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Week 184
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Greetings, 50+ers! Well, Finals Week has come and gone, most of the grading has been completed. Grades are due by noon, Monday, so by my usual last-minute standards, I'm actually a little ahead of the game. It has meant, however, that between the Holiday staff parties, end-of-semester meetings, and exams and grading, I'm still behind the curve on getting back to running. I did manage to get out last Sunday for 5 miles (about 7:45ish pace), and then again yesterday for 7 more (about 8:20ish pace) and the knee's been reasonably compliant (I'd say it's 85%), although the right hamstring and adductor did complain towards the end of the 7-miler. I think this is where the real issue is, so I've got to work on that adductor. Of course, this is also connected to the sports hernia that has brought all this about in the first place, so it might be time to go back to the docs and seriously talk about surgery (ugh!) Really, really reluctant to go under the knife......
Meanwhile, I've added about 7 pounds in the past month since the HM, so Xmas break will be about shedding some pounds and slowly, mindfully getting back to running. And Thanks KP and SCGal for your comments regarding dealing with these issues. That's what we're here for, to discuss what creeps up that affects our running as we age. To that end, I'm a little concerned about a few of the previous regulars that have fallen off recently. Hope you can clue us in on what's going on.
Kudos to Grant Fisher and Olin Hacker for going 1-2 at Foot Locker National. Props, Skinnbones, on getting Grant fine tuned to blow the lid off FL; his move up and over the final hill was epic. Not meaning to boast, but I said they'd go 1-2 a month ago in my week 178 intro (http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4064465&page=198 ). Racing locally in the upper midwest, the national pundits really didn't have a handle on just how good Olin was; they acted like he came out of nowhere to shock the field. IMO, they just weren't really paying attention; they're paying attention now. But he still had a pretty full XC season, plus doubled up and ran the NXN races. I wonder how he would fair against Grant on fresher legs.
And props, also, to all that toed the line in Bethlehem, PA for Club XC Nats. Not sure what the hold up is in getting the official Masters results up. Looks like the team scoring is all screwed up, must be an age-category thing. Regardless, looks like Muddy Girl was second in the 55-59, so big kudos there! Would be great to hear a race report. What else catches peoples eye?
http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2014/USATF-National-Club-Cross-Country-Championships/Unofficial-Results.aspx
I've laid off the quotes the past couple weeks. Here's one:
"I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run 26-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would say it was a publicity stunt. If I quit, it would set women’s sports back, way back, instead of forward. If I quit, I’d never run Boston. If I quit, Jock Semple and all those like him would win." -Kathrine Switzer from a 2007 RW article on her momentous race. And, of course, she didn't quit.
(
http://kathrineswitzer.com/site/wp-content/uploads/SwitzerStory_RunnersWorld.pdf
)
OK. That's about all I've got for now. Hope you all are having great weeks!
All the Best!