May 2015 Mileage: Viene la lluvia

I finished off April by saying that I finally felt stronger, and I went for a 20 mile run at Lory and Horsetooth in the sun.

Wild irises on the trail.

Then, down came the rain.

Everyday it rained.  The trails all closed due to flooding.  The only place to run was concrete.  Worms were everywhere, and the stench of them was so awful that by the second solid week of it, I wept at just the thought of going outside.  It was so humid my hair curled.  And my right leg, my good leg, fell apart.

I took it easy for a few days.  I searched for some dirt to run on mostly to no avail. I had a friend, who is training to become a rossiter, work on my mangled calf, but that only made it feel worse.  I foam rolled myself into oblivion and skipped more and more runs.

I did some hiking with the family instead.  We went to RMNP, where the views are always good.
 

On one of Will’s last days of school, when the semester was already over for me, I felt good enough to run/hike up to the summit of Horsetooth with Rob.  In the rain.

It was cloudy, so there wasn’t much to see.

Everything seemed fine, even on the descent, but afterwards my leg got worse again, and I had to take most of the rest of the week off of running.  Walking didn't bother it as much, so I went back to Horsetooth a couple times that week just to hike.  Still, in the rain.  Will was only going to be in school a few more days, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out there very much once he was home for summer vacation.

Horsetooth Falls had more water than I'd ever seen.

Spring Creek Trail

I'd been planning on running the Rocky Mountain Ultra, a 50K in Laramie on Memorial Day weekend, but that didn't happen.  We went camping in Utah instead.

The extra time off helped my leg somewhat, but it still hurt.  I went to Horsetooth some more and did some of the trails that are harder for me to run because I was going to be walking so much anyway.  Rob and I even went together one morning after dropping Will off at school.

Horsetooth from Audra Culver Trail

Audra Culver Trail

This guy.

Wathan Trail. Just where it joined up with Spring Creek, the trail was flooded, and I knelt down in the cold water because it felt so good on my injured leg.

Something finally started working a little bit, and I'm not sure what.  Maybe it was all that time off, or maybe it was that the sun started coming out a little bit.  I was able to run again, more than a few minutes at a time.  I realized that the clock was ticking for the Bear Lake Marathon in Idaho in June 19.  Looking at my mileage for the month of May, I was drastically unprepared.

I decided to attempt a long run, for the first time since May 2.  I'd go 15 miles if I could.  Pineridge Trails were finally open again (they've been flooded since May 4), so I'd have some dirt to run on.

It was muddy out there in places, and at one point around the reservoir, the water on the trail came up to the middle of my calf.  No wonder the trails had been closed for so long.  The water was gross and full of algae, but I lingered for just a few seconds because the shock of the cold felt good on my leg.

After a couple of loops around Pineridge, the mud-butter got to be too much for me (and all the fishermen and people out there with their giant dogs), so I left the trail behind.  I decided to go 16 miles instead of 15, but then I didn't turn around at the right point, so I realized I would be closer to 18 by the time I got home.  

I might as well just go 20.

It was hot.  I got sunburned in spite of putting on sunscreen, and I ran out of water (I'd carried 50 ounces) at mile 17, but I made it.

Today I feel mostly good.  My legs are a little sore, but my problem-calf seems no more worse for the wear than before I ran.  I'm not sure if this injury is behind me, but I hope it is.  Bear Lake Marathon is on June 19, Howl is August 8, and the Bear Chase 50 (which I signed up for last night, before the June 1 price increase) is September 26th.

111.26 miles this month.  601.53 year to date.  Up 143 miles from where I was last year at this time.

Thanks for reading.