Every Race is an Adventure!

Well, I'm back in the saddle again...but a little saddle sore. After the 50, the marathon, and the relay I found myself physically beat up and...a little unexpectedly...mentally tired of running. I didn't run a step last week, which normally would drive me nuts, but it didn't bother me...and I maybe even enjoyed it a little.

Thankfully, I've got good running buddies to keep me from straying too far. I was talking with Larry yesterday and he said they were going to the track this morning. I was still feeling some pain in my knee and heel, but decided to go see how it felt to run on them. Larry didn't show, but Kent and Lyle did. They ran 1/2 mile repeats while I just ran slow laps.

I had a hard time generating any speed this morning. My knee and heel did hurt a little, but I think it was my right hip and overall stiffness that kept me running slow. I had read Tom Lee's blog from Saturday where he said, "Those darn scar tissue areas just don't ever seem to completely be happy, but I've found they do alot better being active than when doing nothing." I've learned that before. I'm learning it again. I believe Sasha calls it active recovery.

My current plan is to return to a previous plan to take aspirin regularly. My dad's heart surgeon recommended aspirin to me as a precautionary treatment for my family history of heart attacks, and it is a long established anti-inflammatory that should help with my arthritic hip, bad knee, and PF pain.

Gee whiz, I sound like I'm 80, not 50. I was talking with a good brother at church yesterday whose father is 87 and suffering from Alzheimers and is unable to care for himself. We had been talking about how life can be challenging at times. He mentioned that he is grateful just to be able to take care of himself and deal with the challenges each day brings. What a great attitude. The martial artist Bruce Lee said, "When you feel pain, you know that you are still alive." Gladly, I'm still alive.

I just realized I quoted both Tom Lee and Bruce Lee. I wonder if they are related?

I ran the Tuesday 2000 N hill route with Larry, Wayne, and Kent. Kevin joined us about half way through. Today felt better than yesterday, although the route starts out going up the 2000 N hill so it was hard to tell at first. I was working harder than I'm used to just to run 9:00/mi during the middle of the run, but I was encouraged by running the last mile at just under 8:00/mi. The normal pains were there, but not too bad.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne and Kent. I was encouraged when I got to the bottom of the first hill and was actually feeling a little bit excited to head up the hills. I pushed pretty steadily and reached top in 17:26, not a PR but respectable. Wayne finished well ahead of me. He's been training well, with a focus on hills, and it shows.

On the way back Wayne and Kent had gotten a little ahead when we reached the gradual downhill on 1600 N from 400 E to Main. I decided to take off and see if I could catch them. I had just mentally committed and started to accelerate when Larry realized his dog Ozzie hadn't crossed the intersection with us. I looked back and couldn't see Ozzie so I applied the brakes and went back with Larry to look for him. He wasn't too far behind. After we made sure he got across the intersection safely I restarted my acceleration down the hill. By now Wayne and Kent were far out of reach, but I managed to average about 7:10/mi pace for that half mile. If felt good to get my legs moving again.

After all the slogging I seem to have been doing recently, I'm beginning to feel sorta kinda a little bit like a runner again.

Larry decided to run 13 miles with his wife and her friend this morning, so that left Wayne, Kent, Kevin and me to run the Tuesday 2000 N hill route in reverse. I felt okay, but I was the last one up the first hill, the second to last up the big 2000 N hill, and the last one to the finish corner. I still feel good about the run. It's good to see the others running so well.

I told them to enjoy beating me while they still can. I was trying to challenge myself more than challenge them.

Kent and I drove to the mouth of Provo Canyon and met Wayne at 5:00am to start a 16 miler. We were expecting Larry and Kevin to join us this morning. We missed them.

We stayed together up to Vivian. I needed a potty break so I told them to go on ahead. I could see them about 100 yards up the road when I started, but I could never close the gap. We proceeded up South Fork until we got to the 8 mile mark. They actually went a bit farther and were on their way back down when I hit 8 miles and turned around to join them again.

I managed to stay with them until we got back to Vivian, but my knee, heel, and hip were beginning to complain, especially my hip. On the return trip from Vivian to the parking lot they gradually pulled ahead of me until I couldn't see them anymore. The miles got harder and harder for me. I felt like I was just hanging on at the end of a bad marathon day (like UVM a few weeks ago). With a mile or two to go, I saw Josse and a couple of her friends. I think she said they were marking a course for a race. I stopped briefly to say hello. She's visibly pregnant. I felt a lot like I imagine it feels for a pregnant woman to run...like I was carrying another person. My mile 15 split was actually 10:07...that's pretty slow.

Wayne had run the three miles to Timpanogos Park at 7:10/mi. He's been training hard and it's paying off. He ran back to find me and we ran the last mile or so in together. After stopping at the fountain of youth for a refreshing drink, I picked up the pace the last 0.75 miles and managed an 8:42 split for the last mile...still slow, but faster than 10:07.

I think 16 miles was probably farther than I should have gone today. I think my body is still recovering from my abuse of it in June. Still, I feel like I'm rebounding and I'm optimistic.