Old Man Still running

I'm still recovering from Bear 100.  Boy, do I still feel beat up!   Two weeks ago on Monday after Wasatch 100, I felt great, almost no pain, but boy oh boy, what a difference.   Last night sleeping was a second night of restless, painful sleep with lots of moaning.  Calfs and quads hurt.   I can't figure out why the recovery is harder for the Bear.  It always is.  I was on a faster pace than at Wasatch, that might have been the difference.  Oh well, I should be fine by the end of the week.

No more steep mountain training is needed for the rest of the season.  My last two 100s for the year are mostly flat.

My attention is now turning to the Pony Express Trail 50 and 100.   See:  http://www.ponyexpress100.org   18 days away.   I put on this no-fee race because I love running out in the west desert, but need some company because it is so remote.   Looks like we may have about 20 runners this year.  

If anyone wants to give it a try, let me know.   A crews (a driver) is needed to drive along with you to provide support (drink, food, rude comments).   We have a great time.

Well, I feel more like a living human today.  Last evening was rough.  I felt pretty sick.  Another restless night's sleep, but with less moaning and groaning.  So it took three days to bounce back this time.

Now that the soreness is disappearing, what remains is the soreness from the bad fall I took at mile 12.  I've discovered a painful bump on my head, a bruise on my shoulder, a sprained index finger, torn finger nail, and a deeply bruised upper quad.   Thank goodness the handheld water bottles took most of the impact.  I remember seeing both bottles squirting out fluid.  I fell as I was really trying to pound a steep technical downhill, passing two runners.  After I passed the second, down I went.   It took me another ten minutes to recover and pass him again, but from that point forward, running down hills was painful and I had to slow down or just block out the pain like I did during a fun stretch with Jon.

The windy dusty storm yesterday killed me.  Didn't sleep well and felt rotten by morning so worked from home and rested.   The cool rain cleaned out the air and I feel much better this afternoon.   Thoughts of running again are starting to enter into my mind.  I'm guessing that Friday might be the day to get back in the saddle.

I finished my Bear 100 race report.  See: http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=162   Big thanks to Jon again for his amazing pacing job.  He found ways to push me fast.

Wow, five straight days without miles and I don't even feel guilty.   The legs are just about ready, but the foot will take a couple more days.  I decided last night to cut off most the dead heel skin....ooooo gross!    About 3x3 inches.  It was sad to see that tough heel skin go and in its place tender wimpy skin.  So the foot is tender but healing fast.  I'm enjoying the vacation from running.   Need to go buy some new shoes.  I've concluded the La Sportive Wildcats that I love only last about 300 miles, given what I put them through.

No miles again today.   Maybe if I keep this string of zero days going, I will finally retire from running.   My legs feeling better.  The heel is still is sore, but taped seems about ready to run.

Mentally, I expect I'm ready because I had another running dream last night.  I get a real kick out of my running dreams.  They make me laugh all day.   OK, this time, I was in some sort of 24-hour race around an oval track.  I was targeting for 100 miles in less than that time.  Of course running in your dreams is frustrating because it is always like running in thick jello...just can't get the speed going.   However, I was keeping up with the group of runners.  I was concerned about how my lap count is being recorded because I don't have a chip on.  I ask someone at the start line and they tell me I've done 25 laps, so I don't worry.  But then I got off course.  How in the world can I get off course on an oval track!!!....pretty stupid, but I did.   Well my delay wasn't too bad, I got back on track.

Well, I kept running, but somehow the track shrunk and of course, as always, my running dream headed indoors.   I now found myself running aournd a huge kitchen with the island in the middle.  I could grab onto the edge of the island to push myself forward faster since the feet are always so slow.   Soon people in chairs and tables are crowding my loop and I have to push them aside and clear out a path.  I then discover that I'm the only one running this loop now.  Everyone else has quit.  Some man starts telling me what I am doing is crazy and rude, that I should stop.   I keep going for awhile, but then decide that this is crazy to be running around a kitchen, so I stop.

OK, so after work, I think I will ease back into running again by running around my kitchen island.   I can see it now, the dog gets riled up and starts chacing me, barking behind.  My wife comes into the room, "....what on earth?"   Ha, ha, just trying to fufill my dreams!

My string of zero mile days only lasted six day. Between conference sessions I ran six easy miles with the dog. My legs started to take me up into the hills, but I reminded them that we need to be focused on the flats for my next two 100s. Pony Express Trail 100 in two weeks and Javalina Jundred in four weeks. The goal for both is to break 24 hours. I need to get the legs used to striding out and getting speed on the flats. The quad and heel were a little pained, but no bad. Next week I'll get some good miles in to loosen up and lose some weight.