Runnin' in Mud...

5 miles in just a bit under 38:22 (too fast).  I can tell that my fitness is coming back.  Aerobically, everything is beginning to feel "normal" again; however, the legs are lagging behind.  More miles needed, I guess.  Because of the locations of my stress fractures (sacrum and pubic symphysis), I wasn't able to sit on a bike saddle and didn't have access to a gym.  Gradually, I will get back to where I was.

On the homefront, Ethan is almost 10 weeks old and is now sleeping 7-9 hours a night.  On a sad note, on Friday, we learned that our beloved family pet (Lexi-Maltese) probably has oral melanoma.  There are other places in her mouth.  Biopsy not back yet, but, the doctor suspects that. 

3 easy miles at the high school track (soft surface) in ~24:00.  I wanted to break out into a sprint in a bad way, but resisted the urge.  Tinman said that fast running, this early would be detrimental.  Oh well...

Still no biopsy results on our little dog, but we have found a few more masses.  She is eating well, playing, and appears to be fine.  We ultimately know what is going to happen, but it is tough to think about.  This little dog has been with us through several moves, two children, countless road trips to Georgia, etc., etc.  We have not told our daughter yet, as we wanted to get the biopsy results and know "for sure."  Unfortunately, our daughter lost three great grandparents in the span of 11 days in late 2005.  She knows what cancer is.

Zip here...Life got in the way in the form of picking a child up from school, gymnastics, and then watching my nephew play football.

That's right, another zero.  The injury seems to be fine.  Now, the family is sick.  I feel like crud, but could probably log a few miles.

I will be watching my hometown 5k tomorrow.  I would have really liked to have raced, but hard running probably wouldn't be a good idea right now.  I don't even want to just run it, because it would probably open my eyes up to just how out of shape I really am.  The ego can't handle that right now.  Next year.

We heard back from the pathologoist regarding our dog.  He indicated that the tissue was not consistent with that of melanoma.  The Vet. still seems baffled.  Lexi is doing fine and acting like her normal self.

Perhaps tomorrow, I will post something about running. 

I was motivated after watching my hometown 5k, so this run was a bit quicker than I wanted (29:40).  Atleast I can hold sub 7:30 pace for 4 miles now.  Tomorrow, I will attempt 6 miles.  This run was the first in a very L O N G  time that I was completely pain/discomfort free.  After 2 miles, the left side of the groin got a bit tight, but not very noticeable.  Good things to come??? 

Same course as yesterday, but a minute slower, which is good.  This cold that I have seemed to bother me more today, but the weather was beautiful.  It is supposed to be 86F today, but stay in the 60's the rest of the week.

I really want to start going to the track or doing something speedy.  I told myself that I would even hold off on hill repeats until November 1st. 

5 miles in 38:50 (7:45 pace) and I finally feel like a runner again.  My conditioning is coming back.  I am looking for new courses in my area and I found one that is a rural highway (205).  There is a large, flat shoulder on each side of the highway, which is grass/dirt/gravel.  This should minimize some of the pounding my body takes.  

As my run started, it was spitting rain, but 2 miles into it, it poured.  I felt like a dedicated runner again who wouldn't let the elements keep me from my run.  No hip pain or low back pain.  I have been seeing a Chiropractor here lately.  We will so how that progresses.  I have also been stretching much more lately.  I never realized just how tight/inflexible my hip flexors/psoas muscle was.  I am trying to hit all of my hip muscles and hamstrings.

The St.Jude Marathon is out this year.  I simply won't be ready, not even for the half.  Sasha may be coming to run and I will, of course, support the race as a spectator.  I have other friends running as well.  It's probably a good thing, I am not running as my "routine" would have been greatly disrupted.  My in-laws will be staying with us and celebrating Thanksgiving with us a week late.  Just one of the things that you have to deal with when your spouse's parents live away.         

5 miles today in 38:40 (7:44 pace), which means I have run 5 miles on consecutive days (first time since injury).  I felt great again and the weather was perfect for running.  I didn't run on Mon, Tue, or Wed. due to feeling like crud and I finally went to the doc today.  I am on antibiotics for a sinus infection.  

7 miles in 54:20 (7:46 pace).  My body seems to fall into this pace as of late.  My last 4 runs have been within :02 seconds of this pace.  By the way, 7 miles is a new record since the injury.  I felt no fatigue, etc.  I will still stay conservative with my mileage buildup.  Next week, I will start adding a few hill repeats for strength and then some uptempo running as Dec. approaches.

It's amazing that since my running has been a positive lately (i.e. no injuries and they are going well), I find myself in a much better mood.  The injury and time off really made me appreciate it soooo much more. 

Our baby (Ethan) is also doing well.  He sleeps about 9.5 hours a night at 11 weeks.  Lately, the weather, for running, has been absolutely perfect.  I truly feel like a runner again and not some poor injured guy trying to get back into shape.  

4 miles in 30:55 (7:45 pace again).  I never checked the splits and just ran by feel.  Amazingly, my last 5 runs since the injury have been within :01 of each other.  I guess the body likes the pace.  It was dark last night when I ran and I had eaten about 1 hour before.  I thought that I was running faster than that pace.  I always feel that way at night.  I will take a planned day off tomorrow.  I feel really good right now, but don't want to get too excited.  Afterall, I am recovering from two stress fractures.  My question, how much is too much, too soon?

Dog update:  She is back to normal and is on two different antibiotics.  Perhaps, she hasn't been feeling well for several months.  We were somewhat busy (new baby) and probably didn't notice.  I did notice that she was sleeping more, but dismissed it as her getting older.  She seems spunky these days.  We have returned to regular walks, etc. 

Zero today...I sat in a meeting ALL day and then had to travel home.  They said they were catering breakfast and lunch (donuts and pizza).  I felt like a tub of lard after sitting all day and then eating all of that.  My low back is tight.  

6.1 in 47:20 (7:46 pace).  Again, within a second or two of what pace my body falls in to.  I did do one pick-up of ~100m just to see how it felt.  Since coming back from my injury, I have been trying to run on flat, soft surfaces.  Today's course at Shelby Farms had me going over soft surfaces (dirt/grss), but the terrain rolled.  I felt a twinge near my buttocks and hamstring meet (left side).  This is much lower than when I had my injury.  It feels muscular, but so did the stress fracture.  I will watch it, but really think it had to do with the undulating course and using those muscles that had not been used in a while.  Paranoid - me???