So I've been hoping to get out and do a little adventure run, a sort of redemption for not finishing SCAR this past July. I've also been trying to pick a fall 100 to run, I really want to do another 100 this year. My wife was heading out to MoBell for the weekend, it was going to be the perfect weekend for a good run. Man I was looking forward to a great run. Off I go to run the Fiery Gizzard on a Saturday morning. It was the first weekend of August, I really needed this!
I get out to the Foster Falls side of the trail and get all the gear in place. I'm excited to be out here running the Gizzard. I'm also a bit distracted, my teaching job has started back and this year has brought more than its fair share of headaches. Off I go. The Gizzard is a very technical trail, the flat sections have more hidden roots and rocks than yellow jackets at the BFC. The climbs can be either wet from a couple of water falls on the trail or bouldery. The Foster Falls end of the trail is also a climbers hang out with some great rock faces from what I've been told. I've looked at those rock faces and I don't see how folks can climb them. Because of the climbers there are two side trails aptly named 'Climbers Access 1' and 'Climbers Access 2' these are about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot. So I'm between these two side trails when my left foot clears a low rock. At the point that my feet are clearing an obstacle on the trail I'm looking 6 to 10 feet in front of myself mentally placing my feet before I get there. So I didn't see the small little knob of a root sticking up right behind the rock. Left foot lands on the root and rolls. POP.
I yelp in pain. Pull up to a stop and check myself. Man that hurts, a lot. I'm thinking this kinda thing has happened before and I was able to just keep going and finish my run. So I'll try to keep going. By the time I've covered a total of 2 miles it's not getting better. I'm debating with my self about going on. At 3 miles I turn around, I got to the little gorge area that is just beautiful, but it is way to painful to go all the way down. Half way down I stop for pictures and turn around. This sucks and I've got so many plans for the fall! I hobble back to the car. I sent a text my wife to let her know what's going on and head home after I've iced my ankle for 10 to 15 minutes.
When I get home I take a good look at my ankle and think about all the races I wanted to run before Christmas. Well the only way that any of those was going to even have a chance to happen would be to take at the month of August off. So I did, the first two weeks I compressed and iced it. The remainder of the month I slowly started working mobility and strength back into the ankle. End of the second week I stopped the icing, but kept the compression going through Labor Day weekend. Labor Day weekend we spend at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia swimming and paddling around in a couple kayaks. I was waiting for the first Tuesday in September, counting down the days. I was hoping for three days in a row of 10 miles each day. I had big plans.
Since Labor Day weekend I've done roughly 16 mile over two runs. The key is roughly. I've decided to not take anything with me to track my runs. Right now I don't want to know what my pace is for the last mile or the whole run. I don't want to know how far I really went, I know my home trails and their reported distances. An hour and a half on the trails has been great and guessing at the miles at times, but that's okay. Yes, I'm in training, but I'm out here enjoying being on dirt and hanging out with friends I've been running with for the past 4 years. No, I'm not as fast as I was and right now and I really shouldn't be. I haven't run in a month. I will say that though after 16 miles I'm sorer that I expected, my wife thinks that's from the paddling we did over the weekend. It's nice to have sore legs after a good run, but it's always surprising to have to realize just how much muscle one looses in just a month. It seems like it takes forever to build up to being race ready and no time at all to go back to nothing. I'm still icing and compressing the ankle, my job has me on my feet all day so my feet/ankles are always swollen by the end of the day. I'm being extra careful as I run, worrying over rocks and roots as I try to catch myself before I think I'll roll the ankle again. Hopefully in the next few weeks that feeling will be in the rear view mirror. The speed will eventually come back with work. It has been a great reminder that it is always worth slowing down to run with friends.
There were two basic things that got me through not being able to run. First I kept doing some sort of work out on my core, shoulders and hip areas. I was doing whatever with out having my ankle bear the weight during the exercise. I left my feet alone out side of toe crunches on my right foot. The other was still going to my Thursday runs with the Dirtbag Trail Club #thedirtbagtrailclub. Keeping connected to this group of folks who have all been sidelined more than once with different stuff was a great reminder that I would recover and I would run again.
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