ART sessions, the easy miles feel like therapy to my legs. I’m sure that the ART treatments will taper off a bit as my legs fully recover. Slow, but steady improvement. The PT said on Monday that he can already tell a difference in the texture of my muscles in my left quad and hip (and it’s only been 3 sessions).

The future is still scary. I want to dominate the Boston training cycle and hope that my body can cooperate. I’m trying to take it day by day and continue to be patient so that April is a celebration of hard work and discipline. I can’t help but bounce around race ideas in my head for late fall 2014.

My brain is in it and my body is coming around to the idea of full training mode again. I think…

-J