Hi.
Two posts in 8 days. Which is something that I haven’t done in, well a while.
This afternoon was small child’s last home cross-country meet in high school. Small child who couldn’t hold his head up by himself when I started this blog. Small child who can now operate a motor vehicle by himself, and who, I hope, will be out of the house starting to adult in a mere 11 months. If college counts as adulting, which is up for debate. But Mrs. Jank and I are really trying to make him drive that process.
So, I ditched work early and headed off to Haley Farm State Park where Fitch hosts their home meets, and where I’ve ran probably 400 times, especially when the men’s group was younger and still running. I love this park. In a lot of other places, and at an earlier time, it probably would have become a subdivision. But, one of the positive outcomes of Connecticut’s style of NIMBY-ism and property taxes is that there’s a whole lot of large-ish parcels of land that get converted into nature preserves or parks close to where people actually live. Haley Farm is one of those. And, Fitch High School borders here, so the XC team has trained here for decades.
Anyway, I can’t recommend XC as a sport for kids enough – next to no equipment, minimal coaching, tires them out after school for several months each year. Usually takes advantage of public land. Kids get out of it what they put into it, and everyone pretty much improves over the season. Spectating is good – sit in a field and watch the kids run and the sun set.
Anyway, good race. Stonington’s got a kid who’s amazing. Crushed it. Minute or so ahead of two kids from Norwich, who were about 20 seconds ahead of one of the kids who’s grown up alongside small child. Kid’s been a phenom since middle school – scored (finished in the top group from the school) in his first race in 6th grade, which is amazeballs. Small child came in 6th for Fitch for the second time this season, which means he’s a letterman again.
Hung out after the race for the traditional roast of the seniors and cake. Mrs. Jank dragged the kid home, and I put on the sneakers and headed out.
The good news is that I think between rehab and almost a year of pretty much not running, I’ve healed my left ankle. What did I do? I:
- Stayed off it for the better part of 6 months
- 3 months of pretty dedicated PT and stretching
- A false start and more pain
- Losing 10 pounds
- More stretching
- 6 months walking in minimalist shoes
- And a super cautious return to running
I’ll do a post another day on the minimalist thing – I’m still walking and using them for day to day activities, and I think it’s helped, but the experiment in running minimalist didn’t. But, after a month of very slow building, I’m up to 2 miles a run, about 3 times a week.
By running, I mean “Galloway-ing” – running with good form til I’m tired, walking for a minute or two, and then running with good form til I’m tired again. It isn’t the fastest, but it’s keeping me not broken.
Run was ideal – the weather was low 70s and dry; the course was mostly dry but not dusty, and the light through the trees was dappled and beautiful. Breeze was blowing, but not enough to be a headwind. Grass on the trails had been mown probably late last week.
Run was good. I didn’t feel pressure to push through sketchy sections, but being out on the trails was good. Set a third personal fastest time heading up one of the hills I haven’t run in 18 months, which is nice.
It’s so nice to see that I might still be a runner after all.