WHO WANTS TO BET ME?

After my heroic accumulation of mileage Tuesday and Wednesday, all came to a stop. I joined my daughter who’s husband is out of town, to care for her 2-year old. 

Laughing replaced running for me. My granddaughter did the running on very short legs. From the back, she's a tiny copy of her grandpa, a  linebacker, broad shouldered and fast.

However, she stops in the middle of a run to give her doll a little bottle. Funny she’s so fixed on bottle-feeding her “baby” because she was a nursed baby. 

Anyway, I did NOTHING for five days, right in the middle of marathon training. My back hurt and my knee pained me. Unusual for me, I struggled and groaned getting to a standing position from the floor where I spent lots of time with a 2-year-old. 

Got home Monday night, rolled on the rumble roller. It hurt. Spent an hour at the gym stretching. Went to bed in pain.

Got up 5;30 a.m. Tuesday in a dreadful mood. Held on to my back as I went out the door to run. Met my fast friend, Evie  pulled me along for 14 miles. Said “Bye” to her and added  7 miles to reach my goal of twenty-one miles. 

Wednesday, I ran 8 miles around a dirt track, fast as I could. 

NOTHING HURTS. Talk about counter-intuitive! By the way, I am not here to explain why running way too much on a aching back and bad knee results in the disappearance of pain. I’m not recommending running twenty-one miles to everyone. 

You never know where writing takes you and I didn’t start this to say the following BUT—I do think the human body is made to move in a natural fashion. Not necessarily running long distance, but brisk walking, mixed with some comfortably-paced running. 

I’ll put lots of money on this wager: If everyone did a comfortable walk/run six days a week, there would be less heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, colds, depression. 

I just betcha.

GOOD KNEE/BAD KNEE: Who can predict?

Just completed 20-mile-run in preparation for the Carlsbad Marathon in January. I’ve added one mile a week, starting with 14 miles in October.

Here’s an example of the weirdness of training for distance running: 

I have a bad left knee. Without my friend, Evie’s enthusiasm, I would not have signed on for this marathon. 

One minute, I doubt my sanity and the next, I’m euphoric. Yesterday, I ran sixteen horrifying, painful, gimpy, tortuous miles. My knee hurt and I had a back-attack. The knee is always there, but the back is something new.

In any case, I came home, stretched, rolled and slept all night. Woke up to a sore knee and slight back ache. I NEVER EVER get out of bed hurting, but today I did.

I will be out-of-town and unable to run through Sunday so I had to get one more long run in today. Getting up with aches and pains, I almost tossed out the “long run idea.” Nevertheless, 

I’d promised to meet Evie.

We started out for ten miles, me exhorting her NOT to wait for me. I planned to walk, but I started out running. 

1. My knee did not hurt.

2. My back did not hurt.

3. Said “Bye,” to Evie at nine miles and completed the next eleven by myself, finishing strong. 

4. Go figure.

OK, I am not hitting the pace I have run previously because I cannot pound down on my sensitive knee. All I can work on is long mileage endurance.

It’s a thrill to observe the body and the mind adjust to training and gain ability to persevere.  

PLEASE SEE MY DAILY PILOT ARTICLE “FITNESS FILES” FOR 12/4/15 for more on race. 

#CarrieLugerSlayback#FitnessFiles#MastersMarathons#running