Every Race is an Adventure!

I dressed based on the thermometer this morning. When I went out I was surprised to realize it was raining pretty hard. I went back in and swapped my outer long sleeve shirt for a jacket. I jogged up to the corner to see if perchance Larry or Wayne was running today. I didn't see them. During this time I realized that there was a pretty strong wind to go along with the rain so I went back home. I was tempted to just stay there, but instead I put on my long pants, put the long sleeve shirt back on, with the jacket, and headed out for a solo run.I only went 5.1 miles at a very easy pace, and my knee was a little stiff, but I enjoyed the loop up through Lindon.

If the weather isn't too bad, and my knee agrees, I plan to run again at noon. I'd really like to get my weekly mileage back up to 50 and headed towards 60, but I'll have to play it by ear and take what my body gives me.

Karen and I visited our Chinese friends Kenny and Mindy on Saturday night. While Karen and Mindy worked on their food plans for girls camp this summer, Kenny and I, and their pre-teen son Nathan, just hung out and talked. I asked Kenny what they knew about "gua sha" (the scraping techinique Josse and others on the blog use). He said, "gua sha?" and looked confused, but then he said, "Oh, gua sha!" I guess I don't pronounce Chinese very well.

It turns out they use it regularly. I was a little embarrassed when I mentioned I had bought gua sha tools. Their tool literally cost them 1 penny. It actually is a penny, stored in a bottle of Vic's Vapor Rub.Kenny also pulled out his cupping set and taught me a little about cupping. I found it very interesting and am considering purchasing a cupping set.

Their son Nathan knew all about gua sha and cupping and demonstrated both for me on himself, going so far as to raise a sha rash on his leg with the penny. Kenny said that whenever he feels a cold or other illness coming on he has Mindy do his whole back. He said she did it once while they were at a hotel. Since it was his back, and it didn't hurt at all, Kenny forgot about it and went to the pool. When other people saw his back they thought he had been whipped or beaten.

I find this all very interesting. I've been experimenting with doing a little gua sha scraping on myself. I'm not sure I've been aggressive enough yet to do much good, but I'm pretty sure I haven't done any harm. Kenny assured me that it is very safe, that I shouldn't worry about doing any damage, and I should be quite aggressive. He says Mindy is very aggressive on him and it has never hurt him. I plan to be more aggressive, but by degrees.

Kenny explained that the western approach is to cover up, wrap, and bandage injuries and treat illness by putting foreign chemicals (drugs) into the body. The eastern approach is more focused on getting the bad stuff out of the body and letting the body heal itself. The latter seems to make more sense to me. The wisdom of man creates drugs and medical treatments, many of which are nearly miraculous in my eyes, but they are imperfect, and none approaches the incredible wonder of our bodies themselves, created by the infinitely greater wisdom of God.

I plan to consider the advantages of both east and west by exploring the eastern a little deeper. It's already very interesting.

At noon I went 6.25 miles on the extended Lake View route with Nathan. There was a little pain in the back of the knee, but it didn't affect my running much and we averaged 7:35/mi.
 

Larry and I were talking last week that we needed to get back on a regular route schedule. We've just been picking our routes on the fly through the winter. So this morning Larry, Wayne, and I ran our traditional Tuesday morning route which includes with the big climb up 2000 N then loops through Lindon. The back of the knee was a little stiff again this morning after the two-a-day yesterday. I wasn't sure how it would handle the big uphill, but it wasn't too bad. I like the fact that when it hurts it usually hurts before the run and feels better by the end.

As I think I mentioned yesterday, Larry, Wayne, and I are trying to get back on a more regular route schedule so today, being Wednesday, was the "big hill", a.k.a. the water tank hills. This is the series of five hills that starts at 800 E just north of the cemetery and climbs about 700 feet in 1.5 miles past the water tanks above Orem. We run a little over a mile to get there so the entire run is about 5.2 miles. No speed records today, but it was good visiting our old friend (this route). The weather was good and as usual the view of the valley was beautiful.

At noon I ran the Lake View 10K route with Tom. We were about 4 miles into it and running at about a 7:45/mi pace when Darin caught up to us. He said he had been chasing us for a while. He slowed down to run with us, but our pace for the last two miles still sped up to 7:26 and 7:27, with the last 0.2 at around 7:00/mi. Tom kept going for another mile at the end. My average pace for the 6.2 miles was 7:46.

I went one mile early then met Larry and Wayne and we went another 6.5 looping through Lindon. It was another beautiful morning for a run. My legs were a little tired from the increased (back to normal) mileage this weak, but still felt pretty good.

I ran from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to Vivian Park and back with Larry, Wayne, Kerry, and Nathan. It was pretty windy and a little chilly for my short sleeves when we started at 6:45am, but I never really got too cold and felt very comfortable most of the run.

Kerry, Nathan, and I pulled a little ahead of Larry and Wayne on the way up. But Larry and Wayne were not far behind and when we made a bathroom stop at Vivian they got a head start on the return trip. We didn't catch them until Bridal Veil. We pulled a little ahead again and then Nathan left Kerry and me and pulled ahead quite a bit farther.

I averaged 8:20/mi for the 12.25 miles, about 8:45/mi going up and 7:55/mi going down. A couple of the downhill miles were in 7:34 and 7:35. I feel good about the run, especially considering that I never really made any conscious decision to push hard at any point during the run. Mentally I was treating it as an easy run, although the pace was a little quicker than I anticipated and to call the effort easy would be stretching the truth.

All in all I would consider my "ignore the back of the knee pain" week pretty successful. I managed to put in a 48 mile week without aggravating the injury. It still gets a little stiff and sore, especially when I'm stuck sitting at my desk for a long time, but it hasn't gotten worse and actually feels quite a bit better.