Finally a Post

It has been the longest 'dry' period between posts for this blog.  I have a couple of excuses - both true, yet both still being excuses...

Excuse#1
I took time off to go back through the first draft of my novel.  Now I'm in a 2-3 month editing process that should improve a reader's experience.  Writing the novel was fun.  Editing can be fun as well.  Just not as fun...

Excuse #2
I've been injured and depressed.  I hurt myself a bit finishing the Hawk 100 Marathon.  Something went a little off in my hamstring and IT band in my left leg.  A couple of weeks later, on a 17mi training run, my shoe caught a clump of grass and torqued the same leg up higher in a groin-adjacent area (but not a groin pull, mercifully).  So a couple of weeks later, I obliterated any chance of a speedy recovery when I completed the Prairie Spirit 50 ultra.  I ran a few times after to increasing pain each outing.  Finally, after run-walking the last mile of a 7 mile run at Clinton North Shore, I decided to take a couple of weeks off.

Two weeks off running... Something I haven't done in... well ever.  It didn't really suck as much as I thought it would.  I had my Specialized bikes - Sequoia (for road) and Rockhopper (for trails) - and an Olympic-size swimming pool 100 yards from my home's back door.  I got in a few good rounds of disc golf as well.   But I fretted about losing things like muscle memory and running fitness.  After two weeks I decided to hit the trails., a pied, again and see how things had progressed.  Somewhat frustratingly, no improvement to report as I did 5 days of 5 miles on the river trails.  At least there was no decline. So it was both good and bad news...

Then, a week ago, a friend gave me a treadmill.  I got it just as the weather turned nasty.  And running 4 miles a day on the stupid thing seems to be helping, not hurting - and I'm not sure why.  But every time my hammy gets sore or stiff, I hop on the mill and run.  When we get back into the 30s or 40s this weekend, I hope to hit the trails and see if improvement has taken root.  Never a fan of treadmills, I am finding that, in this case, the machine may just become my new bff.

-------

My buddies at Bearded Brothers shot me a care package of their awesome natural energy bars (and a couple of groovy discs - a mid-range and a putter). That was a real pick-me-up, and hugely appreciated. If you haven't heard of them, check them out at www.beardedbrothers.com . Get on their email list as well - they run a lot of specials.