Today's 8 miler went well. Little discomfort from the hernia, just felt a bit tired. Really enjoying the cold, unfortunately it's going away. 

Some photos:

Burn 'Em Up!

Just got back from eight cold dark miles. Took my new Petzl Nao headlamp out. Awesome piece of kit! Highlight of the run was what I'd assume was a stolen Transit van on fire! Got home and called the cops. I must've just missed the arsonists! Would've loved to have gotten more photos but I wasn't wanting to hang around! 

Here's the news link! 

http://m.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/11692810.Van_fire_in_Kidderminster_extinguished/?ref=fbshr

Hernia and race plans

After a frustrating doctor visit I'm in a better mood. Shit happens. Deal with it.

I've been frustrated since any training I do now will only go away once I've had surgery so I haven't ran in nearly a week. Well I guess if I can run I should just to hang on and keep building my base. 

I got in touch with a friend who had the same thing happen. He trained and raced through his hernia, with excellent results, up until his surgery. This looked to be about a 4-5 month span! Post surgery he was training, although lightly, within 4 weeks. Back to normal after 3 months and he said he was pretty conservative just to be safe. 

Looking ahead, I've got other race options. I'm already in Lakeland 100 in late July (maybe too soon?). The Cotswold Way, which I skipped this past fall, is an option too. Both will keep me in good standing for qualifying for other things in the future. I've yet to look at other marathon options but I'm sure they're out there. A sub 3 or better yet 2:45 would be nice to see. 

No idea about GUCR. It all depends on when this surgery happens. How I recover. And who knows what else. Honestly I've yet to think positively about it because I'm assuming it's not happening. Give me a few days to think it over and I'm sure I'll post about it.

So as of now I'm going to get back running as this thing will allow. Calisthenics are on hold. I may experiment a bit because I'm sure there are some I can do. On we go. 

Dr. today said I have a hernia. Supposedly I can run but need to stop the calisthenics. Yeah, it's not officially been looked at by a specialist but I'm super down. I was so excited for GUCR. I don't even want to run today. It seems pretty much everything that's left of who I used to be will now go away. Maybe it's time to become the day-drinker I once was. Maybe I'll concentrate full force on a ketongenic diet for fun. Maybe I'll become like everyone else. Maybe I'll realize that's what I should have done years ago. I wonder how far I'll fall down. Best Christmas present ever.  

After a couple solid weeks running the holidays interfere. Just too much going on, inflexibility, and my streak of 17 days ends. I've been off the past two and I'm sure will struggle with tonight. Had a solid 46 mile week last week and was hoping to hold onto the 40 plus weekly mileage but it's Sunday night and I'm sitting at 23 miles. Lame. I'm exhausted as well from sleepless nights of feeding my new son. All I ask for is a fucking hour per day to run! Is that such a tall request!? 

And like always as I get excited things topple down. Some sickness infiltrated my house and I was unknowingly sick. I was insanely exhausted. I kept pushing through until one day I finally opted to nap versus run. I slept for two hours! And I'm not a napper! 

It's finally on the way out and I'm feeling better even doing all of the night feeds of my new son. I'm up about every 3 - 4 hours at night and it isn't bothering me too much. 

I found another "training race" leading up to GUCR. The Wychavon Way Ultra. Point to point. Local. 40 miles. Cost is only £21! I signed up immediately. I believe it's about five weeks out from GUCR so ideal timing for a long run. Having aid stations make these long runs do much easier to do.