Bouncing back

This morning's run was a success: almost no headache, manageable muscle tightness in the neck and back, and a still-owie hip but I've decided that's just a bunch of bruised cellulite jiggling together, so tough noogies.

All this angst over running seems a bit silly, though. In the grand scheme of things, whether or not I can run 20 minutes or 20 days, or whether I have a few bumps and bruises is really quite trivial. A whole lot of people are having to deal with a whole lot of very serious issues. This run is nothing. Well, not really nothing. It is my dream, and that's the point.

Why spend however many years on this planet if you cannot dream and pursue those dreams? I've been running regularly since 1978. Very near the beginning of that running career I read a book about a trans-America run and the seed was planted. I've always enjoyed road trips all over the country and, since a child, I've loved sightseeing on foot. As my love affair with running continued to grow through the years and as I approached the time when I could retire from CU, I began to think that I might actually be able to spend the time to do a cross-country run. A couple of years ago a running buddy mentioned a friend of his who had run across the country at age 60 (read about it in "In the Long Run" by Annabel Marsh) and I told AndyE that a cross-country run was something I'd always wanted to do, I just hadn't figured out from where-to-where. Then I started tossing out ideas when out from my mouth came "...or I could run from here to Petoskey..." And there you have it!

Then it just became a matter of planning: when is the earliest I could actually be ready to pursue such a quest; how much time will I need to train; how do I bring my family around to this idea; what route; what will I need; etc., etc. Just another project for this project manager. But oh so exciting. An ordinary person pursuing a maybe not quite so ordinary dream.

We all have them, dreams. With a little luck, a bit of gumption, and a large helping of stubborn sprinkled with optimism each of us can pursue our dreams.....and wake up smiling - a good thing for this world of ours.

Running as a yardstick

so...I knew my back was sore, my hip was sore, my head was achey, but it was going to take a run to really know how things stood after toppling off my bicyle yesterday. I was a bit nervous about the impending litmus test so I dilly dallied around the house all morning. I've just returned and the results show:
- left hip yells 'youch' each time my left foot hits the ground. And it's not really the hip; it's a wee bit lower and further back. On my right side, that part of my hip/glute sort of caves in; on my left side, there's a lump there.
- head got more achey, I think in part because my neck and back are so tight. I'm thinking I might have given myself whiplash (generous person that I am) when I bounced after hitting on my hip and then landing back down on my back and back of my head/helmet.
- stomach chimed in with some squirreliness; pr'y a combination of the owie hip, headache, and angst over the whole situation.

Impact so far on training:
- yesterday was supposed to be 16-17 miles but was only 11 because I wasn't able to go for a second run.
- today's early run was supposed to be 2.5 hours but was only 20 minutes (just long enough to run to the post office and back).
- today was supposed to be a 2-run day (morning then to/from BCOR tonight). There will be no run to BCOR tonight.
- no BCOR for two days in a row now, missing upper body work last night and cardio tonight. I did have the pleasure of a lower body quads/glutes/hammies BCOR workout on Monday the day after the marathon - that should have offered enough pleasure to last a while ;-)
- this week was supposed to be mid-to-upper 70 miles but is looking rather pathetic at the moment. grrrrr.

Really stupid tradition

The day after last year's Boulder Backroads Marathon I fell off my bike (I was deeply engrossed in watching an extraordinarily good pick up basketball game and rode off the bike path on my way home from work). That bit of stupidity resulted in a broken arm. This year, I waited an extra day to fall off my bike....

...no broken bones (I don't think), but one shattered picture frame (it was a gift with a picture from my retirement party - sorry Dennis!), a banged up hip (that's what I landed on), a screwed up hand (that was gripping the picture when I fell), and a whacked head (the back of my head, inside a helmet thankfully, hit the curb). So, after coming off the marathon in mighty fine shape, I'm not feeling too tip top at the moment. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Looking at the bright (but still really stupid) side of things, I fell because, as I was dismounting, my shorts got caught on the bike seat. They got caught on the bike seat cuz they're so darned baggy now since I've been losing some very much unwanted pounds.

Time to go rest my head and get my hips off this hard desk chair....

Slow Fun & Happy

Yesterday was the 8th running of the Boulder Backroads Marathon & Half-Marathon). I've participated in this event each year it's been run, once in the half-marathon (coming off a stress fracture) and, as of yesterday, 7 times in the marathon. I know by now that, to have an enjoyable day out there, one must:

1. run the first 10 miles conservatively
2. push solidly through the next 10 miles
3. count on your training for the last 6.2 miles

I had a most enjoyable day out there yesterday!

First, I was successful at being conservative with the first 10 (actually 12) miles with the help of a woman I hooked up with who was easy to converse with and easy to just run quietly next to (thank you Hillary from Ft. Collins!). Miles 12 to 17 were run solo and pretty much on cruise control. Mile 17 is my traditional Backroads gut check point. It's the furthest east point on the course and is where we do a 180 degree turn and start heading back to the finish. On a bad day, it's where one would start a long and arduous westward (uphill) shuffle; on a mediocre day, it's where one regroups, and digs in for the long road back; on a good day, it's where one begins to pick up the effort to see how quick the last 9.2 miles can be covered. On this day, I made the turn, did the gut check and my body answered back with a suprised "Wow! I feel great!" From mile 17 to the finish I got passed by one young long-legged fellow whom I passed back around mile 24; other than that, I did all the passing. I cheered for the course marshalls, bantered with the aid station volunteers, marvelled at the views of the Continental Divide, watched in awe as parasailers floated by, charged the hills, hammered the downhills, ran my fastest mile at mile 25, and crossed the finish line with a smile 26.2 miles wide. I felt like I could run forever - and that, folks, is what this year's training is all about!

New perspective

My, times they are a changing...
I'm running a marathon tomorrow. If it weren't right here in Boulder, I may have forgotten all about it. I'm also running the new Denver marathon in October - and I'm not really sure which weekend it's on and I've no clue where the course is. Both marathons are training runs and this non-hyped approach to prepping for them is rather novel for me. As the press for Boulder Backroads has picked up the last few days, I have had to remind myself that, no, I don't really need to rest for the marathon and, no, I don't really need to do the pre-race carbo-load thing since I supposedly should be eating enough for high mileage all the time anyway, and, absolutely no, I don't need to be wondering how many women have registered in the 50-54 year old age category. Something that really pointed out the change in direction my running has taken the last few months was this week's cut-back in mileage (planned as part of my 4-week training cycle) - I've had to be very conservative with my daily run miles during the week given tomorrow's 26.2 since I want to keep my mileage under 50 for the week. Since when did 50 become my low water mark?!

Non-running training regimen

Both Mark (coach) and Holly (massage therapist) have begun talking to me about the importance of recovery. Those who have been reading pj's run this week know that me and not-running don't get along too well. But recovery goes beyond not running and that's what I really need to put more emphasis on: stretching, icing, strengthening, cross-training, sleep, nutrition...the list goes on.

Mark wants me to pay particular attention to what I do to recover after long runs and to make note of what works. Holly has offered to help me build a more structured regimen of non-running activity to help ensure I'm doing all that I can do to build up to the summer in the healthiest way possible. This is definitely unchartered territory for me after many years of putting all my eggs into the running basket with the limited amount of non-work, non-mom-stuff time I had. But I'm in a new world now, being retired and empty nested. Time to build a new bag of tricks!

Of mouse and woman

My previously-mentioned crankiness continued today, easily attributed to reduced running mileage (planned as part of my 4-week training cycle) and one-week between-sessions BCOR break, compounded with rainy weather which had been predicted so I'd saved up all my indoor chores for today and tomorrow but last night I discovered a mouse in the house.

A mouse in the house? I do not share my house with a mouse. One must leave the house, me or the mouse. So out of the house, me or the mouse? Not knowing how to roust the mouse, I left the house today I dost.

First departure: to run. ahhh....to run. For over an hour. It was lovely. I came back a much happier human.
Second departure: to help out my husband in his school library, labeling and shelving books. Bonus: his school is at the harvesting end of their "garden to table" project and the school cook happens to be a gourmet chef. Said chef invited me to partake of lunch there today: pasta with spinach pesto (fresh picked sparkly clean spinach from the school garden) and caesar salad.
Third departure: yet to happen. My current layover at home (sending my dog ahead of me wherever I go in the house, making lots of noise) has included cold-fighting activities (downing some EmergenC, drinking a cup of echinacea tea), doing a cold water wash (clothes for Sunday's marathon), checking email, IM'ing with my younger son, and this blog entry. Next I'll pack up some of the paperwork I was going to do today, a book, some other reading from my 'pile,' and head off to the library. So far, the mouse is winning!

A little of this, a little of that

This appears to be the week of 'littles.' It's my cut-back week in my 4-week training cycle so I'm only supposed to do a 'little' mileage. It's also a week's break between BCOR sessions, so I'm only doing a 'little' ab/glute/arm work (whenever I'm feeling a 'little' inspired). I'm also feeling a 'little' bit like I'm coming down with a cold so I've been doing the rest, oj, vitamin C, zinc thing. All together, I'm getting a 'little' cranky with all this inactivity.

So! Today I went out for some running in the sunshine around CU's cross-country course with Jester dog. Sweating out the cold felt mighty fine. Then I got the urge to tackle our lawn conundrum. The grass is getting too long, but we can't really mow it because so many apples have blown down from our apple tree, but it's difficult to pick up all the apples cuz the grass is so long. Today I took on the apples. After a whole lot of raking I then brought out the snow shovel and wheelbarrow. With rake in one hand scooping onto the shovel I then lifted shovel-fulls of apples single-armed up into the wheelbarrow (thank you BCOR!). Five wheelbarrow-fulls later, we now have an apple-free yard and I did some more sweating out of the cold. (btw: we have been eating the apples as well. I'm a big fan of apple crisp and they're decent apples for crisps. I'm toying with the idea of trying to make apple butter. Other suggestions are welcome!)

Moving off the plateau?

Could it be I've moved beyond the 72-73 mile per week plateau? This week's total: 76 miles. This upcoming week is a cut-back week after 3 weeks in the 70s and will culminate with the Boulder Backroads Marathon on Sunday (to be run, not raced). More good news about yesterday's run (besides trying out a new road, beautiful vistas and fun in the snow): I felt great during today's 2 hour run!

Quintessential Rocky Mountain Autumn Run

Sweat dripping as I ran from home, part way up Sunshine Canyon.
Catch a ride with Kendall the rest of the way to Gold Hill (elevation 8300 feet).
Run Gold Hill Road to the Peak to Peak Highway, soaking in the mountain vistas, speckled with aspen gold.
...getting a bit breezy
...getting a bit drizzly
...getting a bit snowy
...getting a bit blizzardy
My how I love running in Colorado!