The road to recovery

After two and a half weeks of iron supplementation, I am really starting to feel better. The weird dizzy, weak spells have all but completely gone away. I've even woken up the last couple of days feeling well-rested. My diet is still not as good as it should be, but I'm working on it. It is really difficult to eat as much food as I am supposed to. And it is hard to remember to take my vitamin supplements, iron, calcium, and fish oil. Geesh.

I've been trying not to think about running in any kind of organized way, that is, not training for anything. But I have been running every other day for at least a week now, and feeling okay, but not great. One of the hardest things is training my mind. As an athlete, I've pushed myself, tried to ignore my body so that I could push harder and improve my fitness. The thing is, people always say to listen to your body, but they never tell you which part of your body to listen to. My brain is the most outspoken part of my body and it can really confuse me sometimes.

Last weekend Jim went to get some new shoes for his big race (Le Grizz 50-mile) this weekend. At the running store, we ran into an old friend of ours, Fran Zelenitz, who had just finished the Blue Mountain 30k - the race I was supposed to do. I don't know why, but for some reason the fact that the race was over made me feel like it's time for me to be done resting. Time to start training again. But for what?

The truth is I don't think I will be training for any organized race for a while, what with winter coming on and all. I've just got to focus on getting and staying healthy and strong, and set my sights on next year.

First day of school

Because yesterday was my first day of freedom - the kids both in school - of course I went for a long run. I went on the road because I wanted to go down to the school and visit my kindergartener for his lunch. I haven't done a long run on the road in a long time, and now I remember why.

Road running hurts. It is so jarring, pounding your feet into pavement for mile upon mile. When I left the house I realized I had just enough time to get there, running at my usual slow pace. No messing around. So I pushed myself just a little bit harder than I otherwise would have, not letting myself slack off when I felt like being lazy. Instead of being a few minutes late, as I thought I might, I was five minutes early. Wow. Either my math is really bad, or I ran pretty fast (for me).

I felt good. But after visiting my sons at school for lunch for an hour, it was time to run 7 miles home. My hip had started to ache. I forgot to stretch before leaving the house then pushed myself. So I stretched more, rested and drank more water, on the way back, and was quite a bit slower. But still a good pace for me.

I don't think that is a run I'm going to continue to do on a regular basis. It was pretty painful by the end, especially my right foot. I mistakenly wore my "seven mile shoes." I really like these Cascadia trail shoes, but after about 7 miles, they always make my foot hurt. I'm not sure if I can really blame the shoes though. I think it is my toe. I have this one toe that is permanently curled and it can be painful to run on...I've seriously thought about getting it intentionally broken so that it will heal back straight.

I fell asleep soon after the exhausted kindergartener last night, my right side aching. I'm much better today, a little stiff, but I'm going to go walk it off with the puppy on this lovely rainy September day.

Oh yeah, with all the excitement about the kids going to school, I almost forgot to mention that I signed up for the Blue Mountain 30k, (18.6 miles) a trail run on October 3rd. I'm pretty excited about it because it sounds like a great race on challenging terrain, and I've been feeling pretty good. AND I have time to really train. I can run anytime that I want while the kids are in school. Whoo hoo! That said, I'll be taking a rest day from running today.