Runs, Running, & Stuff

Big congrats to my buddy, and local trailmeister, Sander for throwing down a stellar 18.01.24 and taking 5th place at the first [annual?] mt hood 100 mile race ("Hundred in Da Hood"), on the Pacific Crest trail between Mt Hood and Mt Jeferson. It was fun to see him cruise through at mile 70, where I was helping out at an aid station run by a bunch of the local Corvallis runners.

Working the aid station was lots of fun, but more than anything it left me wanting to RUN another 100 miler! By about midnight, after copius amounts of beer and "Rock Star" energy drinks (did I mention that working an aid station is a LOT of fun?), I could barely stand it, so I decided to run up the trail a bit, meet a few runners, and "run" them back into the aid station. "Run" in this case meant a fast hike, since these were mostly back-of-the-pack runners at mile 70. But it sure felt great to get out there with them, and I think the few runners I met were happy for it as well. On the last trip out I found my friend Linda pacing another runner for a few miles (the runner she had been pacing dropped, so she was helping a different runner for a few miles), so I hiked with them a while back to the aid station. Linda wanted to Pace the runner to the next aid station (3.5 miles up the trail) where he was to pick up a pre-arranged pacer to the finish. Linda volunteered to pace him to the next aid station so he'd have some company during the night miles, and I volunteered to tag along, and then run with Linda the 3.5 miles back to our aid station (so Linda didn't have to run back alone... and mostly because I thought it sounded like fun!). So I got to do another 7 miles, from about 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM, on a stunningly beatiful, starry night through the high alpine forests. That was a blast.

During the run I couldn't help but wish I was actually in the race. I would've liked nothing more than to run/hike/crawl all night to the finish line. Next year...some race, some where... yeah!

After the race I crashed on a cot next to the fire, under the stars. In the 5 minutes I stayed awake, I think I saw about 6 shooting stars. A cool end to a cool day!

So, if you've read this, yes, I'm running again! My calf finally seems to be healing. I'm running a few times a week, and every week I'm feeling stronger, and more confident in it. I've got a long way to go to get back to 100%, but finally, FINALLY, I'm making progress. In July I couldn't jog a flat mile without my calf seizing up, and I'd be sore for a week. In August I managed to push it to a couple miles. Today (end of September) I ran about 7.5 hilly trail miles and actually forgot about my calf for a while and just enjoyed it... I just RAN... until I was tired... and loved it.

Like I said... a LONG way to go still... and I'm going to be super careful to add miles gradually and not hurt myself. Right now my "goal" is to get to November as strong or stronger than I am now, so that when we visit New Zealand in November (did I mention we're spending most of November in New Zealand!??) I can go for lots of runs, "tramps", etc.

While I was off helping at the race, Jasmine was selling her art at the Corvallis Fall festival. She had a stellar weekend selling FOUR paintings in two days! Very cool. Congrats to Jasmine. :-) Also, my sources have leaked some info to me suggesting that she bought me a ring to replace the one that was lost to the Willamette river while we floated it some weeks ago. So that's cool. :-)

Don't mess with Jasmine!

Hope she's not thinking of me....

I told her she should've used the Karate Kid move for this one:

Take that, board!

Hiking and Biking

On Sunday Avery, Jas, and I went to Silver Falls state park, and did the full trail-of-ten falls hike (about 5.5 miles). Here's a fall-by-fall countdown:

Upper North Falls:

North Falls:

Twin Falls:

Winter Falls:

Middle North Falls:

Drake Falls:

Double Falls:

Lower North Falls:

Lower South Falls:

South Falls:

Last Friday, Vic, Chris, Julius and I took the afternoon off and headed out to Falls City for some mountain biking fun. Julius brought his helmet cam:

Good Times!

Free Beer and Hobbits

Not much writing lately... spring has finally *really* sprung, and I've been doing lots of gardening mountain biking, and just generally enjoying being outside. We're just now trying to figure out how to spend our upcoming 3 day weekend. It's supposed to be 70's and sunny all weekend long. Whoo hoo!

On the running front - well, no running for me these days. I'm being good about following doctor's advice. This time. I've been going to physical therepy once per week, and doing lots of strength building / balance / stretching stuff so that someday soon I'll be running again, better than ever. I evened signed up for a Yoga class, which starts in June. Last weekend was the Mac 50k race, our cool local ultramarathon, here in town. It was a bummer not to be running. Instead, I volunteered, working at an aid station, then later in the day handing out the souvenier beers that all the finishers received. I'm not sure how I ended up with that job! Due to OSU forest regulations, the beers couldn't be handed out on university property. So the race directors had us set up at a roadside pullout near the junction with the highway. We looked pretty shifty, I imagine, hanging out on the side of the road with a car full of beer.





In other news, we're booked a trip to New Zealand this fall! Jasmine's a Kiwi, according to her passport. :-) We haven't been back to see her home country in years, and Avery has never been there, so we're all pretty excited already. We're looking forward to visiting family, and having some fun adventures in a beautiful place.

And finally, in honor of New Zealand (where the Hobbits and all those Lord of the Rings types live):

Down and Out for 2009

My calf is still giving me fits, unfortunately. I took six weeks off of running, but my first mile after that was pretty much as bad as my last mile six weeks ago. And so have all the 2 and 3 mile runs since then.

It's been 6 months since I first had the "weird pain in my calf" (that's what I wrote in my training log). I haven't been quite right since, but I kept feeling like I was a week or two away from being healthy.

Today I saw an orthopedic/sports medicine doctor, finally. She was really cool - she's a runner (marathoner), biker, and mountaineer, and even had a Ukranian name, so I figured she'd be the right person. She told me that calf strains are notorious for taking longer to heal than one expects, and need to be carefully nursed back into health, and that what I'm going through is pretty normal for distance runners, and understandably frustrating.

My calf isn't terrible, but in the process of healing, I've developed a big, nasty, tight knot in my calf, and I've lost quite a bit of range of motion in my achilles/ calf, making me a poster child for recurrent calf injury. Rest alone hasn't really worked. So my new doc prescribed a rehab regimen guided by a local clinic, and I start that tomorrow. It should include some deep tissue massage, stretching, and strengthening, along with core work and other stuff. She also suggested improving my balance (she did a 10 second balance test, and said I wasn't that good... and as an ultramarathoner I had zero margin for error). Hopefully after all of this I'll be better than ever. That'd make a "lost year" of running worth it, I guess.

The bad news: no running or serious hiking for at least two months. On top of six months already of lousy running. And then a really slow return to running. So like I said, basically a lost year as far as serious running / racing goes. But I can bike, use the elliptical trainer, and water jog (good cross training but the most mind-numbingly dull activity on earth, according to my doc), in the meantime. She also suggested Yoga, which I may give a try. And sitting on the couch drinking beer. (my doc didn't specifically recommend that, but I inferred it).

I was pretty bummed about it, but my friend Linda (runner extrodonaire and mother of two) told me to think of it like a time out for a pregnancy. She got faster both times after giving birth, so hopefully I'll get faster, eventually, too. That's a good thought, though I don't think (but can't say for sure) that my calf strain had the same root cause as her pregnancies. :-)

Ugh!

The last four months have been incredibly frustrating, running-wise. I've been having persistent, but never too-serious, pain in my shin, calf, achilles tendon, IT band, etc. I kept thinking I'm just a couple weeks from feeling 100%.... but 100% just never seemed to come. Unless I took a hearty dose of advil or Alleve, but that never seemed right. Finally, I realized I hadn't run without some issue for four freakin' months! So I bit the bullet and actually went to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor!

Anyway, this morning I had an MRI, and this afternoon my doctor called and left a message, with lots of big words ("torn lateral and medial head of the gastrocnemius") describing muscles in my calf, telling me, in simpler terms, I had torn my calf muscle at some point, and as I hadn't stopped running long enough to let it heal, it hadn't healed.

Looking back, it's pretty clear I tore it the week before I tried to run the Javelina 100. I wrote in my training log "five miles... really tight calf!?!" I hurt it on an easy five miler during my taper.... what the??? I must've done something before that. I dunno. Anyway, I managed 30 miles at Javelina before dropping out. I guess that's OK on a torn calf, eh? Since then I've taken a week off here, a couple weeks there, then tried to run again, feeling OK for a week or two, before pushing it a bit, then having a setback.

I was told today I need to take a full 6 weeks off completely from running to let me calf heal. I guess it's OK. I sort've knew I needed to stop to heal, but I knew I was too stubborn to do it, unless a Doctor actually told me I needed to do it. It's been a week since I ran last, so I figure it's only a five week sentence, anyway.

The diagnosis sure explains a lot. My shin splints were due to tight calves... my tight achilles due to tight calves.... duh!

At least I'm still allowed to bike. Thank goodness for that... or I'd go crazy! Especially as springtime is in full swing here in Oregon.


Six weeks isnt' that long I guess. I'll still have four months to get ready for the Cascade Crest 100. I hope I can do that. Bummer I'll have to miss all the "spring classics" here in Oregon - Peterson Ridge (I loved that course last year.... I can't wait untill 2010 now to do the full course!), and of course the Mac 50k. Oh well....

2009 Running Plans

My running goal for the year: Finish another 100 mile race, at least 0:51:10 faster than last year, with ~5500 feet more elevation gain and loss than last year's run. Time to get busy.