Wednesday 9/13:
No running as I wait to meet with Charlie
Thursday 9/14:
I did try a bit if a jog this morning. Just so I could tell Charlie how I was feeling. I wasn't completely sure if I was feeling something or not.
I meet with Charlie and he has me do a bunch of movements with my leg. None of which cause pain. Charlie moves my leg through a bunch of positions and still no pain. Charlie asks about life and I tell him it is a shit show. The good news is that I am not injured. The bad news is that I am experiencing psychosomatic pain. In lay mans terms, I’m a head case. I was cleared to pace Del and told to try to calm my mind. Yep, I’ll get right on that.
Friday 9/15:
I went out on a easy run. Planning to do my 6 easy mile trail route. At about 1.3 miles in I tripped and fell. It was the kind you see coming. You see the rock and think I am going to trip and then you do. I went down hard all on my ass. Not a single scrape any place else. I decided to jog home because I was in a lot of pain. I have a picture, but due to modesty rules of the elementary school I won't post here. But I did make plenty of friends enjoy a picture of my torn up ass with their morning coffee.
Friday afternoon I was ready to get out of town. Del had rented a house in Pine and invited us to stay there with her. Then my oldest son was a bit unkind to me. Really nothing major, but it just pushed me over the edge. I spent the next 2 hours crying. After that, nothing went the way I wanted. I wanted to get to Pine to have dinner with Del and the others staying at the house. Norm still had to pack and before I knew it we were eating dinner at home. He seemed to be dragging his feet. He kept saying, “we can leave whenever you want.” Finally I got mad and say “clearly we can't because I wanted to leave to have dinner with my friends.” Lucky for Norm I slept most of the way so he was no longer tortured by my bad mood. We got to Pine and had a nice chat with Del. She seemed very relaxed about the whole racing thing. The complete opposite of me, before a race I am wreck.
My ass is terribly bruised and swollen. I am a tad worried this is going to make pacing painful.
Saturday 9/16:
This is what I wake up to early in the morning.
Guy#1: Knocking on the bathroom door. I need to get in there.
Guy #2: Mumbled response
Guy #1: Knocking on door again. I need to get in there.
Guy#2: What do you need?
Guy#1: I need to take a dump!
Guy#2: Oh! It’s an emergency.
I fell back asleep and when I woke every one was gone to race or crew (Or work in Norm’s case). Having a quite house to myself for the morning was the best gift Del could have ever given me. It only took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to work the coffee maker. Once I got my coffee I was able to sit on the porch and enjoy the cooler temps while I got some work done.
Norm came to pick me up before he went into Payson to get food and coffee for Hayley. This worked out perfect for me. I was able to get some food and coffee before pacing Del. Norm dropped at Washington Park AS and went to park the car down the road. I realized that I left something in the car. I started running after him, but couldn't get his attention. I had a plastic water bottle in my hand and threw it at the back of the car. That got his attention. Also my ass feels just fine running.
Pacing Del was a ton of fun. We worked together to get her back into first place and it paid off. I get nervous about pacing, but I really enjoy it. Del and I worked well together and I think part of that is because we train together and we are friends. I know her concerns. She is an amazing athlete, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses and she and I very aware of these in each other. Here is a link to Del’s blog. I will let her tell the story.
Sunday 9/17:
Despite being up until 3am or so, we set an alarm and got up early to head to the finish line. Luckily it was only a few miles from the house. We wanted to be there extra early because we didn't know what had been happening over night. We didn't want to miss her finish. We walked down to the grocery store and got coffee and donuts. My vegan, gluten free choices were limited and I was starving! I did eat some fruits with it.
It was so exciting to see Del finish! We chatted a bit. Then we went back to the house so Norm could shower and I could nap. I couldn't have slept long, but it felt like ages. I woke up starving again. We had lunch a Mi Familia. It was across rom the finish line and I had been eyeing it all morning. It was the yummiest Mexican food! I highly recommend if you are ever in Pine. I slept on the ground at the race finish for a bit. I couldn't get enough food or sleep. Norm took me back to the house so I could sleep while he finished working. About the time I was waking up he was finishing and headed back to the house. We chatted with one of other people staying at the house a bit before packing up and heading for Phoenix.
Monday – Thursday I took it easy knowing that I was racing the 55K at Stagecoach 100. I was a little worried about my performance. But I will save all of that for another blog. I’m behind on grading papers. And this house is filthy. Blogging will have to wait.
No running as I wait to meet with Charlie
Thursday 9/14:
I did try a bit if a jog this morning. Just so I could tell Charlie how I was feeling. I wasn't completely sure if I was feeling something or not.
I meet with Charlie and he has me do a bunch of movements with my leg. None of which cause pain. Charlie moves my leg through a bunch of positions and still no pain. Charlie asks about life and I tell him it is a shit show. The good news is that I am not injured. The bad news is that I am experiencing psychosomatic pain. In lay mans terms, I’m a head case. I was cleared to pace Del and told to try to calm my mind. Yep, I’ll get right on that.
Friday 9/15:
I went out on a easy run. Planning to do my 6 easy mile trail route. At about 1.3 miles in I tripped and fell. It was the kind you see coming. You see the rock and think I am going to trip and then you do. I went down hard all on my ass. Not a single scrape any place else. I decided to jog home because I was in a lot of pain. I have a picture, but due to modesty rules of the elementary school I won't post here. But I did make plenty of friends enjoy a picture of my torn up ass with their morning coffee.
Friday afternoon I was ready to get out of town. Del had rented a house in Pine and invited us to stay there with her. Then my oldest son was a bit unkind to me. Really nothing major, but it just pushed me over the edge. I spent the next 2 hours crying. After that, nothing went the way I wanted. I wanted to get to Pine to have dinner with Del and the others staying at the house. Norm still had to pack and before I knew it we were eating dinner at home. He seemed to be dragging his feet. He kept saying, “we can leave whenever you want.” Finally I got mad and say “clearly we can't because I wanted to leave to have dinner with my friends.” Lucky for Norm I slept most of the way so he was no longer tortured by my bad mood. We got to Pine and had a nice chat with Del. She seemed very relaxed about the whole racing thing. The complete opposite of me, before a race I am wreck.
My ass is terribly bruised and swollen. I am a tad worried this is going to make pacing painful.
Saturday 9/16:
This is what I wake up to early in the morning.
Guy#1: Knocking on the bathroom door. I need to get in there.
Guy #2: Mumbled response
Guy #1: Knocking on door again. I need to get in there.
Guy#2: What do you need?
Guy#1: I need to take a dump!
Guy#2: Oh! It’s an emergency.
I fell back asleep and when I woke every one was gone to race or crew (Or work in Norm’s case). Having a quite house to myself for the morning was the best gift Del could have ever given me. It only took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to work the coffee maker. Once I got my coffee I was able to sit on the porch and enjoy the cooler temps while I got some work done.
Norm came to pick me up before he went into Payson to get food and coffee for Hayley. This worked out perfect for me. I was able to get some food and coffee before pacing Del. Norm dropped at Washington Park AS and went to park the car down the road. I realized that I left something in the car. I started running after him, but couldn't get his attention. I had a plastic water bottle in my hand and threw it at the back of the car. That got his attention. Also my ass feels just fine running.
Pacing Del was a ton of fun. We worked together to get her back into first place and it paid off. I get nervous about pacing, but I really enjoy it. Del and I worked well together and I think part of that is because we train together and we are friends. I know her concerns. She is an amazing athlete, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses and she and I very aware of these in each other. Here is a link to Del’s blog. I will let her tell the story.
Sunday 9/17:
Despite being up until 3am or so, we set an alarm and got up early to head to the finish line. Luckily it was only a few miles from the house. We wanted to be there extra early because we didn't know what had been happening over night. We didn't want to miss her finish. We walked down to the grocery store and got coffee and donuts. My vegan, gluten free choices were limited and I was starving! I did eat some fruits with it.
It was so exciting to see Del finish! We chatted a bit. Then we went back to the house so Norm could shower and I could nap. I couldn't have slept long, but it felt like ages. I woke up starving again. We had lunch a Mi Familia. It was across rom the finish line and I had been eyeing it all morning. It was the yummiest Mexican food! I highly recommend if you are ever in Pine. I slept on the ground at the race finish for a bit. I couldn't get enough food or sleep. Norm took me back to the house so I could sleep while he finished working. About the time I was waking up he was finishing and headed back to the house. We chatted with one of other people staying at the house a bit before packing up and heading for Phoenix.
Monday – Thursday I took it easy knowing that I was racing the 55K at Stagecoach 100. I was a little worried about my performance. But I will save all of that for another blog. I’m behind on grading papers. And this house is filthy. Blogging will have to wait.
A nice place for grading papers!
Del looks pretty happy to be finishing.
The award is so big that you can't even see her face!
