The Weekend

Saturday morning Rebecca and I took the dogs on a 5 mile easy loop. Below is Eby ready to get moving. Lots of sunshine!

Today, Buddy and I avoided the hunters and stuck to a nearby trail for a 3.5 mile loop. He was either tired or sore from yesterday's pavement, so we took lots of breaks. I'm feeling giddy - still no pain on my runs - just side stitches and heavy legs. I welcome those because it means that even though I'm really out of shape I'm actually running! Sorry, that news is going to get old to all of you. This injury just took a stinking long time to work itself out.

After our run, I locked us out of the house, but we got to see some beautiful colors at sunset!

Turkey Trot 10k

Rebecca and I ran the Thanksgiving Day 10k put on by a local gym. There were over 500 of us that showed up due to the unusually nice weather. The challenge for me was to finish a 10k at all considering I haven't run regularly in over 10 months. No exaggeration, but since starting the calf raises three weeks ago, I've been able to start 3-4 milers a few times a week. I've done two longer slow runs of 5 and 6 miles. If I'd known that my fall in January would take that long to fix, I would have been seriously depressed.

Moving on...I did run the 10k and I finished. At the very back of the pack, with a very slow time for me of 58 minutes, but I did it! Without ANY pain in my ankle. The rest of me was hurting though, but my heart was happy.

Afterwards, Rebecca, Mike and Eby came over for a pot luck style Thanksgiving dinner. They brought the healthy stuff; Steve and I made the Norwegian style butter filled carbohydrate side dishes. Eby and Buddy played outside for a few hours which wore Bud out completely. It was a good day!

Giveaway

Go to http://blog.irunfar.com/2009/11/black-friday-500th-post-blowout-giveway.html for more details. Post a comment about the desired product you'd like to receive and you are entered!

Still Running

Two weeks in a row of hitting the 20 mpw of running! Compared to last year, this is nothing, but it's sure nice getting out there again with no pain. Yesterday, we did 5.5 miles of trail and road. Today, a 4 mile trail loop where I was able to RUN up the hills. It was a calm day with light snow. My camera bugged out on me though, so no pictures. Buddy and I also get in another 1-2 miles of walking per day. I'm going to ask about some physical therapy or massage just to get rid of residual scar tissue. Cautiously optimistic!

Saving Money

The smell of coffee goes hand in hand with my memories of growing up in a school. My father was teacher, coach, principal and eventually superintendent. My mother was in charge of food services. We were in the building making posters for games, creating bulletin boards for classrooms, moving desks, cleaning test tubes, feeding the fish, etc. most of my childhood. Along with that was my dad and every other employee with coffee cup in hand. It seems appropriate now that I'm a public school employee that I've become hooked on "coffee." I put it in quotes because my preference is for lattes. Lucky for me, one of the teachers I work with recommended the Mr. Coffee Espresso Maker (we got it for 26 bucks) to save some money. Find your preferred syrup and ground beans and you are good to go. CHEAP!

Achilles Tendonitis Recovery

After 10 months of very little running, I was finally free of pain to run 6.75 miles. That distance used to be easy, but this one was hard. Rebecca and I did an out and back Sunday morning without the dogs. As much as I love Bud, it felt good to run without being tied to a leash or without stopping to inspect every pee covered piece of ground (those with dogs will understand). It also felt good to hit mile 5 and feel fatigue, not pain.

So, what cured the beast? Eccentric calf raises, wall stretch and hamstring stretch 2-3 times a day, EVERY DAY and more stable shoes (I took out my old Asics 2120 Trail shoes - still the best). Some people swear by ice, but I only iced after any cardio exercise. Warming up has become way more important. Not by stretching, but by walking first. I would say my left achilles is nearing 100% recovered and my right 90%. Both calves still get tight, but the only pain I have is if I push directly on the nodule on my right achilles. Research I've read said it takes about 12 weeks of the eccentric calf work to be completely pain free, and I've only been doing them about two weeks.

This is a nasty injury. My advice (the same kind I ignored) would be to STOP RUNNING and get help from a sports medicine doc if achilles pain does not go away after a couple weeks. Truly, running through it only creates a long term, very painful and frustrating injury.

I had to include a picture of Cowboy Buddy -minus the hat- on Halloween. He greeted every single costumed kiddo with the jingle jingle of his collar and a good sniff. It was an exciting night in dog world.