REVISIONS

OK, I knew trying to reach 50k, or 31 miles, by the last Sunday of the year was really pushing it. Two weeks ago I got greedy and I ran 18 miles for my long run on Sunday. It should have been a 16-mile run that day but I wanted to push it to 18 so I could have a shot at 31 miles 6 weeks later. Big mistake. Combined with running in the much-more hilly Salem area verses the pancake-flat Woodburn area,  everything went wrong. I bonked plus I strained something in my lower right leg below my calf muscle and beside my achilles tendon.

My last two miles were close to 15 minutes each -- that's slower than walking speed. So I ended up taking the following week off just to recover from my stupidity. It took me until the following Wednesday to even start getting any energy back. Bonking really takes it out of you. Eight days later I tried an easy 2 mile run to test the calf muscle, which still hurt but I wrapped it up tight and it was manageable, I thought.

The next couple of days (Tuesday and Wednesday)  I ran an easy hour each day. By Saturday I felt back to normal so the plan was to do 10 miles that included the one little hill we have in Woodburn, which is three miles from my house. It was pretty cold out but I felt good. My leg felt strong so I didn't wrap it.

I was doing hill repeats in the cold sunshine and felt good. Then on the third trip up, just before reaching the top of the hill, SNAP! a sharp pain just beside my right calf muscle, right where it had hurt two weeks before. I could barely walk on it and I was 3 miles from home.

After a mile or so of limping I tried running and as long as I stayed on my heel I could jog, sort of and finally made it home. Now I'm trying to recover from a more severe injury and hoping I'll be over 10-mile long runs by the end of the year. So forget the 31 miles. But that's running or rather my stupidty or greediness or whatever you want to call it. We have to adapt as life, and age, gets in the way.

So while I am recovering I'm riding the bike trainer every day and after several years of playing around with trying the Pose method of running I finally bought the book  — The Running Revolution: How to Run Faster, Farther and Injury-Free for Life, by former Olympic coach Nicholas Romanov and sports writer Kurt Brungardt. I'm hoping it'll live up to its promise about injury free running. I actually bought the e-book deluxe addition ($11.95) that included a lot of videos. I figure if I can't run I might as well read about it.

I'll let you know if I can learn to run natural or not.

Oh, I'm also planning on entering the lottery for the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 miler that runs in mid-July. The lottery entry begins Dec. 7 and ends Dec. 21, 2014, and they draw the names Jan. 1, 2015. If I'm picked, this will be my first 50 miler. You can find out about the lottery for the TRT 50 miler, the 50k and the 100 miler at Ultra Signup.

I'm hoping to do a marathon or a 50k in the spring if I can find one close enough, whether it's an official race or me just going out on my own. It sounds funny talking about running 50 miles when right now I can't run a step and even healthy I bonked on 18 miles, but I learned from Ironman that good, solid training and a positive attitude can make the impossible possible.

Keep your fingers crossed.