Its been two weeks now since I've busted my rib and after having gone through a bottle of Tylenol and a couple of good nights of rest I'm finally able to cough again without any discomfort. Its funny how you take the little things like the ability to be able to cough for granted only realizing their importance after the shit hits the fan. Hopefully over the course of the rest of this week I'll be able to resume some sort of purposeful training. The signs are there. The other day I went out to the trails for the first time since before Berryman. I was only going to run it easy but I got out there and couldn't control myself. The first mile was a warmup followed by two consecutive four mile loops. Loop one was a 24:38. HotDamn!! O.K. I thought thats good enough for now lets shut it down and go slow. That was the intention thinking that the pit stop I made behind a tree while the clock was running would keep me from pushing to hard. Knowing there would be no way I could run even splits I never even bothered looking at the watch. I pushed it a little on the last long downhill section and to my complete suprise after stopping the watch my split was 24:16.
I think I'll stick with this rest thing for a couple of more weeks. All the cycling I'm doing as cross training only seems to be helping. It may even become a permanent part of my training through the summer and into fall to keep my legs fresh. I guess after six years of running ultras I'm still trying to figure out what works best for me.
Tommorow I'm gonna squeeze in another 10 miler on some flat stuff. Then probably 10-15 miles Friday marking the course for Saturdays race. Saturday will be a lot of fun heading up the aide station and helping all the runners out. I'll try to get some mileage in before and after the race but probably nothing more than another 15. Still enjoying the downtime from competition and all the family time in its place. Its funny how your body responds positively to a life less stressed. Now if I could just figure out how to come into every race with this same feeling...Its gonna happen and when it does well, YOU'LL SEE!
