16 Days

Thanks to all who weighed in on the accounting issue. I've decided to pretty much continue what I've always done. If I'm on a training "run" it will count towards my mileage totals, no matter the run:walk ratio. If I'm simply walking or biking as an alternative to help maintain fitness, it gets written down for posterity, but not counted toward the lifetime mileage. Right now I'm writing down more activity than I'm adding to the total but that will change again someday.

Where do 16 days go? There's no way to capture the all the minutia of the last two weeks so I will try to hit the highlights.

Weather wise we've gone from temps in the 80's to chilly 40's, from sun to rain and back to sun.

I've been running very little, but running non-the-less. Even though my running isn't where I'd like it to be, I am active. I ride the bike and use the elliptical at the gym and I'm really enjoying lifting weights and working on improving my core strength. I haven't done a leg work out since a couple of weeks before St Jude, first in anticipation of the marathon and since due to the injury. Two weeks ago my trainer still wouldn't let me do a leg workout. In his words "It will only take one thing to go wrong and we won't work legs for a whole year." He was probably right. The following week he relented and I finally worked the legs with no apparent ill effects. My only rule was no jumping - white men don't jump! It was a pretty benign leg workout but my quads sure let me know they weren't used to moving that way.

The first week since my last post I covered 8 miles in two runs. I stuck to a 2:1 run:walk ratio. The hip and IT still let their presence be known. I also biked for about 2 hours and got one good 5 mile walk in Bonelli.

The second week, last week, I upped the running ante up a little to 12.7 miles in three runs. For the second two I upped the ratio to 3:1. That week also included the leg workout. By the end of the week the hip felt fine and the IT still creaked now and then. Besides lifting, I rode for about 90 minutes and walked 12 miles.

One of those runs last weekend was on Saturday morning. It was a misty morning. I had told myself I would stay on the roads to take it easy on the leg, i.e. no hills. But on the way back I couldn't help myself and ran about 2.5 miles on the muddy trails. While I was running a tune was playing in my head that included "misty morning" and "I come following you." I looked up lyrics and can only come up with Mr. Tambourine Man, but that's "jingle jangle morning..." The tune sounds right in my head but I don't know where misty morning fits in or if I'm confusing two different songs.

This weekend, Super Bowl Sunday, the first of my 2009 goal races will go un-run. I had hoped to run the Surf City Half Marathon. Admittedly, I was running it for the super cool medal and the chance to complete the California Dreaming Series. Alas, I run Huntington Beach all the time and as the the Cub's fans always say, "There's always next year!"

The appointment with the orthopedist, I scheduled back in December when my hip and ITB would not let me run and even walking was painful, is finally scheduled for next week. At this point I'm not sure I should keep it. The hip pain that I feared was serious is 98% gone and I know how to deal with the ITB. Part of me wants to save the deductible expense, but it took almost 6 weeks to get an appointment, part of me feels like I should keep it. Probably by the time I post again, you'll know what I decided to do.

Let's not wait 16 days to get together again, OK?