The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

One mile swim in almost perfect water in Cancun.  Since I had the whole afternoon here, I ran the first decent run in a long time.  The first run that seemed like anything resembling training anyways.  I could hold about 8 min miles, any faster and it just hurt too much on the ankle.  Took a 30 min break and hit the ocean again for 3/4 mile swim.

This was supposed to be another easy 10 mile run but everything hurt too much from yesterday so I cut it short and did another mile swim.  The water off the coast of Mexico is as clear and calm as I have ever seen it right now.  Almost makes up for not being able to run at all.

In March I applied for a permit for the Mt. Whitney trail.  Since it's a lottery, I was denied.  On Friday the NPS called me and said that they had some cancellations and would grant me a permit on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  Since the window is rapidly closing weather wise for this hike, if I want to run it, I'm heading down to give it a shot.  I can't wait to try a hard trail run up to 14,600 feet that is 22 miles long.  About 6 miles of the trail are above 13,000 feet.

In addition, I got a comp entry to CIM on Dec 2nd which is about the perfect amount of time to get through this ankle injury.  It means I can focus on just training for a few months, throw a race or two in for fun, and get ready for one last marathon in 2012. 

Mt Logan trail.  Started at the 4,600 level and did most of the run up to 9,000 and back.  At about 9 miles my ankle was killing so bad that I had to stop until it got under control and I could roll it around on a big rock until it loosened up a bit.  After 20 minutes it felt good enough to get going again and finish the run.  About 17 min miles up and 8 min miles down.

Started at the 5,000 foot line and ran 4 miles up to about the 8,000 foot elevation of the Mt Logan trail.  This is the 5th steep run in the last few weeks that I have started running again.  The purpose has been to hike/run steep anough that I can keep my heart rate up without having to pound the ankle, and to have some ankle rolling excersizes in.  Went good today, finally a run that felt close to normal.

1200 meter swim after lunch

Off day

Just enough time for a quick 4 miler.  Heading down to hang out with the Browns in St George with the kids to watch everyone racing tomorrow.

Came down last night to hang out with the Browns, watch the race, and get the kids some St George sun.  I decided it would be a crazy to just sit around if I could at least get in part of the race so I called SGM and asked for an entry.  Long story short I ended up picking up a bib number at 5:30am still not sure if I could run this.

This morning was as perfect conditions as I have run a marathon in as long as I can remember.  Cool, tailwind, downhill.  The only reason that it was doable for me.  By about 10k I could tell that my ankle was going to be fine and I was talking to Mark as we ran about it.  He gave me some great advice, to take my time on the rollers after Veyo and then pick up pace again around 14 or 15, which is just what I did.  I was nervous about the race the whole time, after what happened at TOU, but didn't deal with the ankle pain until 23 miles.  The race just went perfect for me, I tucked into 6:23 pace and it felt great the whole race.  I really needed this run to get back into the game with my head since the past two months have been spent dealing with this heel and ankle stuff.

Great races today by Fritz, Scott, Walter, and a host of others!  So neat to get a chance to talk to these guys after the kind of racing that they do.  Makes you feel cool just to know them a bit!