I’m starting to think about MdS as a restful vacation with a bit running thrown in. I’m not underestimating the desert...
2 hours!
I went out to Government Canyon this morning to run with friends for the first time in a long long while. And I had the best run I’ve had yet. My foot was sore most of the way, but only a kind of dulled soreness. I’m not sure whether to attribute the lack of pain to the obnoxious amount of stretching and calf rolling I’ve been doing, or to the overwhelming happiness of running with good friends again. Maybe my time in aqua jogging purgatory is just over. Who knows? It was GREAT. There is little that compares to running over the rocks at Government Canyon, losing liters of sweat in the Texas June, and not getting covered in Orb Weaver spider webs because tall friends have volunteered to run in the lead. For the record, I did volunteer to take the lead, but at 5’1, I’m not much use at spider web clearing. There aren’t all that many perks to being 5’1, so I’ll take what I can get.
So I’ve got high hopes that I’ve turned some sort of corner on the PF, and maybe now I can get on with real training again. I won’t get too excited until after tomorrow’s run. Amanda, my coach and voice of reason, says I should only run one hour tomorrow and then aqua jog for two hours in the pool. Whiiiiine. I feel like I’ve been told to eat my broccoli. (Again, I think aqua jogging is a wonderful tool and I’m very lucky to be able to do it. I also think broccoli is a wonderful vegetable.) So picture me circling the deep end of my neighborhood pool early Sunday morning with my iPod on my head — until little kids start doing cannon balls around me, or I lose my sanity. On the bright side, I might get to have another conversation with the German grandmother who is trying to convince me to join the “water gymnastics” class she wants to start. I’m pretty sure she has water aerobics in mind, but I love the thought of this 70-year-old woman instructing a group to follow her as she cartwheels around the shallow end.
Asa update: My two-year-old just learned how to swim with his head under the water yesterday. Very exciting. I’ve told everyone who’s come within five feet of me about it. I figure the quicker he learns to swim, the quicker I can count on trips to the pool tiring him out completely. I have visions of a 6pm bedtime. I also have visions of him not running away from me when I come in the door after a run because I’m so sweaty. “Mom, you’re sweaty! Take a shower!!”
Hi Liza,
Enjoy following your blog. Hope you get back to full time running soon. Have you tried an Alter-G treadmill? There’s one in SA at the YMCA.
http://www.ymcasatx.org/Page.aspx?pid=271
Have only mtb’d at Gov. Canyon, will have to make the trek down from Austin some time to run it. Sounds fun, much more fun than mtb’ing.
Run long,
Chuck
Thanks so much for the info about the Alter-G treadmill. I didn’t know there was one in San Antonio. I’m hoping I’ll just be able to enjoy the rocky trails now.
You should definitely come running out at Gvt. Cyn. There’s a group of us out there most Saturdays at 7am. My husband finds new ways to injure himself each time he’s out there mountain biking, but the running is pretty benign.
Glad to hear you are turning the corner on PF. Can’t wait to see how you do at Leadville. Keep on rolling,
Thanks John. I can’t wait to be in those mountains.