Go Long!

President's Day. Dalene did not work. While she went to bfast with her friend, Melba, I took off west on 1800, crossing to the south to the start of the Bluff Trail. When I got there, I discovered it had not been cleared of snow, so I zig zagged through the neighborhoods to get 10 miles. It was cold to start but warmed up considerably. Only looked at my watch once as I wanted this to truly be an "easy run." Looks like most of my miles were in the 9:30 range. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever speed up, but I've decided just to get the miles in for one more month. I'll start working on speed in March, after I've had two months of 60+ consistent miles.

In the meantime, the pain in my right leg has settled in the back of my ankle. The achilles feels okay, but the tissue surrounding it are swollen and soar to the touch. It hurts a little when I run, but doesn't seem to be holding me back. No shooting pains, just a dull, lingering ache like a pulled muscle or a sprain. Weird. 

No miles. Ouch! Dalene was home because she had a comp day from SEP's. It snowed like crazy, in fact it never stopped and I ended up spending the day on family stuff including going to the temple and dinner. I hoped to get out late last night but finally decided not to share the road (what little of it was clear) with traffic. I can't make up for it, but I'll double up a couple of days and hopefully get in 60 by the end of the week. I know, I know, no excuses. But a dog really did eat my homework!

So at the suggestion of Care in Co, I'm sitting on the couch with my right achilles resting on a bag of frozen beans. The pain surrounding the tendon isn't so great that it's keeping me from running and my range of motion seems to be the same as in my left leg, so I'm just going to run on and see what happens. I'll try icing it as well for a couple of days (thanks Carolyn).

I ran ten miles on a loop into Hooper. At four different times I ran into people walking their dogs. They all wanted to talk and I actually had a good time with that, even though it slowed me down a little. One lady was from Spain and moved out in the country to get away from everybody. We started to talk because her Jack Terrier wanted to run with me so I had to pick it up and take it back to her. Now she wants to move because somebody's building a house a quarter of a mile away. "Too close!" Maybe she'll sell me her house.

Anyway, the run was pleasant. It was a beautiful day. I'll try to get 3 more miles in later today. 

I ran an additional 3.6 miles this afternoon. It was pretty easy to run at a 9mm pace for that short distance, although I seem to have some phantom (hopefully) pains in my legs and feet. The achilles is a little sore. 

I hoped to run twice today, but went to the temple with Jeff prior to his taking the bar next Tuesday and Wednesday. Didn't have time for an afternoon run, but it was all worth it. 

Between runs yesterday, I felt that familiar burning under my 4th met on my left food. I'd hoped my steroid shot had taken care of that. It wasn't too uncomfortable in my second run. I didn't wear a spacer, but the run was only 3 1/2 miles. Today I used a smaller spacer (tissue) and felt quite a bit of pain between miles 4 and 8. Then it just went away! I can't figure it out. But I'm glad the pain is gone. I'll see how things go tomorrow.

I didn't time most of my miles today, but the pace felt slow. I picked it up a little and ran the last mile or so at an 8:30 pace. I hope things change, but for now 10 miles just take so long! Sometimes I wonder if I have the patience to keep this up. Yeah, I guess I do.

In spite of ice, I still have swelling in my right achilles. It seems to be getting better, though. I also have a slight strain in my right hamstring. Sheesh! I'm starting to sound like an old man.

Everybody says, "Listen to your body," but I think that's a bad idea. Mine keeps saying, "Stay on the couch." I'll never hit 100 miles doing that. 

This was a beautiful day for a run! I drove down to the Farmington Ranches area and ran through the neighborhoods. That's is where I want to live. I'll find a house there before the end of the summer, unless fate actually puts me somewhere else. Funny, I was running back to my car and saw Targhee's parked in front of a Destination Model Home. So I stopped to talk. Since they downsized, he's working out of the model (great office, I think) in order to "kill two birds with one stone." The cool thing about the recession is everybody is doing some needed tightening up. I could buy the model and lease it back to Destination for 6-8 months (long enough to sell my house) but it's kind of big. It also doesn't have a park in the front yard... But I digress.

I ran in my 5 Fingers, which I love. I did, however, develop a sore on the outside of my right foot, where the strap comes over the top. I changed into running shoes at mile 8, when I made it back to my car, and ran a few more miles. My trainers felt like high heeled shoes (at least that's what I think high heeled shoes feel like) and put a lot of pressure on my toes. Now I know why most runners are heel strikers! Yikes! I've got to rethink this shoe issue. My high heeled trainers did make my calves look sexy, though. Well, at least I think so.

 Tight  hamstring in my right leg loosened up after about a quarter of a mile. Still have inflammation in my achilles but  it, too, doesn't seem to be a problem once I get started. I guess I'll just keep running. Tomorrow I run w/ Dr. Shaw on the JRP in Salt Lake. That will  be fun. We'll talk about mitochondria and the metabolism of fat. Hmm.  

Another beautiful day! Today I ran the old Clydzz 10 mile route on the JRT with Dr. Shaw. We talked the whole time, although she did most of the talking at first because my mouth nearly froze off. It warmed up quickly, however. It was a 2 shirt, 1 tight day, although Janet wore shorts, no tights. I guess they're just tougher in Salt Lake. Have I said before how much I hate being cold? 

Anyway, 10.2 miles at about a 9:30 clip. Not fast but not really slow. We passed a bunch of runners and never got passed. Plus we kept up a lively conversation the entire way. It's been two years since we have run together, so there was a lot to say.

We'll run with her brother's boyfriend next week. Yeah, you read that right. That should be an interesting experience. He'll be here from Florida to go to cheese making school with Mark at USU. I'm telling you it's 10 times more interesting to run with somebody than it ever could be listening to the same old tracks on the iPod.  

I may get a few more miles later, but I'm inclined to call it a day and settle a few miles short of 60 this week. All in all, not a bad week.