Well this Fall didn’t play out exactly as I had planned. I
spent the large part of the summer trying to get some quality miles in because
it was so hot that I couldn’t get the weekly mileage that I hoped for. I
maintained a steady schedule of 1 week hard and then 1 week easier, while logging
about 80-85 on my hard weeks and 50-60 on easier weeks. I made trips to North
Georgia as often as I could to get in some good climbing.
However, somewhere during all this ‘Mr. Injury’ decided to
nut check my pride. The outside of my right anklebone started to give me a
little trouble. This started slowly and I didn’t think anything about it at
first because little nuances happen so often and they usually work themselves
out. I first thought it was a soft tissues injury. But as time went on, it got
worse. At this time I was getting ready to make a trip to Tennessee to meet my
friend Jacob, who was thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. The plan was to park then run/fast-pack 50ish miles to meet him on the trail followed by spending the next day or
two hiking back towards the truck with him. I hadn’t seen him in almost 3
months so I was looking forward to spending some good quality time with my best
friend in the woods. I had my bags packed and everything was ready to go when I
went for one last run the day before I was supposed to meet him. I didn’t make
it 3 miles in when it started to bother me. I had to swallow my pride and make
the tough decision to pull out of my trip. I defiantly could have pushed
through the pain but my fear was that I would have done serious damage in the
process.
I researched and self diagnosed myself that
it was my extensor digitorum longus. I made a Dr. appointment to confirm what I
thought and get an opinion of what would happen if I were to race Georgia
Jewell 100 miler with it (GJ100 was in 3 weeks). After a visit with the doc, he
said that he thought it was a stress fracture in my right fibula but the x-ray
didn’t show it. (Stress fractures can take up to 5 weeks to show in an X-Ray)
He suggested I take 4 weeks off for safe measures. This posed a serious
problem. There’s no way I could sit out the race if I took 2 weeks off and
then it felt fine. I expressed my concern and he said that an MRI would tell
for certain. So we scheduled an appointment for one and low and behold…..
stress fracture. I did catch it pretty early but he still suggested I take 6
weeks off to let it completely heal. He told me I could do anything besides
running or jumping. This meant I could hit
Well that knocked me out of both the Jewell and Pinhoti. (I
would be able to run by Pinhoti again, but I wouldn’t be in 100-mile shape)
This past 5 weeks feels like I have been wearing a straight jacket. It has been
all I could do to stay sane. It hasn’t been a complete waste of 6 weeks though. I was
able to go pick Jacob up as he finished his nearly 2200-mile hike and hike the
last 9 miles with him. I also will be running an aid station during the Pinhoti
instead of running. It will be nice to be on the other side and help encourage
people during the tough times just as they have done for me in past races.
I have refocused my energy to mountain biking. I have signed
up for a couple long distance long distance mountain bike races, Pisgah Double
Dare and Cross Florida Individual Time Trail. Double Dare is a two-day mountain
bike adventure race in the Pisgah National Forrest and CFITT is a race across
the width of Florida (approximately 270 miles). This weekend is Double Dare,
and while I wont be as competitive as I would have in a 100-mile race I am
looking forward to a great time on the bike spent in the beautiful mountains of
Pisgah.
Ill also get to start running this weekend and couldn’t be
more happy about that. If nothing else, this time off has taught me a little
more patience and allowed me to crave the run in the mountains on a deeper
level. I’m planning on doing a 100 miler in the spring since I couldn’t make
these two. I’ll be entering the lottery for Western States and the coveted
Hardrock 100. If I don’t get drawn for either of those then I’ve got my eyes
set on Massanutten 100.
Check back for reports on how Double Dare and CFITT goes!
