Bluebells, Turtles, and Ah Ha!!

This week was more of the same... crazy work stuff, sore leg, and lots of self-doubt. I took a fast 5 mile run wednesday evening. My leg felt great during the run, but was really really tender and sore the rest of the week. I was starting to think that maybe I do have a stress fracture since there was no improvement. But again, it was not getting worse either and the pain was moving around... so what to do? Run of course... I decided last night that I would run this morning no matter what. If it hurt, well, I would run anyways since I had nothing to lose. If it was a stress fracture, Burning River was out of the question for this year so let's go out in a blaze...

Woke up at 6am to the sounds of our Bernese barking madly like always... Slopped the dogs and cat and changed into my running stuff. At the last minute I decided to wear a new pair of trail shoes. I started off into the Center Valley park for 10 miles. First mile was the usual, "This really does not feel good, why am I running, what is this all about" nonsense. I told myself to shut up, the first mile always feels bad. Second mile I had one of those 'Ah ha!' moments! I realized that I was landing on my left heel instead of forefoot! This was causing a lot of force to be slammed into my shin instead of my foot absorbing the impact. hmmm... I started to focus on how my feet were landing and being consistent. Incredibly, it felt pretty good... Ok, I can do this...

Ran up to Post road, made the turn-around and headed back down the hill, trying to concentrate on form. If I lapsed, the pain would return, making it pretty easy to know if my form was good or not. As I ran down the stairs at the observation deck, I heard something rustle in the leaves to the right. I glaced over expecting to see a squirel or snake, but instead saw a large snapping turtle! It was approx 1 foot diameter and they are really ugly. I stopped to get a better look and it immediately withdrew into its shell. I was not about to go poking around that!

I continued on to the red trail and came across a nice patch of BlueBells. These are some very pretty wildflowers and were all in bloom. This brightened up the area and my morning. I continued on my way and before long, my 10 miles were compeleted. I changed out of my sweaty clothes and stretched as I cleared out the flower beds and replaced the freewheel on the tandem.

My leg feels pretty good now, 6 hours later. I am again, cautiously optimistic, that recovery is near... I hope so because August is coming fast!!