Run that ye may Obtain

7 miles in 7:30 pace

The prarie dog near mile four perched up on his mound and gave me an enthusiastic wave as if to say “top of the morning to you!”  Finally after a year of running past his home three or four mornings a week he’s decided to be neighborly.

Around mile six I saw an older gentleman who’s sharp white and black facial hair and jaw line suddenly reminded me of my Dad.  My heart sank as I started wishing I could go hiking with my Dad, see him cheering for me at the end of a race, or just sit down and chat with him.  The last time I was able to do any of those things was three years ago before he passed away.  At least I still have lots of good memories and thoughts of him.  I miss him.

7 miles in 8:20 pace

Healing slowly, but surely.  Hamstring felt better after a day of rest yesterday but now after my run this morning its a little tight again.  I’ve iced it a few times today.  I’ll cross train tomorrow and try running again on Wednesday.  I also have an appointment with Richey, the Chiropractor on my team tonight to get some work done on it.

The good news is that my sickness that kept persisting all last week (pink eye, congestion, fatigue, headache, ect.) has finally passed!

7 miles 8:49 pace

Another slow, easy run.  But a RUN, nonetheless!   It just feels right to take it easy as my injury is still healing.  If I push the pace, it causes me to alter my form and I don’t want that to cause an injury somewhere else.  Nice and sunny here again today.  Gotta love mid-50s in January!

9 miles in 7:47 pace.

Sunny 25 degrees.  After a 20 minute warm up, did 7X50 stride (100 step) pick-ups to get my legs moving.  Sidewalks were mostly clear but trails still have some drifted, crusty snow and ice.  Ran on the road for most of it.  Felt GREAT!  Aaron massaged my legs for me last night.  I’m going to foam roller them out some more this morning to make sure I get all that tightness out to avoid a knee seizing relapse.

10.5 miles in 7:54 pace

Got out for a 10.5 mile run in the 25 degree windy cold.  Didn’t dress warm enough because I stopped feeling my hands, face, and forearms at some point.  It was nice to get out for some fresh air though.

I was going to go for 12 miles but at mile 10 my left knee suddenly had a spasm.  It was strange.  I didn’t twist my ankle or step on any big awkward object or anything, but my knee just told me it was done for the day.  I did not feel any tightness in this knee the entire run until suddenly at mile 10 when it literally stopped working.  My direct route home was still a little over a mile and I was really cold so I walk/jogged the rest of the way home.  It didn’t hurt when I walked and jogged very very slow but if I tried to pick up the pace at all it twinged severely again.  NOT GOOD.  Has anyone else had this experience?

I may have pushed too hard with the thera cane two days ago and damaged some tendons near my knee?  I had been feeling a small bit of tightness in that knee since Monday but I thought it was just because my quad was tight and the tightness was nothing compared to the severity that I felt today at mile 10.  My other theory is that my legs were just not liking running on the uneven cruddy ice that was out there today.  I ran on the clear road for as much as I could but there was still plenty of slipping and crumbly chunks of ice to get through.  Maybe I’ll take tomorrow off and ice my knee on our drive.  We have a long day of traveling and need to be in Utah by 4:00 p.m. for a party anyway.  That will give me some extra time to heal over the weekend.  Please let it be better by Monday!

10 miles in 7:55 pace

Aaron worked on my legs for about 45 minutes last night doing some PUSH Therapy that his massage therapist does.  I have these golf ball sized knots on both sides of my glutes that shoot sensation down my hamstrings and through my hips when he pushes on them.  PUSH Therapy is not just finding knots and trigger pointing them but rather pushing gently on them while I move the muscles extending out from them.  For instance, as I’m laying on my side, Aaron finds the adhesion in my glute.  He gently pushes on it as I extend my leg down, drop it to relaxed, move my leg forward, drop it to relaxed, move my leg back as far as I can, and drop it to relaxed again.  The idea is that the movement aides in breaking up the adhesions and also works the pressure Aaron is putting on me across the muscle instead of just up and down the muscle.   It starts to fatigue my hip muscles after a while so it also becomes a hip strengthening exercise.  My left leg did not feel the same tension today as it did yesterday, so all that therapy he did must have helped.

I went to the gym this morning since I had to drop Abe off at school early for a class field trip and the girls were ready to go for the day anyway.  Ran 10 miles on the treadmill.  Started out around 8:15 pace, stopped and stretched after 20 minutes and then bumped the pace up to 7:45 pace.  Watched CNN with Abe’s MP3 player since it gets FM reception.  Saw Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize which apparently is given based on peoples promises and good intentions now.  Also saw lots of debate on the Health Care Reform which is moving right along….as slow as molasses in January.  Saw images of all the hundreds of other U.S. Cities that are freezing their bums off this week too.  Then I saw a story about a guy on trial for murder with swastika and other offensive tattoos all over his face and neck and the public is criticizing the Judge’s decision to pay $150/day from State funds for a makeup artist to cover up his tattoos during the trial so as to avoid offending people.  Gimme a break!  If the guy got the tattoos to express himself and represent what he stands for then that ought to be in full disclosure to the Jury and anyone else who cares to watch his Trial.  Seems silly to me that they would consider covering them.  These kind of stories are why I RARELY watch the News.  They just irritate me.  Finally after this story, I just stuck my Ipod back on my earphones and listened to music.  It was much more uplifting.