Injury Time = Time to Reflect

I hardly listen to my body, but sometimes it's impossible to ignore its voice. When Butt told me to take some time off, I ignored him. He was persistently waving his finger in my face and I ended up taking 3 days off. No running or gym, I just ate, worked and slept.. After three days I came back with the mentality that I had to catch up for the three days I had lost. I started hard, my eyes were glued to my Garmin making sure the pace kept increasing. My butt contacted his best friend Knee. Knee simply shut me down. There was no way I could have ignored him. I cross trained for four weeks and tried coming back slowly. Knee, without raising his voice, warned me that I was playing with fire. I had to stop pushing and reflect about this past year-

1. For the first time in my life I had run more than 12 months injury free.
2. I had covered over a thousand miles in 5 months.
3. I reached the point of being in the best shape of my life.
4. I raced 5km, 53miles, a marathon, 2 road 10km, 44miles and a 60km in 12 months.  
5. I created one of the best friendships.

To be honest, I do not think I would have recognized the blessings I had in one year if Knee had not forced me to stop running. Before I had the conversation with Knee, I was always looking for another challenge, a tougher race. I’ve thought about my previous races and what I can do to improve for my future races. Resting was not on my radar, which I realize now to be a fatal mistake. This rest is a blessing in disguise.

I am not happy that I have to stop running for now. However, this chance to reflect on the wonderful adventure I have had so far allows me to set accurate goals and who knows how far I will go when I return.  As for now, one day at time till my recovered body can run. I patiently wait for October 1st!

When I can't Run - I Take Pictures

Injuries slow us down so that we can stop and appreciate the beauty that engulf us. 

 Such beauty keeps me positive.

 I love waking up with the sun

 Crack rock

 The Triangle

 When I can't run, I take a pic

Flowers of the mountains

 It's a gift, a blessing from God.

The 5000m olympics Winning times

The winning time has been dropping. Let's see where Mo is when I add all medalist from 1920 to 2012. 

https://github.com/sphasim/5000m-Olympic-Winners

Just Enjoying Santa Fe

Nature Keeping me Happy

A conversation with Mr. Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) Injury

Me: “When are you leaving me Mr. Injury? I have two ultras that I would love to run and the first one is in two months.”

Mr. Injury:  “Relax, you just need to take care of me and I will promise to leave you in peace.”

After a heated conversation with Mr. LCL Injury, I decided to abide by his rules; Rest, Ice, compress (massage), and elevate. I hoped that he would be gone in three days. After three days, I check on Mr. Injury by running 4 miles. But what was I expecting? Since when does an injury heal after 3 days? As a result, Mr Injury was indignant with me. He woke up and yelled at me. I clearly heard him as I limped with an excruciating pain in my knee. I felt like Mr. Injury was playing guitar with all my knee ligaments. I had no one to blame but me. At some point I laughed at myself, "So you thought you were wolverine, you heal in three days." I limped back to the house and licked my invisible wounds.

It had been three days and I had not heard from Mr. Injury. This is great, let me just jog 1 mile and see if he is going to respond. After a mile, I felt him turning. Damm, I almost woke him up. What was I doing? Do not be stupid SP. Just do squats, jump rope, and other knee strengthening  exercises and he will leave you alone. While trying to be calm and accept the reality in front of me, voices in my head were screaming, "This is hard!!! I want him to go go nowwwww!! ahhh!" And then the calm one said, "Let me plan, I will ride in the morning for 2 hrs or 30 miles and cross train three times a week. When walking the dogs, I will jog for about 20m and stop." The calm voice has been able to override all the other voices. I patted myself at the back for finally being wise. It has been 3 days and Mr. injury has been sleeping for a while know and I hope he will overeat on all the cross training I am giving him and die for ever!

Even though it sounds like I have everything under control I actually don't. Sometimes I want to scream at him. But I know that won't help. Everyday is war between testing the knee and biking only. It's hard, but I just believe it will be over soon. It's like that stage in an ultra when you want to quit but you just say, “No Nope, not now, and not today... one step at a time.”  I am waiting for the moment I will start saying, "one mile at a time."

With this injury I have resorted to feeding off the energy from all the runners and cyclist I see on the trails. They keep me going strong. Thank you ABQ morning runners and cyclists for the positive energy you give me. You encourage me to not let Mr. Injury win.

Tranquility Sunset

While contemplating about fraction multiplication, division and how we use Math in our everyday life, nature distracted me.  I had to capture it.

Just Look at that

Love the way the sun says good night

"I will paint the sky for you", the universe.

Going down in style. See you in the morning!