Afton, a few days after...........

The plan was to get right back into training, good plan, minor problem.

I felt good on my recovery run on Sunday, no real issues on Monday as we got a bike ride in except my blisters bugged me as I peddled and then I went for a run on Tuesday. I only made it a 100 or so yards when the minor problem occurred. I was running in Lebanon Hills western section (mt. bike entrance) which starts out with an uphill climb, kind of like a baby Afton hill, it's moderately steep but not that long. As I hobbled up the hill trying to protect my blisters, I got about halfway up the hill when I got kind of a jolt a pain in my right knee. I thought about just pushing through it as I figured it would probably go away but instead I decided to shut it down and give the body an extra day or two off. The knee issue is nothing much to worry about, just a by product of a little swelling carryover from Afton.

The nice thing about having had a few knee issues in the past is that I have gotten pretty familiar with knee pain and when I should run through it and when not to. Ok, my Doctor would probably say that running through it is a never a good idea but they aren't always right and I know that if the pain is temporary than it is ok to work your way through it. So how do you know if the pain is temporary, well if it goes down within a mile or so, than it is temporary, if it hurts for the entire run than maybe it wasn't.

So I will migrate to plan B, try to run a short distance tomorrow and if the pain level is low to moderate enjoy the run, if not take another day off. For the weekend I want to get in a couple of mid-distance runs so patience during the week is a good idea as I have a month to get ready for my next marathon.

So instead of running I figured I would think about it so I decided to re-read the reviews on the Haulin' Aspen Marathon (my next marathon) on MarathonGuide.com (great website for researching marathons).

Here is an excerpt from one of the posts;

"This is an extremely challenging trail marathon, with a lot of climbing and challenging terrain-rocks (boulders), roots, tight turns, and steep decents (I found it almost impossible to 'run' these frequent portions). (Also a covered bridge and several narrow footbridge crossings). I would recommend against it as your first marathon event.

That being said it is also an immensely scenic course with beautiful vistas of the surrounding forest - esp. at the top of the steepest climb."

Will be interesting to compare to Afton.....................

From another post:

"The first approximately 4 miles take place in Shevlin Park with beautiful trails, a covered bridge, the sound of a rushing creek and young cadets standing at attention guiding the way at the turns. Miles 5-14 miles are mostly on a wide jeep/fire road. Miles 7-14 are going uphill and approximately miles 11.5 - 14.7 are a climb (2500 ft net gain). But as soon as I hit the aid station at 14.7, an absolutely beautiful single-track trail took me to the end (gradually descending with lots of fun, quick turns). Not technical, but plenty of roots/rocks to keep one focused......... But the best was the ice cold beer from Cascade Lakes Brewery waiting for me at the finish."

Sounds like fun..............