I admire your dedication. I also like the spartan look of your site.

I'm a trail runner and I've been running over 18 years or so, not every day, but two or three times a week. Sickness or health, injury, birthdays, holidays, rain, snow, -30C. My last big run was around Christmas. After that I had about three months medical off-time. Now it's very hard to get back on track. I just had to cancel some summer running events. It's not just motivation, but general stiffness and musculoskeletal pains like shin splints and knee and ankle soreness. My guess is that at my (middle) age, you either do it or lose it.

I advise anybody to find something they like and stick with it. Vary it according to how your body feels, but always do something. Keep the body (and the brain) working.

▲

jdkoeck 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Have you tried getting back into cardio with a softer method like biking? Maybe that combined with some strength exercices could toughen up your body enough that you can start running again! Anyway, best wishes.

▲

nathan_compton 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Trail running has started to absolutely wreck my back. Part of the problem is that I can't wear shoes that have plastic in them because of an allergy. Advice?

	▲	nico_h 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There’s a movement called “barefoot shoes” / “barefoot running”. Very different gait from usual running and all the cushioning is in the muscles/ tendons. You can find some brands that have coton + rubber shoes (rubber is from a plant whereas plastic is from petroleum, don’t know if that works for you). And hemp or wool insoles. Probably not very durable but softer and more flexible than leather.