running

Back in July, when December seemed really far away and training was going well, I happily found myself signed up for CIM.

Welp, the months have come and gone, and now it’s nearing mid-October and I’m struggling to break 14 miles without troubling pain up and down my right leg. This is nothing new; I’ve had minor hip pain that’s come and gone since I started running seriously back in 2003. The issue now is not only that the hip pain has seemingly come to stay, but it’s also migrated to my right knee, Achille’s, and heel. I spent most of Covid dealing with planter fasciitis, which has luckily mostly subsided. These days, I mostly want someone to just grab my right ankle and release it, just a smidge, from my screwy hip.

Nevertheless, some training has transpired. Last week I was able to go on a relatively short jaunt through the western portion of the Pinnacles. I had a small chunk of time before going to see grandpa for dinner, and decided to make the short drive from Gonzales to Soledad and into the park. If you can spare a Tuesday afternoon, that’s the time to visit the western portion of the Pinnacles. Very few cars in the parking lot and people on the trail. The road from 101 into the park is beautiful. I have vague memories of piling into my old friend Caitlin’s car and riding to their cabin back near the Pinnacles, and although the road is built up quite a bit more than it was back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, it’s still as windy and up-and-downy as I remember. 

The run was short and scenic; I did the Balconies Cave and Cliffs loop plus a short out and back along the Juniper Canyon trail, for a total of about 3 warm, dusty, and picturesque miles. The wind that cools down the valley is absent in the hills. Huffed and puffed quite a bit up the hills, and felt a bit slower than I thought I should have felt, but that could have been the result of just getting out of a 3 and a half hour drive. Definitely wasn’t the McDonalds on the way down. Dinner at grandpa’s in Gonzales after the run was a great way to finish the day. Uncle barbecued steak, grandpa and I chatted on the swing outside, and aunt made delicious risotto, broccoli casserole, and Oakie cakes.

The next day, I set out for a 6ish mile run along the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail that morphed into 13 miles (I’m crediting the Oakie cakes). Some leg pain towards the end, especially the last couple miles, but nothing outlandish, although a 3 mile run just a couple of days later didn’t feel so hot.

So this is harder than I imagined; I think I’ve already used up most of my freebies for the month! My plan was to post at least a picture if I couldn’t conjure up words, but I don’t take many pictures. I also don’t use social media much, and am finding it very foreign to think that the things I do day-today are share-worthy. But, excuses. Consistency is the goal for now, even over quality.

In terms of CIM training, things are at least moving. Had to abort a run earlier this week; by the time my afternoon opened up for a run, smoke from the Dixie Fire descended into our valley to the point that the air quality app I prematurely deleted after last summer reported an unhealthy air quality. So that run turned into a weight-lifting session. Went to hot yoga yesterday and will go again today. Not sure yet for Saturday, but long run planned for Sunday. The next step is to decide which races to incorporate into training. Dennis suggested both a buffet dinner and Double Dipsea in the same text…he knows I’m a food-driven person and can easily be distracted into agreeing to crazy things (Double Dipsea) when coupled with/distracted by the possibility of a buffet.

My husband once proclaimed that I am un-coachable, and he may be right. I tend to see training plans and coach’s advice as just that: plans but not realities, advice but not wisdom. I’m famous in our little family for leaving for a run with no concrete plans on the distance or route; I like to see where my mood and the scenery and the music take me. Or sometimes, not run at all, and go to yoga instead. Maybe. If I feel like it.

I justified this because I used to be a high school teacher. Running was a release and not yet another challenge. On days when I ran, it felt like it was the only part of my day where I was free of scrutiny, of external pressure. I could do what I wanted, for however long I wanted, while listening to what I wanted, with no one to answer to except for myself. So I put little to no pressure on my running, and only ran when I was internally motivated to go out for a run. This was a blast, and it even worked pretty well through my mid-30s, but now that I’m no longer a teacher and living in a new decade, it appears that things will need to change.

I recently stumbled into a CIM entry for this coming December, and now I’m facing a blank training calendar and joints that crinkle and crackle and heel pads that grumble in the mornings. The sector in my stomach that was reserved for gu packets and nut butters is now supplanted by cider and tortillas.

So, train I shall, and document it here I will. Today included hot yoga with Ron, an inspiring friend I’ve known since my most un-coachable of days, and tomorrow will consist of a morning run before a day full of other diversions…one of which will most certainly be cider.