Week 14 (76.6) - All that ends well...

The week started out as a head-scratcher. Early on, everything I put in my stomach either hurt or made me nauseous. Strangely enough, all I had to do to feel better was not eat or drink. But of course, this makes distance training especially tough. Still, I ran an easy 11 on Monday morning, then slept in on Tuesday which forced a 7 miler on Tuesday night in 102 degree heat. Wednesday morning, it all caught up with me and about five miles into my run I had to stop. So, I cut the morning run short and scheduled a doctor's appointment. It turns out that I had an inflammation of the stomach lining or Gastritis caused by handfuls of aspirin (the only thing I could find) that I'd taken for a toothache last week and "body stress". The doctor gave me some acid reducers and by Thursday, I was feeling much better. As much as anything else, it was good to know it wasn't anything serious. Thursday afternoon, I ran a quick and mighty hot 10.

That night I ordered a big pizza and did some research on the Tahoe races; specifically, the top 10 runners from the past couple of years. The guy who finished second last year, "Charles Hofacker", had run 3:27, 3:21 and 3:20, which doesn't sound that impressive. I looked his non-Tahoe times up on "Athlinks" and decided he and I were roughly compatible ...although he's a bit younger and faster and probably has a better hair line. Most of the other runners had impressive non-Tahoe times, but got slowed badly by the Triple. I also read a few descriptions of the actual Tahoe marathon and am starting to believe that the course is far from friendly. It's not really discouraging, so much as a relief. Suddenly, a Triple in the 3:30 range sounds reasonable and acceptable.

Saturday, it was a bit cooler out. Mike, Roger and I had a loose plan which including swooping by the Mopac footbridge to pick up Peter, turning east on the trail to rendezvous with Floyd Watson who was running from his new place around Far West. Surprisingly, we found both Peter and Floyd in the dark and headed toward Scenic. The pace picked up to what felt like the low 7's for a while, which was probably a result of cool weather and new guys in the running mix. We eventually lost Floyd at the cleaners and Peter back at the Rock. The other guys were done at Barton, but I added another 5 for a total of 21.

Sunday, it was even cooler and I got in 15. If I wasn't so hungry, I would have done more ...so it was an encouraging run. Tomorrow, I'll shoot for another 12 to 14 in the morning, then take a nap before driving to Houston for a school board meeting Monday night.

Nothing hurts. The foot/ankle issues I had when I started training a couple months back seem to be gone. My knees are holding up well. My achilles tendons, which are always sore, feel better than they have in ages. My mileage this week is a new high. I'm on track for 300 to 320 miles in August. I'm still nervous and don't expect to be as prepared as I would have liked, but with a little over a month left, I know I'll be okay.