It's Time

It's been one hell of a couple months since my last race. After running Woodside, I felt great and had a feeling that my running would be going to the next level this year. Unfortunately, I may have jumped back in too hard the next week and paid the price over the last 2 months. And hey, just like that, the Miwok 100k has arrived this Saturday.

What I originally thought was strictly a calf-related injury, turned out to be more of an achilles tendinitis issue. Over the last few weeks I've been strengthening my support muscles and have learned some new techniques for taping and wrapping my legs to provide comfort. Up until this week, I wasn't sure what would happen this weekend. Now, I'm feeling much more confident and excited to get out there and just be apart of a race environment.

Looking out towards the Marin Headlands from the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. I'll see you on Saturday.

Normally, I'll set up some nice goals for my races ranging from super conservative to "wow that would be cool". This time, I'm not going to do that (at least not use the word goal). However, here is what I'm looking forward to on Saturday:

• Enjoy the race environment. The course, runners, scenery, etc.
• Seeing running friends that I haven't seen since at least February.
• Running with my pacer, Victoria.
  
• Watching some ridiculously fast runners out there.
• Finishing the race!
• Post race festivities - beer, food, hallucinating, leg replacement
  

I'll be staying in Sausalito this weekend with my better half on Friday and then my boys and parents will be coming in on Saturday. We decided to stay another night on Saturday so we wouldn't have to drive back to Stockton after the race.

Looking forward to the weekend!

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No Foolin'...It's Healin'

Happy April Fools Day. I think I can actually say that my leg is healing up. That's what not running on it will do for you (OK, I lied, I played softball on Monday night and was running). Here's what I've been doing to save my sanity and let me be able to run healthy soon...

• Stretching - Three+ times per day I'm doing 3 types of wall push-ups and some other stretches. Looking to add some yoga days in here.
  
• Rolling - I'm gonna unleash my dog on this thing soon and let him tear it to shreds. Just a big, blue foam piece of crap. Works and is less expensive than getting a massage (Oh yeah...I'm in the process of scheduling a massage). Great at getting those knots and junk out of the legs.
• Not Running - Ok, this isn't really saving my sanity, but it's probably the #1 remedy for not re-injuring myself. (What an awful thing)
• Cross-training - I've been all over the board with this but I've been working on a few different things: swimming & biking for cardio; weights for hamstrings and thighs; Core exercises for, well, the core. Need to support those calf muscles.
• Positive Thinking - What good is it if I'm depressed and complaining all the time about not running? Since my training is going to be nowhere near where it should be for Miwok, I'll have to rely on mental toughness and positive thoughts to make it through. Good time to start is now.

Glorybelle (from Get Out There and Run Already!) had a great quote today about courage from To Kill a Mockingbird (excuse me for stealing this)...

“I wanted you to see what real courage is... It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

I don't think there is any better quote for me right now heading into Miwok. She's also having some of the same injury issues I'm having and has a nice entry today on basically starting over and rebuilding her base miles for a future of 100% healthy running (instead of 90%).

Good luck with your training and races everyone. Stay healthy!

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