For the second year in a row, I’m declining my spot on the United States 100K team.
Last year the decision was an easy one. I wasn’t excited by the prospect of competing abroad because I had not been racing well in general and wanted to avoid another big, complicated trip that would likely end in disappointment.
Since then, the racing consistency on which I pride myself has returned, and so has my desire to attend the world 100K championships, the next edition of which will be contested on November 7th in Gibraltar. However, my left Achilles tendon, which has bugged me intermittently ever since I tore it in March of 2002, flared up again about three weeks ago (for no discernible reason) and has limited my training since then.
It’s possible that someone else in my situation might manage to arrive in Gibraltar healthy and race-ready through some careful combination of icing, stretching, cross-training, running, etc. But I can’t do it. I dislike cross-training and stretching and icing, and I have three grant proposals and an overseas conference talk to finish between now and November 5th.
As Liz can attest, my uncertainty about whether to continue training for Gibraltar and inability to train properly have been accompanied by feelings of stress, bitterness, and depression. Now that I’ve decided to skip the race, I feel a lot better.
My Track Record 
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