Adventure Sneaker

After a  setback that wiped out a month of training, I am very happy to say that things seem to be getting back on track.  The past few weeks have been full of limping, stretching, icing, heating, walking, biking, (a teeeeeeny bit of whining), physical therapy, and now….. running!

After a few failed attempts to get back out there, I took a much more careful approach this week.  I had my first PT appointment last week, and have been (sort of, mostly) following everyone’s advice.  I took it easy, did some walking, and decided to give the running a go again on Monday.  I took a ride up to a dirt track up the road – not far from home if I needed to cut it short again, and nice and flat.  Perfect.  The goal was to try for a mile or two and see how it went.  A little running with some stretching breaks in between, and I had hit 6 miles!  (oops).  I have never, ever, ever been so happy to run in circles!!! 

Curving around toward the bluff… such a calming place

After another PT session  and a rainy day on the bike trainer inside, I decided to try a “real” run today.  I headed down to Bluff Point with the pooch, always a favorite place for some scenery and training. (P.S., you too can run there and support a great cause – check out the Twilight Trail run on June 1!). 


I’ll admit, it took me a while to get going and run today.  It was gloomy and a little chilly, and most of all I was really afraid it wouldn’t go as well as Monday.  I do not want any repeats of a gimpy walk home.  Once I was out there though, it was fantastic!  I felt nothing for the first two miles, everything felt completely normal!  My knee and calf felt a bit tight at that point so I stopped to stretch and kept on going, with no troubles 🙂 🙂  The goal today was to do one loop of the main trail, 3.5 miles of very wide dirt-roadish trail with fairly good footing, and a few ups and downs. The loop felt great… so I did another one.  (oops).  I am very encouraged that things seem to be getting back on track – two decent runs this week, and so far so good.  None of the fun stuff (twisty off-camber, rocky singletrack) yet… As much as I’m pushing it, I also know I have to be careful, because it won’t take much to be back to square one again. It’s time to continue the therapy and the good-girl(ish) approach.

The woods!!!!

This week has definitely been good for the psyche – I have 11 weeks until race day, and I realized that I really might be able to do this thing after all….. and then promptly had a teeeeeeeeeny panic attack when I stopped and thought about the fact that I have signed myself up to run 100 miles.  24 hours straight if I’m lucky and earn my belt buckle.  30 hours maximum.  I saw a blog post about a runner who just laid down and fell asleep at one of the aid stations for over an hour during the night, around 80 miles into the thing.  He Fell. Asleep. In. The. Middle. of. The. Race. AAAAck!  I managed to snap myself right out of that pretty quickly.  It’s no secret I’m a bit nuts and have a little thing when it comes to pushing my limits.  I ran 50 miles a couple of times already, so obviously this is the next logical step, right?  It’ll be fiiiiiiiine.

For now I’m going to stick to writing blog posts instead of reading them and keep the good vibes and good running going.  Tough Mudder is on tap this weekend – It will be a great time with some great buddies, and I’m realllllly hoping I can do the thing.  10 miles up and down Mount Snow with a bunch of hellish obstacles and freezing cold water thrown in – no big deal, right?  Hopefully I’ll be wiping the mud out of my eyes (and everywhere else) and enjoying a cold brew with the team on Saturday afternoon post-race!!

The Tough Mudder Crew…. Team Ghetto Van (don’t ask)