"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Thursday, February 24, 2011

10 Toenails and Happiness

Time for a health update, I guess, since a number of people have been asking.

1) Haven't wheezed since Jan. 4, so the lung problems that plagued me are long gone.

2) My heels, which I've been told repeatedly require surgery, have only ached a bit after my long runs. So until I do something stupid, they shouldn't be a problem. Check back in April; I'll do something stupid by then!

3) For the first time since 2009, I have all 10 toenails in perfect shape. I kept stubbing the same one (2nd toe, left foot) or dropping things on it and it was growing wonky and very slowly, but has at last reached normalcy. Slogan for 2011: "Normalcy starts from the toenails and works its way up."

4) For those new to the blog, I suffer from chronic moderate to severe depression that doesn't respond well to medication. One of the reasons I started this blog was to see if a diary of sorts would give me clues as to what affects my mood. My calendar has "Don't feel well" from Feb. 1-4, but I already don't recall whether it was physical or emotional. At any rate, I've been happy for at least the past 3 weeks.

That worries me. ;-)

Training Update
The shift from running 1:40-1:45 every day to doing long runs on the weekends has caused my average pace to slow, as has the weather, which has been worse on weekends than weekdays here all winter. That means my prediction for how I could do at the Superior 100 has slipped a bit to 33 hours (give or take 2 hours). That's a long, long way from where I want to be and, looking at others' training, I'm feeling very slow.

I'm thinking my first race of the year may be the Superior 50K. I've never done it without being injured or over-raced and I think I can cut more than an hour off my best time there without risking injury.

Added: In the list of Superior 50K entrants I see Dimitri Drekonja. I've never beaten him in a race and last year he ran 5K in 16:23, 1 Mile in 4:46, 10K in 34:30 and 8K in 26:55 and he's 10 years younger than me - but this is 50K and on tough trail. I could beat him!

9 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I've been happy for at least the past 3 weeks.

That worries me. ;-)


I haven't been physically sick in quite a while (I attribute this to my exercise regime), but when I do get sick, the illness is usually accompanied by a sense of elation because I figure once I'm better, I'm due 6 months (at least) of good health.

(It doesn't always work out that way, but I persist in this belief because I HAVE FAITH.)

This is like the obverse of your being worried because you've been feeling well.

I guess that makes me an optimist and you a pessimist?

Man, if you're so screwed up that you make ME look like an optimist by comparison, I feel bad for you!

Colin said...

Glad to hear you're healthy (both in mind and body)! The weather is going to improve (someday), so stick to it; it is going to get easier!

Still, if I were you I'd try for a more reasonable goal at Superior. From what I can tell Dimitri Drekonja is fast and consistent -- he's run a 1:08 half and 2:28 full marathon. Granted this was a few years back and you have more trails experience, but I think you'd be better off with a more reasonable target. How about sub-5:30?

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Lately? Whenever I comment on one of your posts? It seems to be the kiss of death as far as any other comments goes.

What a gift I have! I call it a "fetiph", which is part fetish, part epitaph.

It also happens to be my word verification word for this comment.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

And, of course, just as I type that, Colin swings by to make a liar of me.

What a drimnins! (The WV word for this comment.)

Georgia Snail said...

What's your most recent Superior 50k time?

Colin said...

Drimnins, eh? Well according to my WV you're a bouscren, G! Like that bouscren of death that's always crashing my Windows PC ...

Just noticed your comment about cutting at least an hour off your best time at the Superior 50K, Steve, which would put you well sub-5:00. I have no doubt you're capable of that, but I still say that 5:30 is a better goal for now. If you start out aiming for sub-5:00, I suspect you'll likely crawl home in 5:45+, whereas if you start looking for 5:30 and things are going well you may be able to pick it up as the race progresses and finish in the 5:15-5:30 range. The latter will be a lot more satisfying ...

shannon said...

You have 10 toenails in perfect shape, ... life is good!

Samantha said...

I may also be doing the Superior 50K! Right now it's between Chippewa and Superior and mostly depends on if I'll be out of the state for Superior.

joyRuN said...

Average pace has slowed...

Happy for at least three weeks...

Slow = happy.