Old Man Still running

Out the door at 4:15 a.m.  Ran out to the ranches and through the Church farm.   It turned out to be much colder than expected, close to 30 degrees.  My finger tips froze in my cloth gloves.   Wow, winter is coming.   The legs felt OK, but I never really warmed up.   Hopefully I'll find some speed this week.

Ran into work this morning.  First 10 miles were good but I pooped out for the last five.  It was nippy, saw frost on the bushes, but I wore and extra layer and warmer gloves, so felt fine.   This is a good run to get ready for Pony Express 100 in 10 days.  Trying to get the legs used to striding out and running faster as opposed to the short stride mountain climbs I have been doing for the past couple months.   Hopefully it will come together in a few days.  I'm still feeling slow.

Highlight of the run was as the dawn was arriving, I was at a small reservoir in Riverton.  There were hundreds of geese on this long narrow pond.   As I approached they started honking.  They were all next to the shoreline near me, but then in a hugle long line, they all moved together and swam toward the other side of the pond.

I might run home from work too....we shall see how I feel.

pm ran home too.  felt much better.  after 10 miles I finally warmed up and the legs no longer felt heavy.

Right ankle pain today.  What is up with that?   That is my good ankle!  I don't remember twisting it recently, but I learned from my serious ankle problem in the left foot that the tendon can flare up weeks after an injury.  Perhaps I twisted it during the Bear sometimes or all the crazy running I was doing to protect the blister and the quad did something to it.  Who knows.   I'm hoping it goes away fast.  It is on the same tendon as the other ankle that has been a problem for six months.   Well, glad my tough trail races are behind me.   I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm still running on worn-out shoes as you can see from me shoe tracker.   I have a new pair of wildcats on the way.

Ran into work again this morning, 15 miles.   Did it about 15 minutes faster than Tuesday, and felt much easier.   Geese and ducks still on that pond.  They don't like my green light.  I ran half of the run by moonlight.

Mystery solved!!!!   Why did I have such a problem with my right foot during Bear 100, the terrible heel blister?   I bought new La Sportiva Wildcats and compared the new shoes to my old shoes.  I was flabergasted to see how bad the old shoes were....I would call it a complete failure in the shoe, the right shoe in particular.  The heel is compressed more than a half an inch, sloping to the inside and the sole itself on the bottom have huge cracks in them.   The result is that it cause my heel to keep slipping toward the outside of the shoe.  I did very little training in the shoe, saved them for the three 100s I ran during the summer.  I believe the shoe failed about half-way into Wasatch 100.   So that is disappointing.  The shoe feels great and performs great, but the durability is probably only about 200 miles on rough terrain.   Rumor has it that even Karl Melzer, who is sponsored by La Sportiva, throws away his shoes after just one race.   My Montrail Wildwoods that have just as much miles on them don't have any of these problems.   The heel cushion system La Sportiva uses must just be poor.

My ankle pain from yesterday is gone.   I won't worry about it.   My remaining thing to whine about is some PF in my right heel.  I've had that flare up all summer.   So, I have something in common with Eli Manning, the QB of the NY Giants.  Gee he missed practice because of it yesterday, but I sucked it up and ran 15 this morning.  Who is tougher?   I just try to ignore it and eventually it calms down.

pm. ran home from work.  Felt strong. Ready to start a one week taper before Pony Express 100.

I noticed that my 2009 miles are now 33 miles ahead of my record 2008 miles.  October should be another 300+ month.  Below are some silly charts I use:

I went out with the dog.  I planned on just an easy run on the flats, but after a couple miles the legs turn up into the foothills and kept going.  Eventually I found myself in a canyon I had never been in on Lake Mountain.  As I climbed higher into the canyon the maples were amazing, flaming red.  I wish I would have had my camera.  The road we were on finally ended high up on a slope.  It seemed like a strange place for the road to end, but as I looked around, I could tell that it was a hunter's perch.  It was a perfect vista to scan many slopes for deer.  The hunt will start next week.  I could see footprints of hunters already scouting out the location.    We turned around to head down and I was amazed at my little dog.  She blasted down a steep smooth section with amazing speeed.  She would then stop and give a look like, "Come on you slow poke."   Wow, I wish I had her downhill speed.

It was really one of the runs where life seems so incredible.  It was just so good to be out in the amazing autumn sunshine.   We dodged a couple groups of shooters and made out way back down to Saratoga Springs.   I really had to hold back the legs.  They seem ready and eager to race.   Hold back.  Wait for Friday.   The poor little dog was pretty tired by the time we returned home. She did great.

Also, I had to post the top miles on the blog for the week.  79 miles.   Someone probably will best that.  Pretty funny how I had 79 miles this week and only 6 miles last week.  Well, next week I'll top the blog again with over 100.  Come on Jon, try to top it....he, he.  OV50 coming up for you.