running........

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks of no running and my foot is no better for it.  I'm going to start back with some super easy miles this coming weekend so I won't be hitting Bandera completely cold on Jan 10. Not sure what to make of my foot situation.  Several months ago we have some good friends who are building a house out of a mud concoction and they enlisted of bunch of friends to come out and help for a day.  When we got there they immediately put me to work working on the mix for the mud bricks.  To do this you have to use your bare feet to mix it up.  Well, sure enough just a few minutes in I step on something that is super painful.  When I reach down to investigate I realized it's a piece of chicken wire coming from under the blue tarp and it won't come out!!  I call out to my friend Stef and tell him I need help dislodging this wire from my foot.  He gets it out and it's not too painful so we stay for several hours working and I continue on the mud bricks.

To shorten this story some, that part of my foot is a touch achy and the outer portion of the sole of my foot is also creaky/ achy in the mornings.  I've tried several plantar boots to no avail.  My next plan is to try some deep massage and acupuncture but I'm gonna keep on trucking on my running.  My foot doesn't feel any worse when I've been running......

stress

Well, it looks as if my running days are over for the year 2014.  I'm pretty sure I've got a stress fracture in my left foot.  It's been a nagging on and off thing for at least several months so I think it's time to lay off for a while.  These things are never good timing.  I feel like I've been getting in pretty good shape with the indicators being some very solid Thursday morning runs.  It's okay though.  I'm going to continue working my core and push ups and am still aiming for a super easy Bandera 25k.  I REALLY wanted to get in 1040 miles (20 miles per week) this calendar year.  I only need 31 miles to attain that so I think I'm going to get in some really easy walking miles for the rest of the year.

ambled

Didn't feel much like it this morning so I just ambled through a very easy 5 miles at Townlake.  It was nice for a change and Shan is gonna wear me out tomorrow morning anyway.  Got in some much needed post run stretching too!!

fun

Shan's schedule was different this week so instead of kicking my ass downtown she did it on her home course.  We started at 5am and did a 7 miles in 1:12.  I was damn happy with it considering it was hilly as hell until she told me her solo time on the same course was 59 minutes.  Dango, probably shouldn't have asked!!   It's all good because I felt like I worked it pretty hard.  I was happy with my effort.

I'm off work tomorrow to help Sam set up his race stuff for Run Like the Wind.  I'm going to get an early start and do 8 miles from the HOL tomorrow and then meet Sam afterward.  I'm doing the 3hr race Saturday and then working the race until shutdown on Sunday morning.  Looks like we finally have a good weather forecast for the 1st time in a long time for this event.  I'm really looking forward to it.  It's gonna be fun!!

sub ultra

Signed up for the Bandera 25k Saturday.  After I pulled the trigger I realized that this is the first sub ultra race I've signed up for since the San Antonio Marathon in November of '99 (I've done the Bandera 25k and Hell's Hills 10k with Misty).  Wow!!  Nothing but ultra's for 15yrs!!

Pretty darn cool even though I'm having mixed emotions.  Is the day finally here?  Am I done as an ultra runner?  That's been an interesting thing to hang my hat on for all these years.  I'm gonna try not to focus on that for now though.  I have a pretty good plan in place for doing well in the sub ultra championships for 2015.  So far it looks like the Bandera 25k then Crosstimbers trail marathon in Feb.  I've always wanted to run up there but always assumed it'd be the 50 mile.  In the trail series you are awarded points for the longer races in your category so I'm also planning on Pandora's Box of Rox marathon in May and Brazos Bend marathon in Dec.   That's 4 of the 7 races you're allowed to score points in.  For now it looks like Toughest race in Texas 20 mile and maybe the marathon at Grasslands.  That's another event I've always wanted to participate in.  I'll have to see how the rest will shake out.  I'm definitely getting excited!!

One other thing.  If I can manage 99 miles this month I'll have my highest mileage yearly mileage total since '08!!  Very, very happy about that!!