21/08/2025
Zen Flow Running Diaries – Week 17/19 🏃♀️
The path is rarely straight. The last three weeks my hip impingement has been flaring, reminding me (loudly) that even the most finely tuned interoceptive awareness can be a double-edged sword.
When you can feel everything so clearly, every ni**le, every whisper of discomfort, sometimes it’s hard not to over-listen.
Seeing my osteo .osteo has helped me create a plan of action: rehab, strength, and conscious pacing. I’ve dialled back my running volume, stepping back even further with a full rest week so that the hip has space to heal and re-align.
Strength work and my own rehab work have taken centre stage, but still, my Oura ring has been a quiet mirror, showing me resilience and recovery scores that aren’t quite where I want them to be.
Last weekend at Paus in Cambridge, I finally allowed myself to stop and reflect.
Sauna heat, cold plunge, silence. A reset, a reminder that recovery isn’t a box to tick but an active practice, as essential as the miles themselves. It was the pause I didn’t know I needed to admit I’ve been pushing too hard.
Now, with just two weeks until race day, I’m letting go of rigid plans.
It’s going to be a case of running by feel, listening with patience rather than judgment. I’ve also given myself the gift of a week off work to lower stress, soften the nervous system, and create the right ground for healing.
It’s frustrating to have worked so hard only to feel held back by a ni**le but perhaps this is the practice.
Not the miles, not the medals, but learning how to move with the body you have today, not the one you wish you had. Every setback carries its own quiet lesson, and maybe this is the one I most need to hear.
The half marathon is still there, waiting. I’ll meet it however I can…..steady, present, and hopefully a little lighter in body and mind.