Slow and Steady?

Yesterday morning I strapped on a pair of barefoot running shoes for the first time in about two months, rode my bike up the highway into the mountains, locked it up, and hit the reservoir hollow trail, in the heart of the George Washington National Forest, which practically borders our own property. I intended to take the longest run in my recovery and slow build up to reach double-digit runs again. This would also be my first mountain trail run in over two months and the first barefoot-shoes run since 22 February. After I locked up my bike, I pressed start on my interval timer. The plan, three minutes of running, one minute of walking, 10 times. I worked hard to keep myself from overdoing it. In fact, multiple times I caught myself speeding up and forced myself to rein it in. Overall, I have to rate it a huge success. My inner ankle tendons are still clearly tender, but it didn't hurt to run, and here I am the next day without any ill side effects. Hope remains for my ultra-running career. At this point, I think I will start a regular running schedule with long runs on the weekends again.

Next Saturday, Leah Marie competes in her first half marathon. It is the one I was originally going to compete in, but it's her race now. Her only concern in finishing in time (there is a time limit), but I think she will do much better than she expects. That evening, Southern Virginia University hosts The Knight Run, a 5k that I will likely compete in, the first real test for my recovery. Things are looking up, and I am trying to remain optimistic about upcoming events, the 40 miler in September, but before that, I am looking at a 25k trail run on 1 June. That's a stretch, but if I can make it and succeed, pain free, there will be no doubt about building up to the 40 mile race.