Road to Recovery and Thinking Ahead

Two days after running fifty miles, I feel pretty good, all things being equal. Fifty miles is still fifty miles, or eighty kilometres if you want to look at it another way. Despite crossing the finish line - or hobbling - with a throbbing knee and a twisted ankle, both on my left leg, forty-eight hours later I can't say that either one is giving me much trouble. I have iced both, but there has been no swelling and very little pain. Granted I haven't tried running on them, but yesterday I managed three thirty minute walks. And all three times, my quad stiffness was my most pronounced twinge producer.

Strangely enough, what I have noticed the most is that my feet feel bruised. I ran the Stormy Ultra Trail Run in my Montrail Trail Runners, and normally they are more than adequate. But I had banged up my feet pretty good six days prior to Stormy by scrambling over rocks to reach the summit of Hudson's Bay Mountain while wearing nothing more than runners. Massaging my feet, it feels as if the bruises go all the way to the bone!

Now it is time to concentrate on my Fall marathon and try to decide whether I am running in the Royal Victoria Marathon or the Portland Marathon on October 7. I have done Victoria four times already, but it is in my own backyard so to speak, and would take less of an effort to organize and cost less. Portland has a great reputation, is relatively flat, has great restaurants, I love doing new marathons, and I might even get to run as a Clydesdale! But it is a journey.... Decisions, decisions...

A few folks have asked me what my next running goal is, and speaking honestly, I don't have a clue. I have trouble getting excited about the idea of doing a triathalon - I just don't swim that much and here in Vancouver, every time you get on a bike, you literally take your life in your hands (and I am tired of spending a small fortune on gear) - and I have run the Boston Marathon for the past two years. The other thing is that the friends of mine who have done the longer distance triathalons, half-Ironmans and Ironmans, basically drop off the face of the planet as their lives become consumed by training ten or fifteen or more hours per week and you never see them again. I would like to re-qualify for Boston one more time so that I have an opportunity to run with some friends who have qualified themselves.

I do like destination marathons. It is great to plan a trip with friends, people whom you enjoy spending time with and sharing life's experiences, and it's a great way to see a new place. Regardless, I have lots of time to figure out what I'm going to do next.

Of course I am speaking with the voice of someone who just spent over ten hours stumbling through the woods and the forest, so perhaps my mindset will change once the memories begin to fade with time and I see things through the rose-tinted spectacles of my hazy, fond recollections...