18 miles

I just emerged from my ice bath. I decided that 18 miles had wreaked havoc on my body, and I will do whatever it takes to deaden the pain. An ice bath was my only option. I poured a 5gallon jug of ice water into the tub and filled it with cold water. I put on a jacket and lied there for about ten minutes up to my waist. It wasn't too bad. Maybe it wasn't cold enough. I hope it helps.

Those 18 mies were quite a journey this morning! Crystal and I set out at 6am this morning for our adventure. For anyone in Tucson, here is some perspective: we ran along the river path starting at Children's Memorial Park (just west of Oracle), we headed west to start and went to "stone henge" (1.5miles out). Then we head back east for a looooooooooooong time. All the way to Craycroft! At Craycroft we turned around and headed back to the park. In all it too us a long time. I'll leave it at that. We had a couple of bathroom stops along the way, and we had to re-fill our water bottles a couple of times. Crystal also had some knee pain that kept us walking more than we would have liked there in the middle. She's a trooper though, and we both made it the whole way! :)

We had to do our run today because we participated in a Team yard sale yesterday morning. That was fun, and I got to get rid of some junk, and raise some money at the same time.
Anyone want to buy me this:


Because I really want it!!!!

slow and steady

That is my new theme :) I'm not going to bother sharing times as this point, because time doesn't matter! I'm focusing on the finish line, and I'd like to be be breathing when I get there. Those Saturday runs are LSD--Long Slow Distance. Key word: slooooow. The LSD runs, while slow, really help to build endurance. Our run last saturday was 16miles! We were in Lake Havasu for a very special little girl who turned 5! (That was Cailyn, my neice, for those of you who didn't guess!) Today is her actual birthday, so "Happy Birthday, Cailyn!"
Tyson, Crystal and I set out on our LSD adventure (I know there are other blogs that the phrase "LSD adventure" would lead to something else entirely different, but remember the aforementioned definition!). We started running at about 6:20am, and kept on truckin' for several hours. Tyson was steadily ahead of us the whole way, and finished significantly faster, and he covered more distance! That's my man :)

The weekend was a great one, but is was not without much soreness.

To catch you all up on my last few weeks, I have a photo for you:

[I'm having some trouble with the photo upload feature, I'll try again tomorrow...in the mean time, I'll tell you that you should see a pic of my right foot, with my big toe featuring a large wine-colored bruise]
Ingore the need for a pedicure. Focus more on the bruising. That photo was taken a day after the major bruising set in, and actually looks alot better than it did the day before.

That toe has caused me some anguish these past few weeks. I injured it playing co-ed recreational soccer back on March 30th. Ok, so soccer is not my strong point, that's obvious. I've been trying to take it easy during my games to make sure I don't get hurt, but sometimes collisions are inevitable. My toe hurt like the Dickens, but I iced and elevated and did all that I could that night. The next morning, I went out and did my 14 miles. Maybe that wasn't one of my finest decisions, but I'm dedicated! It actually didn't hurt much as I ran, but boy did it hurt after. I ended up getting an x-ray and was diagnosed with a fracture, but I decided to get a second opinion from an orthopedic surgeon, and he said "no break". So, I'm taking his diagnosis. I still took over a week off from running and took to the pool. I learned a technique called "deep water running". Basically I strapped a flotation device around my waist so that when I stood upright I was submurged up to my shoulders. Then I ran. I didn't go far, though. It takes alot of movement to move in that water! But I chugged along and did all of my weekly runs in the pool.

My toe was feeling better so I got back to pounding the pavement last Thursday. I went to an accupuncturist on Monday and he did some Chinese Medicine techniques, so hopefully that is helping in the healing process.

I think that is enough for now. Sorry for the lack of updates, I'll try to stay on top of it!