Injuries, Weddings and Fires: My Last Two Weeks in a Nutshell

So my soleus is getting better.  I don't really feel like talking more about it because I've been dealing with this thing for way too long.  Although I have started doing intervals again.  Anyways, I'll find something else to blog about.

The other day I got a box from USATF.  I started going through all of the stuff they sent out for me to bring to World Mountain Running Championships and thought to myself, "Oh, no.  I'm going to have to buy a new suitcase to fit all of this stuff."  Then I reached the bottom of the box, and there was a suitcase, which was good.  Although it's going to be strange to travel with more than just a carry-on.  Oh well, I don't want to complain about free stuff.  Speaking of which, New Balance and PowerBar are awesome!  On that note, I'm really excited to get a new pair of trail flats (110s) from New Balance, and I have enough PowerBar stuff packed to survive for a while (see below for why I have things packed).

About a week ago I went to a friend's wedding.  The timing actually worked really well with my injury because I needed an off day or two anyways.  It was really nice to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen since college, and a few that I have.  My goal going into the wedding was to spend time with people I hadn't seen in way too long.  And I did, so the wedding was a success for me.  Plus, the bride and groom both said "I do" and nobody was seriously injured, so I think the wedding was a success all around.

On a not as exciting note, or perhaps a note that is exciting for all the wrong reasons, there is a small forest fire about 5 miles from where I live.  Luckily, there's been a lot of rain lately, but a helicopter spent several hours dropping water on it today and the road is dangerous because of all of the people gawking at the forest fire.  But I still packed my bags last night in case things take a sudden turn for the worse (the suitcase from USATF is already being put to good use!).  But it's raining as I write this, so that's good.  The lightning accompanying the rain isn't good, but we need the rain.

My Soleus is Draining My Soul

I'll start with the bad news.  A few weeks back, my calf started hurting during a run.  I modified my training a bit and thought I had taken care of it.  In hindsight, I fell victim to wishful thinking and probably should have waited a few days before I started running hard up hills.  Anyways, I tried to run the Vail Hill Climb on Saturday.  It was a little tight before the race, but again, I fell victim of wishful thinking.  I felt great the first mile and a bit, which was flat.  Going up the hill I didn't feel as good as I'd hoped, but my calf was far from my mind.  Then, in one step I knew this had been a stupid idea.

I slowly made my way to the top for reasons I'll discuss later.  I was concerned that it was a strain and had a pretty miserable rest of the day.  Luckily, it just so happens that my 75 year old German neighbor is a physical therapist who specializes in sports medicine.  So I've been visiting my neighbor a lot in the past couple days.

Anyways, I have high hopes for recovery, but I'm trying not to get carried away in them.  After all, if I had just been smart, I probably would be fine right now.

As for the good news, first, I've already stated my neighbor is a physical therapist.  If it wasn't true, I'd think it was too good to be true.  Also, I actually made it to the finish on Saturday.  I had several reasons, one major one being that all of my things and my ride were waiting for me at the top.  Also, my former coach from the Dartmouth Ski Team, Ruff Patterson has a rule:  If you drop out, you owe him the entry fee, even if he didn't pay it, and even if you are an alum.  I don't, however, owe him the entry fee.  In large part because there is no part of that rule that says you owe him the entry fee if you get beat by an 11 year old.  Which I did.  Congratulations Tyler Scholl.  That was a good run anyways, and really impressive given the 11 year old thing you've got going.

Hopefully my next blog will actually be about training and being healthy or something other than icing with peas and carrots and stuff like that.

Wildfires are not good. Obey fire bans.

Sorry it's been so long.  Not much noteworthy has happened lately, other than wildfires.  There is currently a wildfire in my county, but I think it's getting under control.  At least, I can't see it as well out the window anymore.  For a few nights, I could actually see flames at night, which was kind of scary.  So people know, there were no warnings to even start packing for possible evacuations where I am, but I think most people did anyways.  The fire also apparently set some sort of a speed record, and went from about 2000 acres to over 10,000 acres in just a few hours.  Anyways, they've let most of the evacuated people back to their homes, and it never got too close to me, but fires setting speed records near your home is a bit worrisome.  I've also heard rumor that the moisture content of the local living trees is lower than the moisture content of wood that one would put in a fireplace.  Plus, the weather around here right now has more lightning than rain.  So yeah, I'm really excited about people setting off fireworks for the Fourth of July.  If you are in Colorado for the Fourth (or for that matter at any time), please do not set the forest on fire.