Time to slow down

Just when things are sailing along beautifully, starting to feel like my fitness for the longer events is coming back (after my month break from running) and I feel like I couldn't be happier I go and slip.  Literally, I slipped on the ice on the river trail about 25 minutes from my house on a morning run and am left with a puffy left knee, bruising and a possibly strained (hopefully not torn) calf.  Doh!  I have been super lucky running injury free for many years now.  This is definitely a different mindset.

Of course I got up and tried jogging home, nearly passed out in the shower, still rode my bike to work (all on pure adrenaline), but by that afternoon I couldn't even weight the thing.  Fortunately I was able to get in to see a very nice Doc at Desert Orthopedics.  Xrays confirmed nothing is broken, but it was so swollen by that point that he couldn't really tell what is going on with all the tissues.  So this beautiful weekend has been passed a little differently than I'd planned.  I was all excited for a long chilly bike ride and then joining Browning out at his new place for a long run at Smith.

I've had all sorts of thoughts on how to deal with this and keep coming back to the fact that this is another challenge that I want to come through stronger for having endured it.  I'm going to enjoy the things I think about doing when I'm out on those long runs that I maybe dabble in.  Like today I built a new website using my .Mac account.  I plan on hosting my blog there once I can get the thing to publish.  I'm working on crocheting, yesterday I helped friends build cabinets for their kitchen remodel, watching movies and getting through books I've been wanting to read.

Also, we are only about two weeks out from Chuckanut!  The 50k that I race direct is on March 15th starting at 8am.  As of this morning there were 10 spots still available.  I'm looking forward to the large field of 350 runners including Dagan!  He has been training up and seems ready to give his first 50k a go.  Once again, hanging out with me will probably make you run a bit.

Dagan & I just returned from a wonderful trip in Costa Rica - I will get a post with photos up this week.

I hope this finds you happy and healthy and appreciative of what your body is able to do for you.