Running shines a light on your character traits. 

It can develop a level of self-awareness that people pay a lot of money to therapists for. 

Whilst it can show things you give yourself some credit for, there are other aspects that demonstrate a need for self-improvement. 

One thing it has opened my eyes to is the art of catastrophising – and it’s not something I’m particularly proud of. 

I tweaked something in my foot a couple of weeks ago; it was made all the more frustrating that it wasn’t sustained through running. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was something of a freak accident getting a bag ready in a rush (I’ve definitely got clumsier as I’ve got older). 

My foot felt a little uncomfortable, but I continued to run easy on it without the problem getting any worse. However, when I tried to up the pace earlier this week my foot didn’t particularly enjoy it. 

I cut the session short before jogging home and letting my mind run away with itself. 

‘That’s the end of your year then, Mark... you might have broken something...’ 

‘It takes a long while for foot injuries to heal.’ 

‘You’d better get on YouTube to find out what you’ve done.’ 

Rational thinking takes a back seat, particularly when you start thinking YouTube is the answer. 

I’ve convinced myself several times this week that I’ve either fractured my fifth metatarsal, got Morton’s Neuroma or damaged a ligament. 

I wallowed for a day and was a nightmare to be around. Eventually I thought about what I would tell a friend if they were in a similar situation. 

Rest it for a while. Get it checked by a professional. Cross train until you get to the bottom of the problem. 

So that’s the plan as it stands with no more attempts to self-diagnose using the internet. 

I’ve got races booked, which I’m trying not to think about too much because I could be back running within a couple of weeks with minimal fitness lost. I’m trying not to waste time or energy thinking about worst case scenarios – I've done plenty of that already! 

It serves to show how important running has become, perhaps too important when you wrap up so much of your self-esteem within it. 

It’s not like being on the sidelines is alien to me; I know the process and deep down I know that you can always come back stronger in the long term if you’re patient and disciplined. 

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If you can show those qualities then you can get back to where you were before and even surpass those levels. 

It makes you appreciate the process of setting a goal and chasing it down as much as life allows at times. When you’re in the middle of a training block it can get very easy to take things for granted. Many runners, including myself, barely take time to press pause and appreciate the running peaks we've scaled. 

I’m not suggesting we all sit around and give ourselves a big pat on the back on a weekly basis. But sometimes we need to take stock of what we’ve achieved so far. 

An injury or a niggle can force you to do this. We have a tendency to always look forward to the next event; sometimes it’s about appreciating where we are and where we have been. 

Concentrate on today and tomorrow will look after itself. 

After all, injuries are temporary, running is permanent.