My 59-year-old friend L ran ultra marathon races every
month. In his presence, I found myself quoting Eeoyre often:
"We can't all, and some of us don't. That's all there is to it."
Under his nagging, however, I decided to ran regularly and
maybe join him in a race this year.
I have re-read some of the books including Kelly Starrett's
"Ready To Run" and started to fix some issues, e.g., my
slight duck feet. I haven't run any impressive miles yet but
have sustained two injuries. First, over-using the left calf
in a morning run and re-learning the lesson afterwards took
the entire Feb. Luckily, the second injury from kettlebell
swing came in the middle. So they have been healing together.
I visited mission peak today. Recent rains and hikers have
made the trails muddy and messy for the first few hundred yards.
But after that, it became manageable. Water did not gather
on the steep surfaces. The trail was mostly hard-packed
and dustless. I avoided taxing the calf and had a great
time going up. My heart rate did go over 140 bpm at some
point, but it was the descent that I worried about.
To train quads, I jogged downhill. My core felt as strong
as a steel rod and I was able to run most of the trip. My
legs did feel it in the last two miles but were still in better
shape than at the end of the Priest Rock run last Dec.
Overall, I think I have improved over last year. For one
thing, the bottom of my feet felt OK after over seven miles
of pounding. My left lower-leg seemed to be stronger as
my left foot did not involuntarily slap the road as bad in
the end. The entire descending was well-controlled.
Hallelujah!
