Getting over the mental anguish of the stress fracture - another week in the books

Well, I survived another week of decent running and a decent amount of numbness in my right tibia from those nasty stress fractures.  Once thing that I keep reminding myself is that my bone is completely healed and that I am doing the right thing by running a little on it.  This was the advice many people have given me over the summer; that there'll be some "weird" pain where the stress fracture use to be.  And like I've said before, that weird pain was also a thick and fat feeling that I didn't like having.  It was just a reminder that; "hey, I'm going to bug you and hopefully break you mentally before I actually break physically.".  That was not fun, but I still kept at it, and hopefully I'm right.

So, after some light trotting around during the week, a fun trip to Jemez Springs (elevation: 7900'), and 2 little mountain excursions; I would say I had a decent week of running, and I use the word running loosely.  I can honestly say that running up the Pino trail was quite difficult for me.  With the company of Chris and Tony, I made it up to the Crest Trail from the Spain Parking Lot in one hour and fifteen minutes, then blazed down for a total time of two hours and ten minutes.  I've never been up to the crest from that trail, and it was quite amazing and wet.  I would highly recommend that trail and hopefully in the future we will venture over to South Peak and back.  As you can tell, I really have the trail running bug and have my sights on Mt. Taylor 50k at the end of September.  After that, I will head back to the roads and attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon, but before that I still want to get scuffed up in the mountains.

Here are some pictures from today's run up Embudito Trail.

Post Stress Fracture Running, Rehab, & Trail Running

Well, after a bitter summer of recovering and rehabbing my 3 stress fractures in my right tibia, I am now running confidently again.  This past week I spent the majority of my time lightly pounding on the softer dirt path of the North UNM Golf Course loop.  Once I had some free time to venture towards the foothills on the weekend, I decided to run up the Pino trail.  On Saturday I only managed to make it 45 minutes away from the Michael Emery parking lot, and Sunday morning I was able to run 1 hour out.  I have never been that far up the Pino trail, and from what I observed - it was pretty amazing.  Very lush and beautiful.  This weekend I plan on making up to the Crest and possibly even further...  Time will only tell, since I've been limited to "time" running during my rehab segment.

On another crazy and thought provoking topic; I've recently signed up for the Mt. Taylor 50k, which will take place on September 27th.  It seems a little crazy to run an Ultramarathon after coming back from a stress fracture, but I figured if I can make the La Luz trail run my longest run post stress fracture, then I should be fine...  Again, time will only tell, just so long as I don't do anything too stupid.

More Trail running post to come, and with pictures too!