Clyde's Comeback!

Pushed Myler this morning. He's been up all night the last few nights with a high fever. So he and I didn't wake up til 9a.m. His room stays really dark and cool and we both were out. Anyways he woke up and felt ok so I talked him into taking a ride. Did ok but was crying and miserable shortly after getting home. 

For me the pace was slow and no watch. But honestly I felt ok all things considered. Major issues are the sharp pain in the left hammy and hip. Then the right ankle is still swollen and stiff. 

DC loop. Nice temps at 55 F around 7:30 a.m. I didn't push the pace but tried to focus on good form throughout the run. That was super hard to do because my body is all over the place. Ended with a 7:13 avg- I though it was gonna be much faster. 

Ankle Update: I finally got in to see a specialist and had my ankle examined and x-rayed yesterday. Tore the ligaments on the inside and the "little ones" on the top. IDK the names. The one that ripped on the inside broke a piece of bone off with it right down at the bottom. So now I know. It doesn't change much as the injury happened 3 months ago. The Doc injected my ankle with some cortisone to help the pain and because I told him I was going to run the marathon regardless. So the plan is now to get through this Saturday and then see how it feels. There is a chance that with less activity down the road that it could heal without surgery. But I've been running on it pretty consistent since the accident and it's never had a chance to heal. So I guess we'll see what happens then. 

As for now I still need to run and get through this weekend. So I hit up the DC loop this morning with the injection and some KT tape. Basically the same effort as yesterday but today I hit a 6:50 avg and yesterday I was a 7:13. So hopefully I feel like this on Saturday and not like I did yesterday- there would be a big difference in finishing time and also just overall feel/ drama.

Inner B-hills loop this morning with Ben V from my house. Super EZ and chill run at chatty pace. Temps were great at 55F which is basically where it's been for the last couple weeks in the mornings. Should be a good one for the big dawgs on race day. Golfing this afternoon with Ben and Riely- looking forward to it!

B-hill loop again. Woke up at 5 a.m to a crying Myler. Couldn't go back to sleep so I just headed out the door. A beautiful crisp, cool morning- Seems like it's been the same every morning for  a couple weeks. 

The run seemed good. I feel much better than I did about 5 days ago. I even have a little hope building up for this race tomorrow. I'm not dumb enough to think that I'm totally healed and ready to bust a big race off but the cortisone shot has really settled the consistent throbbing ankle pain down and everything else has seemed to follow in loosening up. So I'll make the most of it and run my best. I'll really know how good I feel tomorrow morning after a few of those downhill miles. In weeks past on training runs that has been a killer... so we'll see.  55 F outside this morning.

64f at my house @ 4:40 a.m before I left 

56 f at a gas station sign in Veyo on the bus ride up

High of 91 f this afternoon

Not very often do I sit down and write a race report where I'm totally happy. Today I'm thrilled with the outcome. Not that I PR'd or won the race but I did exceed expectations big time. No one really knows how crappy I've felt the last month. Not just my ankle. Sickness, fatigue, achy sore muscles, joints and bones. Honestly if I would have found out I had some terminal illness it wouldn't have surprised me at all. And after my last 3 Saturday long runs I honestly though breaking 3 hours would be a big stretch. I know after running a 2:35 today that sounds farfetched but I just was out of it physically.

But the last 3-4 days my body rallied and started to come around. I got the shot of cortisone in my ankle on Tuesday and then other things started to fall inline too. Just had a pounding headache and mild fever the night before the race but I was way better than I had been.

We got up to the start in the traditional manor. Leaving the rec center at 5 a.m, bus ride, porta potties... At the start I felt really optimistic. Dave said you should just come out with me and I said maybe I'd try a mile if it wasn't too fast and then go from there. We didn't get the cold temps that had been forecast but there was a good tailwind for the first half or so. I didn't notice it much after the half.

First half in 1:16:20ish

We hit the first mile in 5:55 then worked down to some 40's and even a couple 30's coming into Veyo. I felt pretty good. Kind of worried about the faster pace because it's been 3 months since I did any run fast and longer. Went up Veyo relaxed at 6:17 then basically 6 min pace up the Dameron hills miles. I was blown away at how fast I got to the halfway point. I hadn't been watching the clock so I didn't really know where I was. At Veyo Ben and Dave pulled away from me about a min up- I was suprised I was so close to them because I thought there was no way I'd hit the half any faster than 1:20. But when I got there and realized I could go sub 2:36 with 6 min pace on the way in that's what I did.

From the half to the finish I worked. It wasn't EZ but there was no big wall. I just kept grinding out 5:57's other than the Winchester mile and mile 26 that were about 6:13. But even the fast Snow Canyon miles or the other downhill miles from 19-23 I just couldn't go any faster than5:55 or so. But I was doing it. One mile after another they just kept coming to me. Ankle was holding up too. Yeah it hurt but no sharp (kill me now) pain. My calves seemed way too tight the whole race but I think that's from running with a messed up ankle and compesating my stride. Didn't have any goals as far as placing so when I'd get passed it didn't stress me out like in a normal race. I'd just stick to my own business and keep grinding my 6 min miles. It worked. 2:35:32! Really, really blessed and lucky to have it come together like it did... because this day could have been so bad.