10 miles? That's Incredible!

RUN 5.4 miles in 54 mins to work, then to home, 10 miles total

Yes, it's incredible! I'm back to my Wednesday commute to/from work, first time since maybe...September? While running through TGP a walker asked how far I was running, the title of the post was his reply.

All feels good, my left hip socket talking a bit but mostly when I'm lying down for some reason, but I'm tired like I want a nap! The run in wasn't to music and felt sluggish, but not surprising given that it's a back-to-back run sequence. Boy when I get back to running I make it crazy -- 5 yesterday 5+5 today, 5 more planned for tomorrow. And an option for 3-3.5 more Thursday evening with a run group through the BRR/Xmas lights route.

Yesterday and today are one of those weather change-up days. This morning wasn't so bad at 27F for the run in (of course I was over dressed) and my run home forecast is holy crap 53F right now!) high 40's?!? WAY OVERDRESSED! Even crazier the xmas holiday back home is forecasted at 50F.

2016 Songlist

The order of this list keeps changing, not that it really matters. And although my iPhone Running Songlist has Fireball in it 3-4 times, I won't do that here. Really love running to that song.

The Sound of Sunshine by Michael Franti & Spearhead. This is a funny one, I found it in my blog list but had completely forgotten about it, and to be honest I don't know if I know the song right now. Gonna have to listen to it again. Haven't downloaded yet from iTunes. So I jumped back in where I learned to swim, try to keep my head above it as best I can. YouTubing it....oh yeah I remember this one now!

The Memory Remains by Metallica No particular lyrics in this song, more of a case that I kept hearing it, and it just fit. I kept hearing it at my personal training sessions. And I like Metallica.

Run West from the Devil by Chris Lashelle This is from my Western States 100 DVD. Oooooh it says it all: The devil is chasing me, through valleys of fallen trees, with rivers to cross too deep, In fate (?) now I'm finding I can make it, there is no doubt inside just in time, and I have survived.

Don't Tell Me How To Live by Monster Truck My blog shows an entry in July for Enforcer by same band, but I like this one better. Love rocking out to this one, loud. I'm going to soar like an eagle, my wings will carry me away. I've got the heart of a lion, and I get stronger every day. 

Breathe by Taylor Swift Super hard to explain, and it has nothing to do with Disney or the X. At all. More to do with breaking old habits and staring the Battle with B, M, and D. They defined me for a period of time, and to get them out of my life seemed like stripping me away too. You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand. 

August Moon by Gregory and the Hawk Found this in a YouTube search, not on the radio. So it's a searched-out song and it really stuck. Currently it's one of my iPhone alarm sounds. Don't undo the true chance that chooses you, face to face with a new day. 

Vice by Miranda Lambert From the Evergreen 51 48 miler. I was singing in my head for most of the 2nd and 3rd laps, then out loud near the end of the 3rd. Said I wouldn't do it, but I did it again.

Fireball by Pitbull Started out as a song for the dog, I'd sing Hairball instead. But then in the Farmdale 100 80 race the aid station was serving Fireball whiskey and thus it stuck. If you think I'm burning out, I never am. OK, ignoring the fact that I DNFd that race...

You Are More by Tenth Avenue North In addition to a YouTube find, I also have a Christian rock song. One of my programmed stations is described as "upbeat" so I kept it, only to learn later it's a CR station. This song is one I surfed through, caught a few words, then went back to hear. Another one that stuck. I was in a bit of a self esteem dive after the Farmdale race. You are more than the choices that you've made.

Me Too by Meghan Trainor Heard this during Evergreen recovery. Change it to "want to be BEE too"! I thank God everyday, that I woke up feeling this way, and I can't help loving myself, and I don't need nobody, uh huh, if I was you I want to be me too.

Run by George Straight. I'm a sucker for omen-type stuff. Heard this on the way home from a dog walk with RM in which we discussed my plans for R2T100. Baby run, cut a path across the blue sky. 

I Hope, I Think, I Know by Oasis The R2T100 Song! And what might be my 2016 theme song. This was in my head for the 26 hours of the Kansas race, at least I had the lyrics right. They're trying hard to put me in my place, and this is why I gotta keep running. 

Closing out 2016 on a great run

RUN 10 miles in 1:29, work commute on a Saturday morning

I've been running but not updating here. Part of my "off" in the off season includes being "off" here too. Running has been building steadily since the beginning of December. The first few runs I didn't want to do and it didn't feel good. I'm over the hump -- now it feels great and fluid and strong and fun.

I ran in to work with a PYP podcast Need Less Want Less. He's talking to me, even though he's talking to everyone (including himself, methinks, on this solo pods) he's saying exactly  what I need to hear. He says I made a difference on his 2016, well he made a difference on my 2015 and 2016 and played a direct role in my success this year making progress in the Battle.

Once at work I started working on my 2016 Songlist during an incubation, and listened to that on the way home. This definitely fueled a great run -- upbeat, familiar, memory lane songs. I should check the paces over the miles, the run home had to be faster :)

I finished the 10 miles on my street, a slight downhill to the Oasis song. I felt light, free, fast, healthy, happy, and strong.

I'm typing this up on Dec 21st, first day of Winter and importantly on a separate topic the finale of the Battle, a year long process I didn't get into here. Last night I watched the first half, tonight the second half. I'm being careful to think of it as "I'm doing this" not "I've done it". It's still a process.

I think this is a great place to end the 2016 Blog. I'll do my usual 2016 Songlist Summary too, but I'd like to close out strong and looking ahead to 2017 :) ProBee Style!

Up to 5 miles, still not fluid

RUN! 5 miles in 48 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

I'm up to 5 miles now, still feels awkward and not "fluid". My shoes feel heavy and legs clumsy. But starting up running takes time, and it doesn't feel good at first. What does feel good is that I'm back to running and starting to get on a normal schedule again!

I ran 4 miles on Sunday in 40 mins, kinda stuck in the 10m/m pace range. Today mile 4.0-4.5 was at a bit of a pushed pace but it didn't last long.

As for healing of the right leg, when I fully dorsiflex I can feel tightness in the tibialis anterior muscle up along the shin bones. No pain, just tight. Like it's mildly constricted by a band wrapped around my calf. I'm still doing the ankle flex and rotation exercises. I mostly notice this tightness when driving and standing on the pedals of the bike. No more in walking or stair climbing.

Feel kinda...depressed...?... last few days. Like I'm oversleeping and my face is heavy.

31 days today on NSNG, I like it, but it won't last long when I start running long again. That's not for awhile yet, so no worries.

Oh man.... 15 weeks away

OK I know I said just 10 minutes ago that I'm not opening a race calendar. But while closing the blog I clicked, then clicked more, clickety-click and I'm reminded of Three Days of Syllamo.

5.5 hour drive to AR....$160 for all three races...over 24000 feet of climbing....

15 WEEKS AWAY! Not likely to happen.

Or is it?

Or focus on Poto? BTW that's been renamed to McNaughton. So...it's like whole new race!
And it's 18 weeks away! Close to home, less driving, pretty much same price at $170.

Time to start the "2017 Goals" blog post tag!

First run since R2T100

RUN!!! 2.4 miles in 24 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

OK, the first real run since R2T. Jogging across intersections doesn't count, and although I did some short run intervals while walking at home over the Turkey holiday I'm not counting those either.

YAY!! There's some residual tightness low across the tibia, on the google images that is where the tendon and/or muscle cross from the medial leg to the lateral. In the past few days I only notice that tightness when driving and pushing for full dorsiflexion. It's not painful at all, just tight. Like things need to loosed up a bit more. So hopefully that doesn't turn into a problem as I build miles.

I'm thinking my first week back to running won't have more than 10 total miles, if that!

The Turkey holiday was wonderful, aside from the fact that it feels like I sat most of the time. Driving there and back, errands into town, visiting, all seated. I did 30-40 min walks each morning in which I'd throw in short jogs, and I did aim for about 30 mins of "moving" as either stretching or strength training. Not really "training"....

This morning: Just under 50F, calm, and sun not up yet. It rained yesterday and the ground was still wet, the aroma of rain still in the air. I pulled on my capri tights, yellow windbreak jacket, and blue Adrenalines -- all gear I last wore at the race. I put my watch on, it still had 26 hours and 19 minutes on it. I noted it was the 29th, same day R2T started. It's also a new moon tomorrow, just like R2T. As I stepped outside a train horn sounded, like I heard race morning...

Soooooo happy to be back at this :)
But not pulling out a race calendar just yet!

Biking to work!

BIKE COMMUTE: 9.5 miles today and yesterday!

YAY! I've been doing trainer rides indoors, slowly building up the time and the leg felt better. The first ride last week left me concerned, but oddly it seemed to improve quickly after that. I'd like to say riding helped. Maybe it did?! I can stand on the pedals but doing so causes a stiff-tightness feeling up the front of the shin. Same climbing stairs. Otherwise, no other symptoms, aside from a minor and infrequent ache over the fracture site.

I'm back to climbing stairs 90% normally, still tending to keep my heel up instead of putting my foot all the way down. I was able to get compression socks on and that is way more comfy than regular socks, as they lack the band the ankle. I tried regular ones this morning and didn't like it yet. I'm also still KT'd, is that helping? I dunno.

So happily getting back to normal. Sunday night while thinking on the full moon I meditated on the race, the last 10 miles and the struggle there. And for a brief moment, I wanted to run another 100 next spring. Just incubate on that for now.

Farmdale 100 vs R2T100: Life is Hit and Miss

This is a natural thing for me, to compare to races like this. It's almost a pointless exercise really, but I do it all the same. So here goes a comparison of the experiences from Farmdale 10080 and R2T100.

One thing that really comes to mind is the motivation for doing R2T100 and the effect it had on my finish. I was all in for Farmdale 10080 but lost the mental battle somewhere around 80 miles. It's possible that if I didn't cross through the finish line every 7.25 miles and was instead stuck 20 miles away on a trail I would have covered the distance and finished.

But considering the hip pain I had at Farmdale 10080, maybe not. My leg really was dragging on the ground. Stupid leg.

It's what happened after Farmdale 10080 that motivated R2T100. First off, someone said something very unfortunate to me after Farmdale 10080. This person meant well, but it was a remarkably painful thing to say, it burned and hurt not unlike the hip -- acute and sharp. I brushed it off, ignored it, but it ate at me. BTW -- never say anything like that to someone who just missed a major goal.

Then in the days following, as I'm incubating on the idea of running R2T100, a race I found searching the web that same Farmdale 10080 Sunday, I hear for the first time an Oasis song, and Oasis is a favorite band of mine. It's not a new song, it's actually from 2010, but it's being re-released on a new album. One listen, and I'm in love with it. The lyrics spoke my language:

You're trying hard to put me in my place
And that is why I gotta keep running
The future is mine and it's no disgrace
Cos in the end the past means nothing

You tell me I'm free then you tie me down
And from my chains I think it's a pity
What did it cost you to wear my crown
You don't like me why don't you admit it

I feel a little down today
And I ain't got much to say
It's you're gonna miss me when I'm not there
You know I don't care, you know I don't care

As we beg and steal and borrow
Life is hit and miss and this
I hope, I think, I know
If I ever hear the names you call
And if I stumble catch me when I fall
Cos baby after all
You'll never forget my name
You'll never forget my name

It recalled those painful words I heard, it conjured images of running R2T100 as redemption, and spoke of a future that doesn't depend on the past. 

I emailed at least 3 other ultra runners familiar with the race, they encouraged me and provided advice. Talked to TV, TH, and RM -- my St Louis Hive -- and pretty much all warned me against running R2T100 on the basis of I could fail again. RM has the best argument against it, spoken as we walked our dogs. He pointed out that his injuries have prevented him from running since 4th of July weekend, what if my injuries became permanent? And what mental/emotional satisfaction was I trying to gain from all this? As I digested all these words of advice, I only convinced myself all the more that I needed a redemption, whether it was R2T100 or another race. I knew I needed this. 

Sadly, the same person mentioned above said more hurtful words as I announced that I registered for R2T100. It only added fuel to the fire. Now I not only had to prove to myself that I could finish this, it was like I had to prove it to them too.

You're trying hard to put me in my place...

So is that it in the end? Farmdale 10080 didn't have a song? In a way, yes. I just don't have the words to explain it better yet. Maybe I should bring this person along to all my races, to say things that piss me off! Nah.....

In the end, I did get my mental and emotional satisfaction. After Farmdale 10080 I kept wanting to run, now for the past 2 weeks the idea of running is out of the question. No urge. The pull of finishing is gone. The drive is put to rest. I did it. 

In the end though, really, Farmdale 10080 just wasn't my day and days like that will happen, there's no stopping that. But as it's said, it's not what happens but rather how you react to it. My reaction was to get back on and try again. (Would I have tried a 3rd time? Oh man I can't think about that!). I was knocked out of the saddle and I immediately climbed back on. That alone is a redemption, and I wonder too if I had failed at R2T100 if knowing that would have brought satisfaction? No way to know, thankfully!

Life is hit and miss and this
I hope, I think, I know

Seeing improvement. Is it the tibialis anterior tendon?

BIKE! indoors on the trainer. 15 mins last night and again this morning. It's improved over the first test I did Weds night, less pain and more flexion.

But still not great. Dorsiflexion is almost nothing if measured by lifting my toes while seated or standing, but I can pick up my foot from a dropped position. The bone still aches now and then. But most of the pain and discomfort originate from two places. First a tight band around the fracture area. Then also up the front of the shin bones I have pain. I'm guessing the tibialis tendon? Geezus I just googled that and found an image for ruptured TA tendon. I don't really have those symptom, thank Geezus.

But I think the ankle reticulum or however it's spelled is irritated and/or inflammed or maybe even damages. When my swelling is minimal in the morning (this morning was the least swelling I have yet!) I can see a bump at the top of my ankle, right where leg and ankle meet. 

I was able to put on compression socks this morning, and through the socks I could see the bump. They don't seem to be irritating anything, and I'm happy to have even pressure across the leg without sock bands or tops. 

My Gawd I keep reading about tendon ruptures....it's that big tendon that pops out when the toes are lifted up.  I can feel mine lift up. Another symptom is a bump like I have! And weak dorsiflexion like I have! Do I have hyperextension of the toes...?  Don't think so. 

This looks more like it: inflammation of the tibialis anterior tendon sheath. Investigating...causes pain and weakness in the ankle...f^cking pinterest...That tendon makes sense. Some of the red-bruising I had post race was over that area -- lateral upper calf along the bones. The ankle connection is medial, where I had more red-bruising.

Symptoms include pain when bending the foot and toes up. Swelling and redness over the front of the ankle where the tendon is. If you push your fingers into the tendon you can sometimes feel a creaking when you move the foot up and down. There may be weakness lifting the foot upwards which may result in a foot drop or slapping gait.

Often due to overuse... LOL!! Required in walking, yeah. Can be cause by foot fitting shoes or mechanics. I'm betting it's more of an overuse thing. 

Treatment is rest until no pain. 

Can I tape it?! (Like a Will It Blend joke!). Ha! Yes you can! 

Another update on mostly nothing

Still no bike commuting, but last night I aired up Bird and spun on the trainer for 15 mins, no shoes and no effort. The right lower leg is tight, it feels like a painful band going around the lower calf. Like a wide rubber band or something, hard to describe. So I kept it easy.

To top it off, while walking the dog prior to this I tripped over a step in a sidewalk, did the Daffy Duck trip-trip-trip-tripa, then hit the ground. I couldn't get my foot under me either due to hesitation for pain or just not flexible enough. Then I really hurt, even though the most of it came from over extending the foot when it caught on the concrete. And the fracture site ached for a few blocks. But no other damage.

It's improving, I'm mostly walking normal and now dedicated to ankle rotation exercises a few times a day. Circles in both directions and up/down. The burning pain is sometimes still there but decreased. It's easy to induce too. Flexion is still very, very limited.

The other night just before bed I pulled off my socks and noticed how the swelling built up against the sock line. I felt over it, and noted a hard band along it! Was it from the swelling, the sock, the source of injury and/or tightness?! This kept me awake for a while, wondering and wanting to Dr Google it. I waited.

Next day I changed socks to something with a higher ankle. It's still swelling around the ankle bones and above the sock line but that hard band of something-or-other doesn't seem to be there. I'd like to wear compression socks for even pressure but I don't think I'd be able to pull them on or off yet. But I should try to avoid these pressure points.

Stairs are still difficult and I'm avoiding them as I can. When going up I'm up on my toes, when going down I'm hesitant slow.

But I'm getting there. I keep wondering when and if I should consult Dr M on this. My gut tells me to wait and heal, see how it goes. It's only been 10 days!

It's odd and surprising that nothing else hurts, I quickly healed up otherwise everywhere else and if it wasn't for this this right leg thing I'd probably be running again! The only remaining issue, and this was an issue before the race too, is that my hip sockets hurt when I lie in bed. Hard to explain that one too.

First weekend in the off-season

Still NOTHING.

Not a complaint. But if this keeps up it will soon be one! It's been a week since the race, I feel like I'm wasting away. No, really. I don't feel strong or fluid. So I gotta focus more on moving, stretching, and rolling. Or I will tighten up and have other problems. 

My leg is slowly improving. Sometimes I can feel the where I envision the stress fracture is on the lateral side of the leg. Especially when I bump the leg (like Sugar's tail or lying on my right side in bed). This pain is like a dull ache. But a vast majority of the pain is still up the front of the leg, from the ankle to about 1/3rd of the way up. It's not in the bone, it feels like soft tissue. The pain is a burn, like I have an open wound. Sometimes I even look at it to see if I'm bruising or cut or what's going on. 

Flexibility is still minimal. Here on Monday I have a few millimeters of dorsiflexion. I have more if I let my foot drop a little then pick it up. And speaking of that, my foot doesn't drop much either. It will if I let it hang, but to point my toes to put pants on is difficult. It's like my foot is fixed in this position for now. 

I'm onto putting warm packs on it, and still trying to elevate when I can. It seems like sitting or swelling makes it worse, but like many pains it hurts more at night anyway. So to say it's swelling or just tired or hurting more at night, can't say. 

I haven't "twanged" the foot in a day or two, those first days I would take a wrong step or catch my shoe on something and it would send me into a 8-9 out of 10 pain. Oh, maybe a 7-8. Quit being such a pansy! 

When I think about it, I try to work on flexion and mobility. Oooh it hurts to do that. 

I noticed this morning that the toenail on the 4th toe on my left foot is starting to turn colors, I thought that would happen based on how it felt in the race. 

Oh and just for fun I'm now on day 2 of a NSNG challenge. It's so similar to what I do anyway. I like challenges I guess.

RM asked if I satisfied my emotional/mental reward at this race. My reply: "YES I did hit my reward. That feeling of being put through the wringer, of having to dig deep, of being emotionally exhausted, of hitting a bottom that required an inner faith and belief that you can't summon up any other time. I have no regrets about the leg injury, however a bit worried about my ability to once again put myself in a state of denial that allows such damage to occur. Nothing new I guess." 

Improvement on right leg

Still NOTHING.

I've been sleeping very fitfully all week, waking up a lot either to pee or due to pain and discomfort. But last night I slept much better, didn't wake as much, and didn't have the leg elevated. But I woke up and habitually stretched and OW OW OW OW OW OW OMG I don't know if was a muscle cramp or just way to far of a stretch, but DAMN it hurt, for the next hour or so!

This faded out once I got to walking. The swelling is much better, now there's just a swollen spot over the injury site. Over the course of the day, the ankle and lower leg swelled and it was a swelling that disappeared with just the ice pack wrapped around it.

And over the course of the day I was able to walk mostly normal. Still can't do much more than that though, and I can dorsiflex a few millimeters is all. But this is the most improvement so far.

So don't over-do it this weekend!

Kansas post race summary

Funny that I'm writing the post-race report before I'm writing the actual race report! But that will take time to put together and I want to hit how I'm feeling now before I miss it.

Sunday after the race I hobbled around a grocery store for foods, repacked my drop bags and threw away any extra foods, read a book a while in the truck while the hotel room was prepped, then finally got into the room for a much needed shower.

I was surprised when I peeled my compression socks off to find my right calf looking bruised! The inner calf from midway into ankle, then up under knee on lateral. The swelling was amazing too, mostly lower calf and the skin was very firm to touch. The pain wasn't terrible yet and mobility was limited but still OK.(That all changed later!). I was surprised by the bruising, in some spots the skin was so red it looked like a sunburn.

To my surprise I didn't sleep that afternoon, instead put my feet up on bed and watched parts of a L&O SVU marathon -- my first TV watching since maybe February. Boooooo-ring. Also had books but had trouble keeping my eyes focused. I don't think I slept, wanted to but couldn't.

Pain and mobility were slowly getting worse, not surprisingly, and by the end of the night (when L&O became a Star Wars marathon (no wonder I don't miss television) and I had had as much food and drink as I could handle. Finally getting sleepy, and talked to parents for a bit. My voice was hoarse, I wasn't thinking too clearly, and I was barely moving around. The most frustrating thing was leaving the remote or my pen on the other side of the king-sized bed, and having to crawl/roll over to get it! Haha!

Overnight when I'd get up to pee my right ankle/calf was getting progressively worse. Thankfully I realized that the desk chair had wheels, so I'd park that along the bed and wheel myself around. It loosened up if I used it, but oooooh that hurt to do. And I wanted to rest it.

Monday morning the pain and bruising were still remarkable and I asked Dr Google. Anterior compartment syndrome, maybe. Worried about the drive home, I texted EC to see if any big red flags came out. I didn't expect I diagnosis, more that I needed to talk it out with someone. She mentioned DVT as an alternative option. Eeek! So my plans for the drive were to stop every hour to rest, put my feet up, buy instant ice like TH suggested, and nap if needed. To hold me to this, I let Mom, Sis, and TH know what I was doing. As the morning went by I was able to hobble better and better, but still hobbling. I left the hotel around 9am, didn't get to outer STL until 5pm! I did nap once or twice, and when I felt doozy I pulled over quickly. So good job there, holding to goal.

Some groceries, get the dog, get home, unpack, dinner.

Tuesday: The bruising is gone!? But the swelling and pain still really bad. To my surprise nothing else really hurt, or at least it didn't hurt relative to the right leg. I wore pajamas to lab, was told a few times that I "didn't look good", did mostly computer work with a fuzzy brain, and had the usual hot/cold, tired/awake, hungry/nauseated, wanna-talk/lemme-lone, flip/flops I get post race :)

I was in the break room when another DOVS doc walks in and hears me talking to MikeC about the race and leg. Doc says "sounds like that could be a blood clot" and thankfully told me about the Ortho Injury Clinic. Once my half day at work was done, I headed home to give the dog a break, then headed out there to see what I could learn. Last think I wanted to do was get back in the truck!

I fully realized how bad it would sound to say "my leg hurts, I just ran 100 miles", and it was funny to see the reactions. Diagnosis: There is mild chronic appearing cortical thickening of the distal fibular shaft anteriorly. No discrete fracture is seen. There is soft tissue swelling around the leg. In short, stress fracture!

How does it feel? My foot, ankle, and lower calf are swollen up like a sausage. It feels like there is a tight band around my lower calf. I can't dorsiflex much at all, but rotation is OK. If I step on an incline like a curb or step it FUCKING HURTS all they way up to the knee along the lateral muscles.  There is a painful dull, sometimes sharp, ache in the inner lower leg at almost all times. Sleeping with it elevated is a challenge, I'm trying to keep my foot from flopping and needing to be restretched each morning but sleep is not coming easy yet.

Wednesday. About the same. The mild back/hip pain is mostly gone, I haven't mentioned that as it wasn't a major thing. Oh and my hip flexors -- also fine?! Tired, but fine. I hate having to drive to work. I felt fuzzy in the morning hours but my head cleared up and the afternoon was OK. Hobbly, but OK. Pain similar.

Thursday. Happily missed the group run (oddly so did many other) and also happily the swelling in my foot is much reduced. I have metatarsels and ankle bones again! Helps that my body's post-race "flush" mechanism kicked in overnight and I'm more like my usual veiny self again. Went to the imaging library to get copies of the xrays and mailed them out to peeps. Still hurts to walk, similar and only somewhat improved. Trying to be more diligent about elevating and icing at work. Trying....

Steps Challenge in October

Geez a couple of lazy weekends book-ending the month! 

R2T100 Race Report

RUN (run, walk, etc) 100 miles in 26 hours, 12 minutes

This report will be much easier to write than the Farmdale one, always easier to discuss something with a happy ending. I have a lot to say, this will take a while to write. And to read!

Friday Pre-race: I didn't have to go into work on Friday morning, but I had a work phone call that took a little over an hour. It was a little hard to focus, it started going long and I needed to get going. So some stress there. Drop the dog, then head out. It was a 5hr-ish drive to KS. About 2 hrs into the drive, I noticed that my right ankle/shin was feeling some stress from pressing on the accelerator. Was this the cause of the pain like I had at Farmdale? I had lots of driving ahead of that race too. I don't typically use the cruise control, but I tried it here to take as much stress off the foot as I could.
I was trying to stay hydrated and fueled in the drive, but just kept buying little Bit O Honey candies and tootsie rolls, I discovered that you can buy these individually at a QT station. Not satisfying, no that good either.

At one point in the drive I noted the strong cross-wind. At a stop I check the weather and sure enough this was forecasted for Saturday afternoon too, possibly 18-20 mph winds from the S and SSW. Oh goody. Soon after I saw a large bird over the highway, just hanging there, wings outstretched and floating on the wind. Effortlessly. The bird was enjoying the wind, it seemed. I captured that mental image for the race.

Once in Ottawa, I picked up my race packet and dropped off my drop bags. Even now I was last minute planning and changing. Some back and forth moving my potato dinner from the bag back to the cooler (I could repack them tomorrow morning) and adding bandaids to my bags after seeing them in another runner's box and realized I might need them.

Off to the hotel, calm and cool. No stress, again to my surprise. Ate a small dinner, colored in my new coloring book from TH, off to bed.

Saturday Pre-race: Up early for brekkie, a light rice-based munch of a new 'cookie' recipe I tried. The worked, but I won't make them again. Happily everything went smoothly, from 'business', getting dressed, and getting out the door. I didn't reserve the room for Saturday night so everything had to go out. Anything to save some money, I guess. Even better, I was able to leave the truck in the hotel lot, so I walked to the race start. I figured that it'd be safer to walk in pain back to the hotel instead of trying to drive. The drop bags were supposed to be available until 5:30am but at 5:20 they were already being packed. I wasn't able to put my potato dinner bags in the drop bag at Colony so instead I put them in Richmond with the plan of carrying them between those stations. Otherwise, a short pre-race meeting, met a few runners (one who recognized me from Farmdale), tried to stretch and move without moving too much, it was so quiet and calm. There were only 18 runners in the 100-miler.

Weather: Perfect, I'm guessing at the temps here. At race start it was mid-60's, no wind. Around mid day it climbed to low 80's with a strong headwind. Overnight it cooled to high 50's that was made worse with another headwind. Thanks wind. Dry the whole race, sunshine all Saturday and cloudy all Sunday.

Moon: I like to keep track of what the moon is doing, even when I'm not hanging out on a dark trail overnight, it's just one of my things. Sadly there won't be a moon to illuminate my night run, as it will be a New Moon Sunday. Right after my race, I like little coincidences like that!

Course: FLAT. Really flat. It was a rails-to-trails path of crushed limestone. Anywhere from 5-10 feet wide, a few bridges, lots of gravel road crossings, a few small towns with paved path sections. More than expected tree cover to keep the wind off us, but that also meant tree debris, walnuts, leaves to hide debris and rocks. We went 1-2 miles north, turned around, passed the start and continued south to the aid stations: Princeton, Richmond, Garnett, Welda, Colony, Iola. Turn around in Iola, then back north to the finish.

Gear: Camelbak, hat, t-shirt (in November!), Craft shorts, ProCompression socks, Brooks Adrenaline 14 Hawaiians, and my brand new butterfly gaiters. Later on the Garmin, yellow windshell, capris, headband to cover my ears.

The Plan: Keep the pace EASY. No hurry. No rush. No elevated heart rate. Start off with run 1 mile, walk 1 minute. Run if you want to, walk if you want to. During the walk breaks stretch the upper body and shoulders, change the stride by doing a high-knee march, walk backwards, grapevine. Prepare a to-do list before each aid station to be sure all needs are addressed, like grabbing food, refilling the water, changing gear, fix problems. I'd packed special foods into each of my bags, as recommended by other runners, to break up the run and have something to look forward too.

0-25 miles: Start to Garnett. The start was in the dark, so quiet and calm and like many other ultras it felt like a group run. The first few miles were paved, then we had to navigate along the side of a highway (don't take the on-ramp, suggested the race director), then we hit the actual trail. The turns and twists here confused me a bit and with the dark I couldn't gather much about what this area looked like. This will come into play later.

Walking was hard to do early but other runners were following a similar strategy so that helped. The mile markers along the trail were hard to see at first so I didn't catch the mileage number were we started. This will also come into play later.


Sunrise was shortly after 7am, full sun by 7:45. I knew within the first miles that my left compression sock would irritate the goosefoot tendon like it did at Farmdale, so I rolled it down halfway to fix that. The first aid station was Princeton around 10 miles (I just ran from Ottawa to Princeton, haha!) and I joked about having to bend over to enter the "tent-pee" at mile 93 on the return trip. I called their tents a "tent-pee" -- tent material but shaped like a tee-pee. In, out, bathroom, go. Six more miles to Richmond and my first drop bag. This bag just had my Tootsie Roll pops (one every 10 miles), my Powerbars, rice crackers with butter, and extra mint candies. Put on sunscreen, grabbed my potato dinners to cart them to Colony. Doing great, but felt like I was going faster than expected.

The Garnett aid station was spoilage for an ultra runner, a train depot with real bathrooms, benches, lights. Nice break from the pit toilets I'd been using, and I could finally wash my hands and face. Great break at the nearly halfway outbound point of 25 miles.

25-41 miles: Garnett to Colony: This next section seemed long mostly because I didn't put a drop bag in Welda at 33 miles. I couldn't remember how many miles to Welda, another runner filled me in. There were unmanned water-only stations between the main stations, so roughly every 5 miles I had at least water, good thing because I was emptying the Bak on a good schedule. Every time I thought of TH I took a drink.

The mile markers along the trail didn't align with race mileage, they were counting up in the 80's, 90's, up and up and this was confusing. I was saving my Garmin for the overnight section and I didn't really need mileage info this early. Another runner said the marker post in Iola should be 109 miles. This helped me kinda to chart progress. I was happily high-fiving the markers as they came by, they were a sign for a walk break. I also reached out to touch trees and grasses as a way to keep my upper body stretched out and moving.


The trail was wonderfully pretty, which let my mind wander. I tried to do math, failed as usual. I had a song stuck in my head from this morning in the hotel room -- the theme song for this race. It was stuck in my head all day Saturday, almost annoyingly so. And my iPhone was acting squirrely, I was saving it to use in the overnight but the battery indicator was jumping everywhere -- high, low, normal -- and I was worried having any battery left at all. Trouble shooting things like this kept me occupied. It's funny how much work I put into preventing problems that would be a mental distraction (like needing to trim a fingernail, you wouldn't believe how annoying that can get in a race) but then home much I was looking for mental distractions.

At trail marker 98 there was a thorn bush, when I went over for the high-five a thorn hit my thigh and stuck in it. OUCH! And blood! Came into the Colony aid station feeling great, assured the volunteer that the blood on my leg was minor. I was passing other runners and this had me worried I was going too fast and not pacing this properly. Otherwise I wanted to walk a lot more and my right ankle/leg was really hurting. Really hurting.

41-61 miles: Colony to Iola to Colony: I was looking forward to the Colony station because in my mental mapping it was only 10 more miles to the 50 mile point. Unpacked the potato dinner I was carrying, I picked up more crackers, a coffee blast chocolate, more pops, and the Bee skirt for the turn-around. Although I was slowing down, I'm still feeling good, but needed some mental stimulation. Happily I met up with Wyatt in Colony, he was disappointed that he was missing his "sub 20 hour" goal for this race. He thought he was going too slow, I thought I was going too fast. We paired up nicely.

He was hurting, and it turns out for good reason. Just 4 weeks ago he finished 105 miles of the 153 mile Spartathlon Ultra in Greece. The Greeks are way more serious than we are (no skirts or they mock you), it has a mountain crossing, checkpoints every 2 miles, sounds like a wonderfully different experience that I'm just happy to hear about. No urge to run it. Wyatt used to live in StL, now living in TX, and might be moving back to StL for his job. As we sorta kinda worked in the biomedical field and we both had doctorates, we were able to talk graduate degree training, business opportunities in the field, some science. This really helped me out to have an in-depth conversation instead of the surface-skimmers I'd been having all day.

We'd had a headwind all day but in this section it was the worst, we didn't have as many trees to blunt it. So backwards with the hat, and talking louder to Wyatt so we could hear each other. Through here and for the last many miles of wind, I'd stretch my arms out like the bird I saw yesterday. Imagined I was floating on the wind, effortless, enjoying it.


Iola is 50 miles!!! Finally!!! At this point we were mostly walking. Wyatt's feet hurt to run and his back hurt to walk. I didn't feel like I had much to complain about, as my Farmdale doesn't compare to his Spartathlon. We did a 4 min run/1 min walk into the aid station, anxiously watching his Garmin count up the tenths of the miles. His wife was waiting for him, and although she sounded like a get-your-ass-back-on-the-course crewer, Wyatt dropped out as did another runner we came in with. I learned 3 drops at that aid station so far, mostly due to wind and heat.

Bee skirt time!!!! YAY!  Wyatt said wearing that in Greece might be other Missouri runners banned, LOL! No drop bag here. Just grabbed some Nutella in a cup and took off. Now back to Colony for the 100K mark. I took some time walking to eat the Nutella and digest it, then back to running. I was able to run, but wasn't as motivated. I did the "just run to the tree, run to the shade, run to the road" mental game. This worked great to get me to Colony. By the time I got there, the sun had set.

61-75 miles: Colony to Garnett: I moved slowly through the Colony aid station, it seemed like my drop bag gear just exploded everywhere. I had my checklist in mind: shake rocks out of shoes, grab foods, refill water, grab windshell and layers for cooler temps, try BioFreeze on the right leg, grab pain meds, get extra lights, turn on the Garmin to help with my nutrition reminders, put some preventative chamois butter "down there" before my shorts chafed me. (And of course as soon as I do that the headlines of a nearby car come on, illumination my non-ladylike moment-haha!). Met RM's friends from Cape Girardeau here. Grabbed my potato dinner and moved out.

Lots of walking now. But I rationalized this easily without guilt. I'd covered 62 miles faster than expected and had plenty of time before the race cutoff. I couldn't see the trail debris clearly so I was stumbling over little things like walnuts and rocks. I needed to eat and that's hard to do running. And mostly, my leg was killing me, really killing me.

The BioFreeze didn't touch the pain so I moved up to prescription Ibuprofen. That didn't do much either. So I focused on other things. The sky was perfectly clear, I could see every star and often looked up to enjoy it. As time passed it was fun to see the constellations slowly spin overhead. We ran for a few miles along a gravel road, when a car roared by it clogged up my view in a cloud of dust that irritated my lungs. I had a TJM podcast to listen to, I kept an eye on the phone battery to see how this worked for me.

At Farmdale I was starting to mentally zone out around 8-9pm, I could feel the fuzz coming on. But I had my caffeine gels and coffee blasts. I was pretty fuzzed for 2-3 hours? I think? I wonder if the podcast made things worse because I kept getting "trail stare", where I just stare blankly at the path in front of me. Mostly walking here, and I was OK with that.

Quick stop at the Welda tent-pee at 70 miles, I was eager to keep going. And I was finally able to correlate the trail markers with the race mileage. I guessed that I should finish up around mile marker 60. Next stop in Garnett at the nice train station!

78-87 miles: Garnett to Richmond: My Garnett drop bag had chocolate covered coffee beans and caffeinated gels, I was happy to get these. I spent a lot of time at this stop, talking and thinking and enjoying the mental stimulation. I washed my hands and face, went through my aid station routine, grabbed more steamed potatoes and nutella, and even more happily realized I would have someone to walk with from here. Fellow runner Wendy and her pacer came in behind me and told a story about 2 drunk men near Welda who decided to put on Halloween masks and scare runners on the trail. A trail ranger came into the depot, took names and numbers of witnesses and told a story of tackling the guys, throwing them to the ground, handcuffing, throwing into the car, and pressing charges. It seemed to me he really enjoyed doing this. I also another runner Tammy curled up on one of the benches, she was wearing only a race bra and shorts so she had to be cold. Like Wendy I'd seen her off and on though the race. The three of us decided to stick together for a few miles, given that we were all walking, concerned about being on the trail alone in the dark, and all needing some company.

Well that worked a few meters. Wendy and her pacer quickly took off running, leaving me and Tammy to walk. She was nauseated and wanted to vomit. Like Wyatt she was disappointed in her race that wasn't going to be the "sub 20 hour" that she wanted. Someone had given her a long sleeved t-shirt, and she was having an over all bad day. Turns out she didn't sleep at all Friday night due to arriving in Ottawa at 3:30am, so like with Wyatt I had little to complain about as I had a nice bed last night. Tammy is an experienced racer from AK and had run many other races, so again plenty to talk about. Like me, was having injuries and a recent DNF.

She was generally unhappy, but fun to talk to and I appreciated the company. But when she said she was feeling better and wanted to run (she was motivated to finish by a warm shower and sleep) I encouraged her to go. Wasn't my goal to hold her up, and I was happy to know she was bouncing back. She left me shortly before Richmond. Her headlight disappeared so fast, and was soon a small speck of light ahead of me. Wow, she's making progress, could I run and do the same? Nope. Too wobbly and I was stumbling over leaves.

87-93 miles: Richmond to Princeton: I had a drop bag in Richmond with more coffee beans and my rice breakfast cookies. These cookies were better now than they were Saturday morning for breakfast, but even though they worked for race fuel they weren't that good. I talked to the volunteer at Richmond but didn't want to linger as they had a space heater in the tent-pee. To my surprise I was able to remember all of my checklist, so my head seemed to be doing pretty good at this point.

I put on more layers here as the temps were cooling down -- capris, windshell, headband. This turned out to be a great idea because when I stepped back out from the tent-pee it was as if the weather changed in those few minutes-- now it was much colder and we again had a headwind. Where did that come from?! And NUTS clouds were moving in, blocking my view of the stars. But only a half marathon to the finish.

I had no idea of the time of day, I was getting so confused with the time. I had my GPS Garmin time that started at mile 61. I had my Timex time that I started Saturday morning, at some point I switched from chronometer to time of day, but I couldn't keep them all straight. All I focused on was my 45 minute eating schedule that was easy to calculate the 3 hour blocks with a 6 am start: 6, 645, 730, 815, 9. Then from 9am, then noon, then 3pm, then 6pm, etc. At least this math I could keep track of. Without the Garmin I wouldn't have remembered to eat, I wasn't motivated to eat but I knew this was a downfall at Farmdale. And I didn't want TH to admonish me again for not eating enough.

This seemed like such a long section, but it was only 6 miles. The night just drug on and on. Was the sun coming up by the time I reached this tent-pee? I can't remember. When I first came through here yesterday morning I planned to take a picture of the "Princeton Aid Station 93 miles" sign and text it to family with the joke "now I only gotta run to Ottawa!!" but I wasn't in the right humor for that at this point. I wanted DONE.

93-100 miles: Princeton to Ottawa: I was joking about the distance being only 7 miles between Princeton and Ottawa, which was only funny because back home in Illinois it's closer to 40 miles. Well, this last section felt like 40 miles. Oh. My. God. This took so long. That song was still stuck in my head, by now it was embedded and I chanted it, it's an Oasis song titled "I Hope, I Think, I Know":

They're trying hard to put me in my place
And that is why I gotta keep running

By now I was colder but not quite shivering. I wasn't hungry but low on fuel. I was fuzzy but more awake than just a few hours ago. My right leg was beyond pain at this point, I'd need another word to describe it. It felt like an open wound was there, as if I'd flayed the skin open and cleaned it with acid. It burned in a hot sizzly pain from mid-calf to ankle.

But I never stopped. I only paused to stretch muscles and change up the left-right-left-right march I'd been doing the last 20 miles. The pain wasn't really getting worse (Ibuprophen didn't touch it at this point) but as my frustration amplified and my fatigue built I was less able to ignore it. But I never stopped. I don't think much could have stopped me know, maybe if my leg fell off or something.

Sitting here a week later I can't say exactly where that motivation to finish came from. What was it that drove this race, and many other races like this? What drives us through the pain to keep moving? And where was this drive at Farmdale? Because I'm 90% convinced that my dropping out at that race had a huge mental component to it.

The future is mine and it's no disgrace
Cos in the end the past means nothing

But Farmdale doesn't matter now. All that mattered here was the path in front of me, and it seemed to stretch out in front of me to no end. I'd run this section in the dark yesterday morning so it was new, but damn there was nothing to see except more path, more trees, repeat, repeat, repeat. The few times there was small hill or a turn I'd hope to see some sign of the sequence of turns to go along the highway but no - just more path and more trees. I passed a runner and his pacer in this section, he was looking pretty pained. I didn't realize until the finish line that it was RM's friends. I would have stopped to talk, but I wanted DONE.

More path, more trees. At least the sun was up. I was having to pause every few minutes to stretch my leg muscles, it wasn't helping me any but it was an urge I couldn't resist. More path, more trees. I knew I needed to send a text to update my friends and family but the only words I could come up with were "Oh My F^CKING God" and I didn't think that was a nice text to send. And I resisted the urge to pull out the phone to look at a map to see just where the hell I was from the finish.

Finally, I saw the turns to the path along the highway. Almost done!!!! Wait, no. F^CK there's more path! No trees here, this was the paved path into Ottawa. Running it yesterday seemed so fast, today it was forever. Where was the turn to the finish!? I felt like someone added miles to this path in the last 24 hours.

As we beg and steal and borrow
Life is hit an miss and this
I hope, I think, I know

Finally, orange cones marking the turn and some crewers cheering me in. In Wisconsin last year TV encouraged me to run to across the finish line and I'd hoped to do the same here. Nope. I walked, in pain with a feeling of misery reflected in my finish line photos. I wasn't able to sum of even a little bit of jog to speed up my finish. I couldn't even raise my arms in celebration. That picture about sums it up. I was handed my highly coveted belt buckle and a "100" sticker.

 I ran 100 miles and all I got was this belt buckle. Yes, it was worth it.

The finish line crew asked if I'd seen Tammy. No, I said, she was ahead of me. But she hadn't crossed the finish yet! Turns out Tammy got off path and lost, later found by a police officer. She was huddled and cold on a front porch. Hoo boy, guess I turned out OK here.

Off to the post race food line, a spread of lettuce (lettuce?!), spaghetti, coffee, and cheap cupcakes. I ran through the ultra runners diagnostic* for what to eat and chose the frosting off the cupcakes. Buttercream was oddly very good at the moment, but I didn't need to be sick for eating it.

*Imagine you have the choice of a hamburger, a piece of cake, or a beer. If you crave the hamburger you're craving salt, the cupcake then you want sugar, the beer then you need to drink.

I gathered up my drop bags and started for the door, and a super-kind volunteer offered to drive me to the hotel. I took her up on the offer, even though the hotel was a quarter mile away. Seriously, a quarter mile and I didn't even want to walk it. I wonder too how bad I looked limping around to prompt her to make the offer? Once there, my room wasn't ready yet, it was after all only 10 or 11 am, so I let the desk know I'd be at the truck. I unpacked as best I could, organizing bags and throwing out the uneaten food. Wasn't that much in the end. Realizing that the food I had wasn't appealing right now, and that I needed more real food for later tonight, I headed to a close-by grocery and limped my way around -- greek yogurt, dozen eggs, baby food rice cereal, and some salad bar items. Back to hotel.

In this period of time, the New Moon hit 100%. I took a moment to reflect on that.

Ooooh finally I get to get out of these race clothes and get a HOT shower. I peeled off my compression socks and found my right leg was not only horribly swollen, but rock to touch and looking like it had a patchy sunburn. It looks like the swelling hit the gaiter, can see a line a few inches up from the ankle. I'd checked the gaiters a few times in the race and they didn't seem tight, I even tugged them down to my ankles to see if that helped. Hoo boy, this doesn't look good. The bruising had an odd pattern: up on the outer calf by the knee, then what is visible in the picture at the inner ankle. (Later on it made sense -- I'm pretty sure I inflamed the tibialis anterior tendon sheath which crosses from inside ankle over the calf bones to the other calf under the knee. My bruising reflected that anatomy).


Amazingly enough, that was about the extent of the damages. I think I'll have 1-2 black toenails. My wrists didn't swell up like at Farmdale. No chafing or blisters. No GI upset of vomiting, bloating, diarrhea like I always used to get. Even my hip flexors that ended my Farmdale race didn't hurt all that bad. Or they didn't hurt much relative to the right leg.  I was able to eat small amounts of food and drank a lot of hot tea. I was doing pretty damned good.

For the rest of the day I stayed as mobily-immobile as possible. Minimized any weight bearing movement but focused on moving while sitting on the bed. I ended up trying to watch TV (for the first time since....March??) as I couldn't focus on the pages of a book. A Law & Order marathon was on, aren't they always on? The most annoying things were leaving something like a pen or book on the other side of the huge king size bed and having to get up to pee. Surprisingly, I didn't sleep. I didn't sleep after Wisconsin either, so this might be just me. Many runners can't stay awake after a race like this.

Overnight the right leg tightened up to the point I couldn't walk on it until after a few minutes of stretching. Happily the desk chair had wheels so pulled it up along the bed and scooted around. But as morning came around I got worried about the drive back -- my legs would naturally swell as I sat driving, what would this do to the injury? I looked around Dr Google for awhile and came across anterior compartment syndrome. This was worrisome, yet not a perfect fit of symptoms. I texted EC for ideas, she also mentioned a deep vein thrombosis. Also worrisome.

So that plan was to leave early and text Mom, Sis, and TH every 45-60 mins. Stop, put feel up in truck, nap if needed, and ice with some instant ice packs. I left at 9am, stopped I don't know how many times, napped twice, and didn't get back to STL until after 5pm! A 4.5 hour drive extended to 8. Get some groceries, get the dog, get home, dang it was good to be home.  With my belt buckle! YAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!!!

Kansas Pre Race

NOTHING.

Except rest. And drive. And pack. And eat. And stress!

Well the stress part wasn't quite so bad, really it was just the last hour before I left the house when I was on the phone for a work phone call. It was hard to pay attention with everything else swirling around my head.

Last night was prepping all my prerace meals, put a lot of work into that and maybe too much. I think I overthink nutrition sometimes.

Pack, drop the dog, and drive out to KS and boy that's a long drive. Long and straight and not much to look at. Unless you count billboards. Huh, sounds a lot like the course I'm about to run!

Packet pickup, bag drop, got an AWESOME soft blue t-shirt, hotel, dinner, done!

500 days on the SCD! It's been a SUCCESS!

BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

No Thursday run today, but I did join the group for the dog walk, the social, and because LC was bringing birthday treats for me! I can't express how much that means to me :) Bacon, banana, and Nutella is YUMMY!

Long walks, easy ride, that's it. Rest, rest, rest. But I'm anxious, amp'd, thinking in a tumbling sort of way. Pre race planning, wrapping up the Farmdale 80 race report!, changing my nutrition last minute (of course), and thinking more and more. There's a lot to put together for this!

Since I have not much to say about training and prep, I'll focus instead on reaching the 500 days on the SCD!! WOW! I'll start by saying it's been the best decision I've made for myself, and in the end it was not that hard to do. It's so worth it to be symptom-free like I am.

What I've been able to eat over time: potatoes and rice, simple sugars and candies made with simple sugars, a little bit of raw veg

What I'm still not able to eat: corn, oats, starches used in processed foods, too much green beans, nuts and nut butters. Eating too much food at once, being snacky all day, eating too fast.

What I miss: ....this is a hard one, because I equate missing these foods with having symptoms -- apples, oats, little things like hummus (BE brought garlic-free hummus to the run today, with celery), nut butters, ... really it would just be nice to have a bowl of oatmeal or corn chips without the lower gut pain and ache I get a few hours later. I can do small amounts, I just need to learn to enjoy that.

Two issues I do have -- one is that I tend to eat the same foods week after week: carrots, radishes, zucchini, beans, frozen spinach, oranges, banana, blueberries, fermented dairy, chicken, eggs, ... every week I buy those foods. Every week. A second issue is that I tend to over indulge one foods that were denied or need to be limited. Like my mind just tips a balance and says either 'WTH I don't care' or 'Ooh we haven't had this before it's new'. Recent examples include rice cakes (need to be limited or ...), marshmallow creme and Nutella that I tested for race nutrition sources, beans and spinach puree (too much again...), egg white whips.  Not sure how to deal with this. I let myself enjoy the foods, but there's still a mental problem of where my brain acts like it's a limited resource so must eat MORE NOW.

Other than that, to have normal morning BMs and about 85-90% days free of pain, burping, cramps, and more....WORTH IT!

I should set some goals for the next couple 100 days, but with R2T in 1.5 days I'll think on it later.

Switching to 20 miles instead of 25 miles for drop bags

RUN 2 miles in 20 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

The run was wonderful. I'm not really warmed up in 2 miles, and it's hard to take a run like this seriously. Afterwards I thought about people who are still building their mileage base, and about how my little two miler is a goal for them.

Heck, after this coming weekend, two miles might be a goal for me too.

What would be the ultra runner equivalent of a first world problem? Cuz that's kinda what I futzed with after lunch -- switching from a drop bag every 25 miles to a bag every 20 miles. Or roughly 20 miles. I like this better and it only adds 1 bag. Instead of 2 bags total at Garnet, 25, 78 miles) and Iola (51 miles), I've sketched out a plan for Richmond (25, 87 miles), Colony (41, 61 miles), and Garnett (78 miles). Only one segment (Richmond to Colony) will be over 20 miles. It's early in the race and I'll be OK. Also this gives me an extra boost in the Sunday segments.

Guess what I'm doing tonight!! Packing drop bags! I've got an hourly forecast to plan layers, an over detailed nutrition plan, and way too many notes to keep track of.

Happy Birthday, Bee!

A letter to the Bee, from the Bee. Yes, a conversation with myself. May or may not publish this. But I looked at 2015, 2014, on this date to see where I've come from in the past few years.

In 2014 I was fresh off of B2B, my birthday race. It was still a time of 'suspension', I was in limbo and waiting for things to sort out. In the end, they sorted out for the better!

In 2015 I was recovering from my hip surgery, also in a state of limbo and waiting. The major period of stress was behind me, I had a new home and a new life starting. I went for a bike ride with RM and CT to Sylvan Springs park to watch CX racing.

In 2016, it seems I'm still waiting. but on different things. Earlier today I signed up for R2T 100, so that waiting is over, now it's a matter of waiting for the race in 4 days. I feel like my life has been on Pause since Farmdale ended a few weeks ago, as if I'm just in suspension...waiting...for...?? I think waiting for that conclusive feeling of having finished my race. Like I'm waiting for someone to hit the Play button. I have a feeling that will last until the conclusion of R2T on Sunday.

I'm also in transition for other things, life goals that I don't discuss here on the blog. Kinda odd that I don't discuss them here, I put lots else in here about mental issues and goals, but not this other stuff. I"m doing an October OptOut challenge in which I "quit" the internet -- no surfing new, forums, wastey apps like NextDoor, etc. OK to check weather, maps, emails, and needed reference info. OK to update my logs and blogs. I'm also limiting time on the phone and screen unlocks. This has been one of the best things I've done! I can't imagine how much time I lost to staring at a screen to see what stupid thing Trump said this morning. I have my podcasts for news, and right now they are filling that void, and I depend on those probably way too much.

I also started a challenge of sorts last December, un-named, but I was working on my Purple and Yellow checked boxes like from my beloved PYP. Easily stated, harder to obtain. It started out simple with about 10 goals, it's built and refined and expanded to many more, most of them like little nudges to break bad habits. Some of my habits were coping mechanisms to deal with stress, solitude, uncertainty, and the like. The stress may have abated but the habits remained. Like staring at a phone for distraction, like mindless and numbed eating and living, like not bonding with people around me. It's a work in progress.

My reward was a new DVD. In the spring I got the Smaug one! Next up was Battle. Each month I'd say "This is the month" I'll learn Battle, but each month fell short. Improvement was slow. September was bookended by new moons, thought that would be a neat trick and called it my September Shift, but missed. October the same -- a major race and cool moonage. But it looks like I could fall short again but Oh So Close. As of today it's a 2 point differential.

Wait...wasn't this a letter? Well anyway...

While I'd be disappointed to have to extend into November I probably will anyway to prevent the WTH and backslide effect. New habits can fade fast, and stress really leads to a backslide even if the stress is something minor like a schedule change. That's just an excuse really.

So, Bee, why are we here? Because I want to encourage you to stay the course. Keep trying. Never give up, and never lose site of those end goals. I'm not talking about a 100 mile finish, I'm talking about winning the Battle of the Five Armies, so to speak. This Battle has been ongoing for 20 years in some ways. Look back at those first memories, how long ago they were, how painful they were then and still are now. Twenty years, Bee. You're 41 years old today, do you want to be updating this blog in 20 more years and still be waiting on the Battle to be over?

And look at how far you've come since those first days of the Battle! How many things have changed, how dedicated you are to those changes, and how they improved life and happiness. These new changes will be the same. The hardest ones are the last to change, as evidenced by the fact that 10 months later they aren't fully eradicated!

Change won't happen overnight, and relapses can occur. These aren't failures, that's something learned recently. Like the tattoo says, Pick Yourself Up, and Fly Away.

This has been my best month so far in some aspects, and the worst in others. Some habits are won over, others have come raging back and torment. I can still finish this month strong and overcome the doubt and pause-feeling I've had since Farmdale.

I'm a sucker for coincidence and moon omens. October started with a new moon on the 30th of September, and not it just so happens the next new moon is on Oct 30th at 12;38pm. My race will be done by 12:00pm. One way or another by the time of the new moon I'll be done. And a sequence of 1238 is a favorite number of mine. Not sure why, I love 3 and 8 and I've used this 1238 number in passcodes in the past.  Coincidence, I know. Meaningless, probably. But still.

This day can be a benchmark for me. It can be when the Play button is pushed and my life goes on. I can leave these habits behind and build on my new foundation. Seems to me I'm putting a lot of pseudo-importance on all this! But still, it's just cool to me. And I gravitate towards that stuff.

So, Bee, here's a reminder from previous Birthday posts: All we have is the time that is given us.

And here's a quote for 2016:
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
And today? 
Today is a gift.
That's why we call it the present. 
--Babatunde Olatunji

REGISTERED for R2T100

RUN 3 miles in 30 mins, easy
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

Happy Birthday...to me....Just registered...R2T!!!

YAY! I did it! Time to create a post label...done!

Yes I got hit with a stupid stick. I deserved it :)

I hovered and hovered over the Submit button, and in the end couldn't come up with any more reasons not to do it. Aside from potential injury, lack of full recovery, last minute planning, mental games, are those major reasons for not doing something!?

Wearing my Fit & Vicious shirt, my favorite jeans, my B2B long sleeve, my Bee socks. Silly Bee.

Hoo boy, gotta get going so I can leave work to get stuff and done and START PACKING!

5 miler and Kansas has a song

RUN 5 miles in 48 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

Ooooooh this run felt GREAT. Bouncy, happy, light, airy. Some left foot pain over the tendon but really minimal. I switched back to the Hawaiian version of the shoe that I plan to run Kansas in. They have a little of 400 miles, so they are good to go.

A few pops but they didn't hurt like they did two weeks ago. Climbing stairs doesn't hurt today. I feel great. I've started the registration page as practice, next I need to look at hotels and get the dog boarded.

The dog is a final hang-up. On Saturday I have her a new chewy that started to splinter. I took it away from her but I don't know just how much she consumed. On Sunday she had BM's but followed by some red bloody drips and scooting. She's got me worried about something in her gut!!! I keep watching her, rubbing her belly, checking her poopies for pieces of anything. This morning at 5am I was in the yard with the iPhone flashlight looking at poop! She's pooping, but ugh I'm worried.

Spent part of my afternoon free time mapping out nutrition. How many Tootsie Roll Pops, for example!

Am I registering for R2T as a birthday gift to myself?!  Oh, and TH won the Alcatraz Lottery!!!!

Found this song last week, it's certainly not new (2010!) but it's brand new to me. It appeared on the iTunes scroll. Oasis "I Hope, I Think, I Know". I've been humming it all day:

They're trying hard to put me in my place
And that is why I've gotta keep running
The future is mine and it's no disgrace
'Cause in the end the past means nothing

You tell me I'm free then you tie me down
And from my chains I think it's a pity
What did it cost you to wear my crown?
You don't like me why don't you admit it
I feel a little down today, I ain't got much to say
But you're gonna miss me when I'm not there
And you know I don't care, you know I don't care

As we beg and steal and borrow, life is hit an miss and this
I hope, I think, I know if I ever hear the names you call
If I stumble catch me when I fall 'cause baby after all
You'll never forget my name
You'll never forget my name

Talk with RM about Kansas

Rest day! Not even a bike ride!

Too bad I didn't train today, oh WOW what an amazing day of calm winds, sunshine, 70F temps...lovely!

Ran some errands (OK I drove them...), walked Sugar in FoPa, did my cookup, missed RM's CX race and instead met him for a dog walk. He's got some good arguments against running at Kansas, in fact his so far are the best ones.

DaveG, JimD, JohnC -- they know me but it's more of they know "of" me. All said this is a great race, go for it. JohnC did caution about perpetuating an injury.

TV and TH -- encouraging me to wait until spring or pick a 50M. Thing is, I want to triathlon training next spring, and I trained for a 100M not a 50M. Hahahaha, 50M sounds so easy... {kidding}

RM had arguments that others mentioned but he laid them out different. First off he said that the distraction of having family at the race (I felt sorta guilty when I left them waiting in the cold and dark) wasn't a good excuse for Kansas because I could test that theory next spring. Yeah, point for RM.

Also he said I'm risking a career-ending injury, like he seems to have. Early in the walk and before I even mentioned Farmdale I asked if he was running again. He said not since July 4th weekend. This hit me in the gut, I can't imagine it, the prospect of maybe not running ever again. So when he came to this point later in the walk he was speaking to me from experience. Not a hypothetical. When I discussed this with TH I couched it as 'not running a few weeks to rest' against 'being in physical therapy for two months'. But then couch that against 'maybe not running for 6 months' or 'not running ever again'..... that catches my attention.

He had lots of input on the mental stuff too. Would finishing this race really satisfy the itch? Would not finishing it satisfy it? What do I really want from this? Why can't I run a good 50?

Unfortunately, the more I heard the stronger my will to do this race built up. What it because I felt challenged? Or because as I countered I felt my arguments getting stronger? Whatever it was, on the way home I kid you not I stopped at Target to buy velcro and some treats for the race. Then George Strait's Run song came on the radio. Kid you not.

"Baby run, cut a path across the blue sky"

Ten Mile Test

RUN 11 miles in 1:48, 10m/m pace

Yeah I said 10 miles then ran 11. It happens :)

This run was intended to be my final test run for the Kansas race. I'm honestly not sure how honest I can be. Did it hurt. Sorta. Did it feel good. Heck yeah. Did my hip pop? A few times. Did it stop me, and would it have stopped me on any other run? Nope. I woulda run right through it before and I did the same now.

In fact, the most annoying pain discomfort was my left foot big toe tendon (?) when I dorsiflexed. I thought the shoe (the new Lotus purples I just unboxed) was running that but no tongue adjustment made a difference. I'm thinking that it might have been the ankle roll from last week? This bothered me the rest of the day, didn't help any that I wore loose sandals that needed me to curl my toes to keep them on. I notice this pain at night too and when I stretch and flex my foot. This 'night' discomfort isn't new, it's been on going since Farmdale. Fatigue,  or a combination of 'taper pain's, or the fact that my feel relax or are pressed when under the blankets in bed?

It was seasonably cold in the low 40's, but an otherwise pretty day that warmed up eventually. Of course I overdressed with too many layers that I shed within 2-3 miles. I ran to work and back, had to check on some mouse work. It felt really great, really! Not perfect, is it ever perfect?

Had lunch with TH in the afternoon. She's supportive of what choice I make, but would rather I don't do this race. Her reasons are good, she's completely right that I'm in mental denial about the fact that I could be injured.

I know that I could be in denial. But I also know that I feel good, I want this race, I'm excited by doing it.....so hard to see what's really real. I know from experience that my mind is perfectly capable of fooling me. Which leaves me wondering -- was it fooling me into quitting at Farmdale? Is it fooling me know? Then why doesn't it fool me into not running Kansas?

Major improvement today!

BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles, might do some extra, we'll see

I reviewed KT tape videos for the inner knee and hip flexors and applied the tape this morning. After realizing that my "gold" version of the tape was no longer sticky I went to the cheaper version I also had. So far, so good?

I can't say with certainty that the tape has made these changes, as I've also been stretching throughout the day, but my hip pops aren't painful and much reduced. The inner knee tightness is noted only when climbing steps. But I'll also note that my right knee is super tight above the knee cap.

So I'm feeling great, still not 100%. Tomorrow's 10-miler is my next big test.

Got my flu vaccine today, and a vitamin D test yesterday. Wonder if results are posted?

ETA: Vitamin D posted just minutes ago, really! Level is 51 I think that's normal.

"You don't want to waste your fitness"

RUN 6 miles in 60 mins
BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles

Today's run was another test of the leg -- it feels better today than it did yesterday, and it didn't keep me up as much last night. I've been doing more stretches through out the day. It's popping less today. Still a vague ache in the femur. I'm reviewing KT tape for pes aniserus and hip flexors. Maybe test those this weekend?

Along with the Red Bull I'm considering!? LOL

TH hit me with the Stupid Stick a few mins ago when I mentioned in a group email that I might be racing again, LOL!

LC said the above quote when I was talking to her about the possibility of the next race. I agree, but gotta see about this leg first. She's SUPER excited about her training plan with Sam, I love seeing the excitement! She had a 50 mile  (yes I really typed that first!) min run only so BE and I hung back with her for a zoo loop then out n back to meet the incoming group. I'd hoped to talk to EW about her Trail Fest experience last weekend, but I didn't get to. Maybe she'll convert to more trail running!

Good day, then not as good day

Tuesday RUN 4.5 miles in 42 mins
              BIKE COMMUTE 14 miles
Wednesday BIKE COMMUTE 14 miles

I'm enjoying an extra 5 miles in TGP on the way to work while the weather is so wonderful. I say that now, Weds at midday while a forecast of rain and hail is looking at my commute home. And I have 3 windows open at home. Of course I didn't remember that until I was a few blocks away from work this morning. It started raining again as TV and I finished lunch...but looks like I have a break to finish my assay. Otherwise I ride home then have to drive back.

Yesterday's run was great, I kept it easy and flat just out to TGP and back. It was warm enough to pull my t-shirt off! One bad spot when I rolled my left ankle on some gumball tree debris, after the sun came up I realized that the fresher green colored ones were hard to see in the dark. I had my knuckle light, but didn't have it on at the time. After that, I did! Dammit! But no lingering effects from that.

Today after a long dog walk my hip is still popping. It's a pop that feels like it's coming from the socket? I'm googling anatomy of hip flexors and muscles. Today I have a pained sartorius? muscle, I think that's what hurts today. That sounds familiar, like a word I typed in the past week as I've been looking into this. As that connects the anterior superior iliac at the front of the hip to the medial knee, it might explain my mild and occasional knee discomfort (sometimes a pain). It's right at the surface, I can rub and massage what hurts not that it's making a big difference. But the connection at the hip that's bothering me is less outer hip and more inner.

In reviewing my training log the past few months, I did find that I've had these exact symptoms in July after CMAR, and I think in June as my miles increased. What I remember from that is that running didn't hurt as much as walking, sleeping was the most painful, and I discovered I had a very tight set of quad muscles. All 3 true right now. And the reason that a few weeks ago I started a "hip stretching routine" that I've been less dedicated to once things improved. So it's looking like a repeat performance by this... is it an injury?

I wonder that because from what I remember before this just went away. An injury wouldn't just fade out, would it?

As of right now, my quads are tight, I can feel what I'd normally called 'taper pains' in my knee, sleep is difficult because that's when it seems to hurt the most, my femur bone has a "ache" to it which makes sense if hip flexor and quad muscles pull on that bone, and my hip pops when I walk.

I run with the group tomorrow, I'm taking this one day at a time. See how that goes! In the meantime, I'm mapping out pace charts, drop bag packing, and emailing runners for ideas and advice. I contacted the Kansas Trail Nerds as recommended by JA but the reply was "you should post to facebook". I really dislike f^cking facebook.

Recovery continues, and the first post race run

Friday BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles
Saturday BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles
Sunday RUN 2.5 miles in 24 mins
            BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles
Monday BIKE COMMUTE 9.5+5 miles

Things are going great with recovery. I'm surprised at how easy biking feels, I'm able to push a stoplight interval and climb hills well enough. Thought I'd see a lag in bike recovery.

The Sunday run was with trepidation. My left hip still "pops" at the socket and I still have random pains that just come and go. My right shin is down to almost nothing, in fact I had forgotten all about it. My Sunday goal was just 2 miles, to Grand and back. It might have been in my head, but it seemed that uphills (if you can consider that route as having any hills...) were more of a strain on the hip. But overall, I felt better after the run, once things were loosened up?

After the run, shower, meal, biked to work and ran into JA who is was doing his 14th day in a row of running!

So the hip. This isn't new, and next I'm going to dig into my 'archives' and go back to when this happened before. CMAR? This pop is sometimes painful in a light-electric shock sort of way. Somewhere between discomfort and pain. Wishing now I'd tagged the posts as "left hip".

Post Farmdale recovery week

Monday spent the day with Mom
Tuesday spent the day with Michelle, saw Dave and Gramma too
Wednesday drove back to StL and to my doggie, walked 10K steps and it was just fine
Thursday BIKE COMMUTE 9.5 miles, back to work!

Recovery is going great, but I have a craving and an itch that has not been satisfied. And that's defining how I think, act, and plan. I've found a redemption race (admit, I found it Sunday!) and I'm thinking all over it. Turning the idea on all sides, calculating costs, planning, asking, emailing, Googling...

Aside from that, my appetite returned to normal today even though my gut is still getting there. My stomach and gut is doing surprising well, Monday I ate a burger and some fries that sat like rocks in my gut the rest of the day. Not sure if that's more of the "shut off gut" that I get post race? Or just the food itself? I've been foam rolling but it's not showing much benefit nor does it seem to find pained muscles.

I haven't unpacked my race gear bag yet. It's sitting on the guest bed, waiting to see what happens. The box of nutrition, the bee gear, my lights, a few other things. I'm mostly unpacked but this drop bag waits.

I have a small 'aches and pains' list, here's what I think and how they are progressing:
1. Left hip/groin: Adductor longus? this quit hurting by Monday even though the muscle was still weak. It was uncomfortable to climb stairs and hurt to stretch. Given how fast it quit burning like it did during the race I'm comfortable in saying it was extreme muscle fatigue.

2. Left knee, low under knob of joint, medial, pez anserinus: My compression socks I think are to blame on this, and I've been wearing them since the race. Thursday (today) was the first day without them. It only hurts to bend the knee, and it's not really a hurt. It's a tight, pulled feeling. It's irritated but not torn. Of the three injuries, this one showing least healing progress but keep in mind I've been wearing the socks causing the issue until last night.

3. Right shin: very painful after the race and through Tuesday. Starting Weds it was only when I dorsi flexed my right foot. Today the same, but much better. Improved a lot!

I woke up stiff and sore, but as soon as I started walking it got better. Now I can walk normally and stairs and more tiring than painful. My bike commute was OK, some right shin pain if I stretched during the pedal cycle. Tonight after work I plan to work through a foam roll and stretch routine.

Farmdale 80 Post-Race Analysis

OK folks, here goes a lot of thinking and pondering and what-if'ing.

Regarding my pace, that's where I left off in the race report.
The other runners were doing closer to 1.5 hour laps then slowed to 2-2.5. I was surprised to see that I was doing 2 hour 7.25 mile laps, doing the math now that's a 15 min/mile! I had NO IDEA of that while running. Would it have helped to know that? Probably not. OK granted, those times include all my bathroom and aid station and hive stops. I took my time there too, maybe too much time?

Do I think I could have gone faster in the loops? I dunno. I thought I was running a nicely conservative pace. I never pushed or hurried. But DAMN a 15min/mile pace?! Yes I double checked my math. Of course I did, I can't do math that I trust even when I feel good about it.

So I thought my pace was comfy, now it's looking like it was too comfy. Even if I held to my 2hr pace for all 14 laps, that would be a 28 hour finish.

Let's just dig into the other issues, sort it out later.

Nutrition
My in-race nutrition was spot on, excepting one issue I noted in the race and confirmed last night. I had cut up my powerbars and meant to eat 2 pieces per serving (about 80-90 calories) but I was only eating 1 at a time! That's not why I dropped, I was eating plenty other stuff. Nutella is great race food, two races confirm that my stomach handles it. My other foods were one 1 gel, my Tootsie Roll pops, my soft puff mints, a few Tootsie Rolls, a few servings of buttered rice crackers, and some Jolly Rancher pops for variety. Aid station food was initially those wonderful potato chips until I started burping them up, Nutella, only a few bites of banana, a few pieces of bacon,  Mountain Dew,...Oh and my potato/egg dinner. Didn't get to my carameled rice balls breakfast. No bloating, no cramps, no nausea, and only a few burps and farts. So nailed it.

What I'm more concerned with is my out-of-race nutrition. With my restrictions I don't eat a wide variety of foods, and many foods I'd normally eat are consumed not at all or at minimal levels. I pretty much eat the same foods every week. What if I'm missing a nutrient, vitamin, or mineral? What if there's a toxin or pesticide on something I regularly eat?

Sleep and fatigue and energy levels
My sleep has been up and down, but in the weeks prior to the race it felt good. I've made changes in how much caffeine and volume of fluids I consume in the afternoon and evening, but there's still 1-2 bathroom trips a night. I don't consider that to be abnormal, I drink a lot and it's not like I'm venting small volumes. I'm in bed by 9:30, fall asleep quickly, and I'm up around 5am easily.

As for fatigue, I've had lots of that lately. How could I not have fatigue, I've been running 40-70 miles a week! But my energy is often "flat". I am occasionally bouncy with energy, but for the most part I'm not that way. Did I used to be that way? Also I've noticed that when I'm driving long distances it's harder to stay awake. The recent drives to and from the race highlighted this. I should be awake and tapered, but I find myself wanting to doze off.

Connected to training? Nutrition? Mental status?

Mental status and emotions
My mental state is also kinda flat lately. I don't seem to get mad, worked up, excited, I don't laugh much either. Am I depressed? I've wondered that a lot. There are many days where I feel like I need to prop myself up, encourage myself to get through the day, have to look harder to find a reason to be positive. Some days I just want to go back to bed and curl up for the day. Thankfully I don't indulge that fantasy.

So when it came to the race, I was never bouncy-OMG-excited for it. I just kinda calmly lined up and went into it. My prep for the race was kinda excited, I think that was OK. But the pre-race anxiety was missing. I've been attributing that to having enough experience to not need to panic pre-race, and to the fact that I've been practicing a lot of meditation.

The meditation is what I've used to get through the stress of the past year, it's calming for me and it's helped with the pain of my injuries. Plenty of those right!? Anyway, when I feel myself getting worried or panicky I step back into a meditative calm. Or do I just think I do that? Is that just an excuse or a brain-denial-cover up? I think I'm meditative calm but really I'm depressed?

Also when things went wrong in the race I didn't get terribly worked up, that's hard to gauge though with all the fatigue and race-associated mental changes. When things went right in the race I'd give myself the Golden Thumbs Up, and sometimes I really had to force  that. I'd force myself to smile sometimes but, not all smiles were forced certainly. It was like another person was along with me pointing out the good things to me as I went along, it didn't always seem like it was coming from me. But of course it was, this is just hard to explain!

So as the pain and discomfort built up, I had my breathing techniques to help out. Of course that can only go so far! Many times I'd stop my rolling-messy thoughts to "just breath...and smile..." like in my podcast :)

Lack of mental stimulation
I only ran with another runner in the first two loops, the next 9 were alone. I'd encounter other runners but it wasn't a sustained conversation and 90% of the time they were going in the other direction when I did see them. In one of my last laps, I turned on a TJM podcast and that helped, can't remember what I was listening too!

Another way to stim the brain is with caffeine. I'd packed caffeinated gels but didn't use them. The Mountain Dew only lasts so long and leads to an up/down if not continued.

Too cold too soon
I lost a lot of energy being cold, not shivery cold, but just on the cold side of comfort. It takes energy away, and it's only a problem when you're already low on nutrition. And since I was probably low on on nutrition, being cold likely became a problem overall.

Not enough purple?
OK joking here. Referring to the hair ;)

What happened to my wrists?
Why did my wrists swell up? My hands were only slightly swollen. But the wrists were like sausages, so bad that the RoadID had to come off and the watch and Garmin had to be loosened multiple times. Salt? Holding my arms down (I don't really run that way)? Tight sleeves? Dad noted a few days later that I also had a crisp red line where the swelling was, looked like a very mild sunburn, so maybe the sleeves? I don't remember having tight sleeves.

What happened to my left leg?
I had two issues in the left leg. The uppermost was the hip flexor. It just quit. It hurt like hell too, wincing burning pain that had me thinking it was torn or injured. The rate at which it healed suggested otherwise. It was hurting on and off all summer, especially after the hilly CMAR 50K. I learned then that I needed to actively stretch and work the area. I've been doing that, still to this day, but it seems the hills of this race really reactivated it.

The second issue was the 'goosefoot' tendon in the inner knee, the pes aniserus or something like that. I thought the compression socks caused it at first, and so around lap 8 I rolled down the sock to take the pressure off. It helped, but the damage was done.

Afterwards I got to wondering how connected to two problems were? Is there a quad muscle or connection that links them?

Lots to be learned here, and I'm finishing writing this only days away from my next 100 at R2T!