Never take the same path...

Earlier this week I thought I was going to have time for a long run this morning. That was before I found out that I was going to be chauffeur for one daughter at 6:45 and for another daughter at 7:30. No time for 20 or 30 miles with that schedule! Oh, well! Another day perhaps. I still haven't had time for the longer runs I really want to get in before I run my 100-miler. We'll see what next week holds.

This morning's run was going to be a little loop out in the country, but ended up being more of an out-and-back sort of thing. I started running and decided to go north rather than run west down School Street. I hate being predictable. Louis L'Amour's heroes always got ambushed when they used the same trail too many times. I ran up to Maple on Lawrence, then turned east to head out of town.

I ran to Highway 61, ran in the middle of the highway for a little while and then ran off onto the left hand shoulder like a good little runner. I ran south to Highway 54 and headed east again. I ran out to the first dirt road with plans to run up to the next mile and back to town that way. When I got a quarter mile or so up the road, I realized I wasn't going to have time to make breakfast if I did that loop, so I doubled back and ran back into town.

When I got to Wal-Mart, I turned south and picked up my speed. I hadn't run fast in a long time and it felt good. Not that sub-8:00 is that fast. It does feel lickity split when you've been running 9:00 or slower though.

I ran down past the trailer courts and then up by the hospital on my way back to my starting point. My goal for my final mile of this 5-miler was to do the whole thing sub-8:00. I missed it by four seconds. I was pleasantly surprised when I uploaded my workout to see that my fourth mile was 8:05. Not bad for an old man running with an injured left shoulder. (garmin data)

Rainy run...

I woke up to gentle rain this morning. I stepped out the door and enjoyed it as the raindrops dampened my hair. It was a beautiful 61 degrees.

I walked over to School Street knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to write the word "rain" with my route. I started my Garmin and started drawing.

I met very few cars in the four miles it took to run the "rain" out and back. My feet splashed in a few puddles. It was a fun run. Wish all outings could be this fun. (garmin data)

Back at it...

I'm back. Sort of. I ran today for the first time since my bike accident. I wanted to test my shoulder to see how it held up. It did pretty well. There was a little stiffness and a few "shots" of pain here and there, but for the most part it wasn't bad.

I ran west on School to Main with plans to just run down to Sixth, across to Howard and back home. I decided just before Howard that I wanted to run longer than that so I went out farther and ran some strange little streets that ended up giving me a nice picture of an old boot.\

This run put me over 800 for the year. Last year I ran just 826 miles, so sometime soon I'm going to run on past that and make 2012 my biggest year ever. My goal is 1000 miles by year's end. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm running 100 miles in one day in a little over a month. I sure hope I can get ready for that in time. (garmin data)

Cataloging injuries...

Ugly scrapes and bruises cover my body right now. The black and blue has slowly been appearing over the past two days. The "left knee" discoloration wasn't even visible on Saturday. It showed up Sunday afternoon. The blunt force of the sidewalk pushed the injuries deep. Ugh! Can't wait till I'm not stiff and sore any more.

An abrupt end...

I have had so few crashes on my bike over my lifetime that I can remember all of them.

My first was a great one. I jumped off a driveway ramp on my brother's BMX bike to impress a girl. My feet left the pedals mid-flight and I came down hard, stomach first, on the seat. Knocked the wind out of me and taught me a lesson. Don't try to impress girls!

My second and third wrecks involved loose asphalt at high speed and locked up front brakes in that order.  I left skin on the road, but no serious injuries from either of them.

I had my fourth memorable accident this afternoon. I had ridden back to my office after lunch and was trying to enter my office when the key broke off in the lock. I called a friend who had a spare key to make sure he was around and then rode to his office to pick it up.

With the extra key in my pocket, I headed back to work. I was approaching approaching a traffic light and had moved my hands out to my brakes when I heard a friend shout a greeting. I waved, then decided to ride over and chat for a second. I looked over my shoulder. No cars were coming, so I shot across the street and rode to the curb. As I jerked up on my handlebars, I had one of those Aha! moments. My hands were still on the brake levers. The lifting motion pulled them tight locking up my wheels just as I hit the curb. I was slammed hard to the sidewalk.

I was in immediate and severe pain. My left shoulder, my neck and my left cheek were screaming. I looked around, saw my friend and said, "I think I'm alright." He said, "No, you're not." A few seconds later, when I tried to stand, his opinion proved to be the better of the two.

I stepped into his office with some help and sat down in a chair. I held my arm to my body and tried hard not to move while my friend pulled my bike inside. When he came back to look at me all he could say was, "I think you should get that checked out." I wasn't convinced. I was pretty sure I could ride if I had just a few minutes to rest. I'd shake it off. Then the pain got worse. I changed my mind again and let my friend take me to the ER. My commute had come to an abrupt halt.

I spent a few hours on a hospital bed. My elbow and hand were cleaned up. I hadn't even noticed those injuries for the first few minutes. My shoulder and collarbone were x-rayed. Thankfully, they showed no breaks or dislocations. After what seemed like an eternity, I was told it was likely a major contusion or a minor tear in a ligament and released.

My plan for the next few days revolves around ice, ibuprofen and lots of sitting around. I won't be running to my girls' volleyball tournament as I had planned. Hopefully, I'll be well enough by Monday or Tuesday to resume training for my 100-miler.

Mostly dirt...

This was one of those workouts that makes doubt grow. My legs felt like led. My everything was sore and complainy. I can't imagine running 100 miles in 24 hours right now. I know this feeling will pass, but grrrrr!

I ran mostly dirt this morning or maybe it was close to half and half. I ran up north of the college again and this time ran straight east till I hit the four mile mark. I turned around and retraced my steps back home. I ran past the house and did a few little turnarounds to get to eight miles, then quit. (garmin data)

Airport run...

It was so nice out this morning. 46 degrees made it feel like fall. I pulled on my arm warmers and needed them! I love this weather. It makes running a joy.

I started out just wanting to put in some miles on dirt since much of my 100-miler will be on dirt. I ran out to Highway 61 and up to 10th Street and took off east. I was thinking at first that I'd run 45 minutes east and then turn around, but when I came to the first intersection, I decided to turn north. From there, I just made up my route, playing it by ear.

I ended up running over to the airport and taking Highway 281 back south into town. In all these miles I didn't encounter one dog. I didn't encounter many cars either. Exactly zero cars on the dirt roads and only a few on the paved sections, most of them on 281. One of the ambulances passed me early on just as I was turning off of Highway 61. I crossed the road in front of them, looked back and saw it was them. They squawked their siren a few times to say, "Hi!"

I don't know what I'm going to do with my Garmin. The battery died just as I was about to stop. I need the battery to last longer than two hours for my training runs. Grrrrr! Any ideas? (garmin data)

20th Street loop...

It took me awhile to get out the door this morning since I needed to take care of the business of notifying the winners of the 100pushups app codes. I posted notes to them everywhere so that when they get up this morning and check in to nearly any social network, they'll be informed.

Once I finally got out the door, I had a fairly decent run. I ran out to Highway 61 with plans to run the dirt roads to the east of town, but when I turned onto the highway I changed my mind and decided to run up to 20th and over to Highway 281.

It was dark this morning. No moonlight at all as far as I could tell, so I was glad for my Knuckle Lights. I'm not sure I would've even been able to see where the edge of the road was without them. The black of the road and the black of the night would've conspired against me.

It was humid too! Whew! I was drenched from head to toe. The relative humidity was at 100%. I was surprised it wasn't foggy! There was a little haze here and there and once or twice I noticed I could see my breath. That was a little weird since that sort of thing is usually reserved for really cold mornings. It was 55!

When I got over to 281 and headed south back into town, I had a brief encounter with the only dog on the highway. It wasn't much of an encounter. He barked a lot in the dark. I ran over to the other side of the road. He quit barking and I ran back over to the left side after I was several dozen yards past his house. If only every dog encounter was that calm.

When I finally made it back into town, I was feeling pretty good. I ran across the railroad tracks and down to School Street. I turned east onto School and ran till I hit 10K at the bottom of the hill. I stopped my watch. I'd missed the skinny kid's time by just seconds. I hate it when that happens. Not that it really matters. I'm way stronger mentally than that kid was.

With my running done, I walked the rest of the way home. It was nice to cool down strolling along the bricks and asphalt.

With less than two months till my 100-miler I know I'm going to have to get in some longer runs, but for now I'll just be happy with how good this short one felt. The misery will come in the next few weeks. Ugh! (garmin data)

The loop with the hill...

I spent way too much time fiddling around on the computer with stuff before I got out the door on my run, so I only had time for a short 4.5-miler. I was going to run to the west edge of town and back, but when I got to Main Street I decided to keep going south and take in the "big" hill south of town and loop back home. I hardly met any cars in town, but when I got out on Lake Road and Country Club Road I met up with three! Crazy traffic! (garmin data)

Skyline races...

I won! I raced my family out to Skyline and beat them by a long shot. They didn't know we were racing, but that doesn't matter! I still won!

I started out just before 6:30 with the goal of seeing how far I could get before my family who needed to be to Skyline by 7:00 for a band trip to the Kansas State Fair passed me. I ran a little harder than usual, but not really much more than a steady tempo run. I ran out of town on the sidewalks along the highway and then on the broad shoulders of 54. It is such a nice highway to train on. No real danger of getting hit. The shoulder is as wide as a lane and protected by rumble strips. I was honked at and waved at several times by others headed to Skyline to catch the bus, but it was never my family.

I couldn't believe they hadn't passed me when I turned into the drive at the school and ran past the idling buses. I ran down to the end of the parking lot, circled around the last light pole and headed back toward home. I ran out of the parking lot, up the drive and back onto the highway. It wasn't until I hit 3.67 miles, about a quarter mile into my return trip that my family finally went past and waved. I waved back and, in my heart, I taunted them! I'd beat them by a quarter mile and they were in a car!

My next race was with the buses. I ran down the hill from the school past Rick's Restaurant, crossed the bridge and started back up the hill toward the city limits. I thought I'd be doing good if I could make it back into town before the band. I made it there and kept going. For the next mile or so I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they were going to catch me. I crossed 281 and kept going. Still no buses. I ran through the green light at Stout. No big yellow vehicles. I finally had to leave the highway and run back to the house. I never saw the Skyline transports at all! I beat them badly...or maybe they took another route. Nah! I won! (garmin data)

Tour des églises...

I left the house this morning with no particular plan in mind. I was just going to run and see if my stone bruise was healed up enough to resume regular training.

I ran north on Welton and when I saw the Free Methodist Church at the corner of Maple, I knew what I wanted to do...run past all the church buildings in town! From the Pratt Free Methodist Church I ran north and then east a block to pass the Abundant Harvest Church of the Nazarene at Myrtle and Glenarm. From there I ran back down to Maple and ran east to the First Southern Baptist Church on Highway 61. I run south to Highway 54  and then west to Country Club Road took me past the Church of Christ.

When I got to Sixth, I turned west and ran past the First Assembly of God and then turned north on Austin to check out Faith Tabernacle. From there I wound around to Thompson which took me past St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Second. I ran up to Highway 54 and went west past the Pratt Presbyterian Church, turned south and ran past First Baptist, continued on south and over a block to Main to run past Second Baptist. From there I ran over to Jackson and then back up to Sixth which took me past Iglesia Cristiana Sileo.

The next church, Open Door Ministries, made me run all the way out to the west edge of town. I ran past it and headed back down 54 headed east. I ran past First United Methodist, went a block north on Main, turned on Blaine so I could run past the First Christian Church, then circled back around to Main where I ran past All Saints Episcopal Church. I run over to Jackson and up north to Logan got me to the Iglesia Cristiana Pentecostal Nueva Jerusalen.

I ran back south on Main and turned on School. On School I ran past Sacred Heart Catholic Church and immediately after that past Trinity Evangelical Church. A zig and a zag later I was running past Pratt Bible Church on Thompson. From there I ran up to Maple and ran past Pratt Friends Church, the last in the tour. I ran home from there and then walked a block or so to cool down. (garmin data)

The truth about EMS families...

I had to laugh when I saw this meme on Facebook. It is so true of EMS personnel. We don't go to the doctor for anything. We wouldn't call an ambulance either.

Lunch duty laughs...

I love supervising fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders at my daughters' school over my lunch hour. The students are a laugh a minute!

Today, one of them, I'll call him Trogdor, comes up to me and tattles on a friend. "He smacked me up side my head," Trogdor complained. I looked at him and responded. "Did you do something to him that you knew would get you smacked in the head?" Silence is golden!

A few minutes later this girl, I'll call her Dora, walks up behind me and grabs my right leg. "What are you doing?" I ask. Dora responds, "I'm feeling your calf." I'm the silent one this time.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Love run...

My wife tore me away from preparing for Tuesday's college class lecture to go on a run with her. We walked a block and then took off on a run that would spell out our love for each other and for running together. We stopped and walked a few times, but made it just over the two miles we wanted. Time to shower and get to bed now. (garmin data)

Plus...

I was on Google+ for awhile a few months ago. No one I knew was there and so I gave up on it. I stepped away from it. Why bother with it? I thought.

I reconnected to Google+ today. Still not sure about it, but I know more people who are using it and I can send blog content to it directly. We'll see how long this round lasts.

Bandit riding...

I woke up this morning just before 7:00. I rolled out of bed and stumbled to the computer. The question I had on my mind: "When was the Bike MS bunch leaving Liberty Middle school?" I found the answer: 7:30. I left the computer and dressed to ride as quickly as I could, donning my tights and arm warmers for the first time in months to ward off the 50 degree chill in the air.

I left the house around 7:20 and rode over to the school. I arrived just as the announcer was giving final instructions. I tried to avoid eye contact with anyone since I was going to be riding bandit and everyone else had raised at least $200 for the MS Society to be there. I was just a local going for a ride who happened to run into this massive group of cyclists. I looked up as they were about to roll out and saw a camera pointed at me. It was a newspaper reporter. Hope that doesn't make the front page!

The ride started immediately after a ribbon cutting by the top fundraiser, a lawyer from Pratt. That was pretty cool! Go, Pratt!

I waited till a few bikes rolled past, then clipped in and slipped my bike casually into the parade of two-wheelers following the town's brand new Taurus police cruiser.

I talked with a few riders as we left town on the bricks of Main Street. They were not 100% excited about the bumpy surface, so I assured them it wouldn't last long. I chatted with riders from Wichita, El Dorado and Hutchinson as I headed south.

Climbing the hill out of town, I paused briefly next to each rider or group of riders to encourage them, then rode on, seeking to catch the front of the pack. I bridged up to cyclists five or six times, then soloed for a couple of miles in no man's land between the last group and the single rider up the road. He was riding a a bright yellow Traans recumbant.

As I was tiring of my pursuit, a six or seven rider paceline caught me and I latched on the tail end of the train. I spent the next few miles drafting this group. When we were within a half mile or so of the elusive Traans rider, I struck out on a fruitless solo attempt to catch him again. I sprinted ahead, then settled in to a hard effort, but it was all to no avail. I dropped back and latched onto the train again. There in the pack, I passed the "rabbit" less than a mile before we rode into Coats, home of the group's second rest stop.

Turning south and riding down into town, I passed an Elvis impersonator, the Pink Ladies in poodle skirts and a bike mechanic from Wichita awaiting the arrival of the first wave of cyclists. I rode slowly around for a bit, then turned my bike around and headed back toward town.

For mile after mile I rode past the strung out field of cyclists. They were riding solo or in groups of two or three or ten. Once I had to ride over to the wrong side of the road when I encountered a large paceline on my smooth side. I just smiled and waved.

When I turned north, I didn't think I'd meet another rider. I did. Several riders actually! People of all kinds of abilities ride for a good cause, I guess. These stragglers were all smiles even as they struggled up the small hills in their path. I shouted encouragement and rolled on.

I hit the highway around 8:30 and rode on north, fighting the strengthening headwind. About four or five miles out of town I met one last cyclist heading south. He waved. I waved and wondered how he could be so far behind. I'd ridden almost 25 miles by that time. He must've gotten a late start, I thought, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I rolled back into town, took the turn at Santa Fe and zigzagged my way back home by the shortest route. My Garmin ticked past 30 miles just as I was about to my driveway. I'd covered the Bike MS short route in just under two hours. Wish I could have done more. I'm sure riding with the Traans man for 100 miles would've been a lot of fun! Maybe they'll come back next year and I'll have time to raise funds ahead of time! (garmin data)

Drop and give me 100...

My Story:

As a cyclist and runner, I have spent thousands of hours working to make my legs stronger. I have dedicated myself to building cardiovascular and respiratory endurance. I’ve done all this while basically neglecting my upper body. On April 17, 2012, I decided to change that. That day I decided to dedicate myself to doing 25 pushups and 25 sit-ups every day. I figured my arms and my abs would thank me eventually. That first day, I couldn’t do 25 consecutive pushups. I did 15 and collapsed, rested a bit then did two sets of five each.

I did my daily sets faithfully for about a week, improving each time. Then I discovered Steve Spiers’ 100 pushups program online. I decided to take the plunge. I was struggling more with the sit-ups at the time so I didn’t immediately jump on the 200 sit-ups challenge.

The first day of the program I did the 45 required pushups in 5 sets - 10, 12, 7, 7, 9. I did fine on the early sets, but the set was painful. That was the pattern nearly every workout followed throughout the program. I’d knock the first few sets out of the park, then grunt and groan through the final sets. There was never a day when I didn’t struggle to complete the assigned number. Twice I was unable to do the minimum on the final set. Pushups, I discovered, are hard work!

The program I was following – and there are many of them – took me from 15 consecutive pushups to 100. The plan was designed to do this in seven weeks, but it took me a little longer. At the end of my seventh week, I set out to do my final test. I started out strong and did 30 pushups with little effort at all. I started to feel a little weakness in the next 10 to 15. I got to 50 and rested a bit without putting my knees down. I did another ten barely, then five more before I collapsed. I knew 65 wasn’t bad, but it was short of the goal. I rested a bit then did 35 more. I decided to redo the last two weeks of the program.

As I was starting my eighth week, Steve Spiers contacted me via his @100pushups Twitter account. He suggested dropping down to the middle column of the fifth and sixth weeks to see if doing less pushups would help. I swallowed my pride and did as he advised. The sets were still hard to do, but I was able to complete each day’s workout with less exhaustion. At the end of these weeks, I dropped to the floor and made my second attempt at 100 consecutive pushups. I read Steve S.'s advice about putting my butt up to rest occasionally, so I kept that in mind as I started. I did 25 then rested for a few seconds. I did another 25 and rested. I did a third 25 with a lot of “give up” screaming in my ear. I rested. I did 10. I rested. I knocked out 15 of the worst pushups ever. It didn’t matter to me. I’d done 100 in a row.

My Review:

The 100 pushups program is easy to use. On the first visit to the website, you can view video of what a good pushup looks like and begin the program with an initial exhaustion test. From there, you can click over to the first week’s workouts and get started. Each day you are given a number of sets of pushups to do. You do them and then max out on the final set. The three times a week format gives you plenty of rest and recovery.

The app simplifies a few things. Once you’ve selected the workout, it automatically walks you through that day’s sets and times the intervals between sets. The timer is clear and easy to read through sweat-hazed eyes! The app also has several graphic representations to help you see your progress and you can set a reminder so that each day your phone will tell you to drop and do 20! Everything can be exported to a CSV file and emailed to yourself for record keeping or to a friend for bragging rights or accountability. Tips for the day also pop up to keep you on track and motivated. The multi-user function means you and your son or daughter can use the app and keep separate logs of your workouts.

Both platforms are easy to use and I highly recommend them to those who are seeking to tackle the formidable task of 100 consecutive pushups!

My Giveaway:

A big thank you goes to Steve Speirs, creator of the hundredpushups site, and James Sugrue, the man who coded the app, for making the book and app code giveaways possible. Julie Hess won the autographed copy of Steve Speirs' book, 7 Weeks to 100 Pushups, on Wednesday, September 12. The app codes went to Scott, Thad, Erik, Leslie and Tisha on Monday, September 17. If you didn't win either of these prizes, you can still purchase them at www.hundredpushups.com.

Attacking Dan...

I called Dan last night to see if he'd like to go for a ride this morning. It took a little arm twisting to get a yes out of him when I said 5:00, but he gave in and agreed. So dark and early I rode over to his house and we headed out for a fun little ride.

We started with our usual out and back to the church at Glendale. I met a new dog that Dan introduced as Kimber. She chased Dan because he was faster. I just rode along a few meters back enjoying the show. When she gave up on Dan, she just watched me ride past. I guess he wore her out.

We got back to Country Club Road at around 6:00, so we decided to go south rather than ride back north into town. We rode the little rollers and then Dan said he needed a break au natural. There are unwritten rules in cycling. One of them has to do with such pit stops. You're not supposed to attack when I guy's got his pants down. It is unwritten and Dan did say he'd catch up...so I broke the rule. About two pedal strokes after Dan pulled over, I went crazy in an attempt to beat him to Highway 281. I rode hard up the long, shallow gradient to 30th and then rode up a bit more before the downhill headed west. I was a little nervous when I hit the new sand on the road that they were resurfacing, but I managed to stay away till the highway. Dan didn't actually overtake me till a half mile or so on 281.

The rest of the ride was mostly conversational pace. We talked and laughed about this and that. We rode up Main Street enjoying the blinking yellow lights that let us ride all the way to Highway 54.

We took 54 east and were cruising along when all of a sudden Dan takes off. I look behind me and there's a semi truck coming around us. Dan can't resist a race with a semi. I laughed and ramped up my own speed, slipping in behind the truck to draft while Dan sprinted ahead. I caught up with Dan at Stout and flew through the intersection, raced ahead of the truck and made the turn onto Lawrence to ride back to Dan's house.

Stopped in front of Dan's house we talked for a bit and then I rode the block back home with a big grin on my face. It was that kind of ride! Thanks, Dan! (garmin data)

Long time, no ride...

My poor road bike. It has been neglected for so long. When I went to take it down off its hooks this morning, it's tires were so deflated. I felt like a terrible master. How could I let this happen. I lovingly connected the lifeline to each presta valve and breathed air into the sagging tubes. The bike immediately revived. It went from droopy to dashing in seconds! "Woohoo!" I shouted as I swung my leg over the saddle and rolled down the street.

The wind was in my face, but the bike didn't care. It cruised down the highway, enjoying freedom, shaking the cobwebs off. By the time we made it to the edge of town, it was ready to rock! The smooth new pavement on Highway 54 made it sing!

My original plan was to ride thirty minutes out and then turn around and come back. When we got to eight miles, the bike nixed that idea. He wanted more! He begged and whined and I gave in. "Just this once," I said. "We'll do a couple more miles." We sped on toward Cullison, ten miles out.

After the turn around, I gave it full gas. My bike and I ripped up the asphalt! Until we got back to town, I didn't see anything under 20mph. (Of course, I couldn't see anything over that most of the time either. It was DARK!!) When I thought I was climbing a hill, the bike said, "What hill? You call that a hill?!" It laughed derisively.

When we hit West River Road, we slowed a bit to cool down. We were still over 18mph most of the time. The wind blew us along. What fun!

We made it back home, my bike and me. Happy! Satisfied! Couldn't ask for anything better! (garmin data)

Riding and running at Family Camp...

Sunday morning before breakfast, my eldest daughter took me out for a bike ride. She wanted me to experience the ride that she did earlier in the summer while working at the camp. It was a crazy, hilly route!

It started out nicely enough with a long downhill to the river. Then there was a mile or so of completely flat road. Beautiful! Then there was this hill! It actually had a switchback or two! It was incredibly steep and the gravel under-tire was not at all helpful. I struggled to keep my wheels from spinning out. I made it about twenty feet from the stop and finally had to stop and walk the rest of the way up. It was that bad!

Once the two of us were on the less steep part of the hill, we remounted our bikes and continued on our merry way. We rode past a couple of pretty friendly dogs who ran out to say hi.

At around four miles, we hit a paved road and rode west for awhile. It was there that we encountered a number of short rollers. I had to stop and wait at the top of a few of them for my daughter to catch up. She was geared all the way down.

We eventually made our way back to the other end of the camp road and headed east. Yes, there was a bit of northbound road to get us there. On the gravelly camp road we enjoyed a couple of really big hills, a steep downhill followed by an equally steep uphill. and then a slow grind up to the camp entrance. I didn't have to stop to walk, but it was close.

When we turned back onto the campgrounds, we enjoyed the little roll down the hill back to our cabin. (garmin data)

My wife wanted to go running together Monday morning, so we both got dressed and headed out the door of our cabin. We walked up the hill to the start of the camp's cross country course and began our run there.

We weren't sure of the route, so we kind of faked our way around and ended up missing the correct route. We eventually ran the whole thing, but did most of it in the opposite direction of the college and high school runners who do it every fall.

No problem for us. We weren't racing anyway. (garmin data)

After I ran with my wife, I decided to go out and run a bit myself. My plan was to run the same loop that my daughter and I had taken on our bikes Sunday. It was a stupid plan!

My run started out well enough. I felt pretty good running up to the camp entrance and speeding down the hill. Then my left foot hit a rock and the enjoyment went out of the run. I didn't stop though.

I ran along the river headed for the nasty switchbacky hill. I thought, "Surely my foot will quit hurting." I was wrong.

I turned onto the road that the hill resides on and started climbing. I ran a little two hard and found myself stopping to keep from puking at about the same place I had to stop and walk my bike. I hate that spot.

I walked long enough for the nausea to subside a bit and then started to run again. I ran to the 2.5 mile mark and turned around. Things didn't get better. In exchange for the lack of nausea, I got the urge to poop my pants. I could NOT run through it, but had to walk not once, but multiple times on the way back to camp. In addition to this less than enjoyable urge, I found every large pointy rock on the road with my left foot. I was almost limping by the time I re-climbed the hill, walking for much of it and ran back into camp.

I hope things heal up quickly. I don't have time for a stone-bruised foot! (garmin data)