Volunteering, and coping...

Welp, it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I didn't have much to report, but contrary to the popular saying, no news is not good news.

A little over a week ago, the ol' knee was making slow improvements, and right when I was sure things would heal up 100%, things took a downturn and now I feel almost like I am back to square one. I am trying to retrace my steps to figure out what exactly I did wrong. There were a few things that could have been the cause. I had done two 4-5 mile runs in a row, which was a bit more than I'm used to. Previously I was running every other day. I also slightly upped my mileage, but I don't see that being the major problem.

I also wore these stupid wedges that just taunt me on a daily basis (they are just so easy to put on!). I need to just throw them into traffic, because they have yet to do me any good. And by wedges, I mean 1" heels. They don't even really count.

The Devil shoes.

I'm just going to say it, I'm done with heels. DONE. Sure, they look great, and make your legs look super muscular and awesome, but it's NEVER WORTH IT. Every time I give it a shot, I spend the next day regretting it. Or the same day. I am not a person that can walk well in heels. I'm pretty sure most girls can't walk well in heels. We should all just collectively stop. Just stop.

But yeah, I really think wearing those for a day set me back.

Whatever it was, there's not much I can do now. I am continuing with the exercises and icing, but I'll be honest and say my enthusiasm is completely depleted. 

I guess the most exciting running news is that I finally volunteered at a race. I've always wanted to, but could never bear to stand on the sidelines instead of participating. The injury forced me to swallow my pride, so I emailed the race director at Inside Trails and decided to volunteer a couple hours with Rini for the Mt. Tam Trail Race. This was the race I had signed up for in preparation for the North Face 50 miler. :(

Rini and I got to the race a little after 8:30 to pick up our volunteer gear. The director gave us a pile of stuff, including two race official vests, two bright orange flags, and two signs to put on the road that runners were crossing.

We were stationed at Hwy 1 @ Muir Beach by a cute little farm with horses. A CHP officer was assisting us, since we are not allowed to direct traffic. I was really nervous to be a course monitor, because I don't like directing anyone anywhere. Just the thought of potentially misdirecting a runner or holding them back scared me! 

I managed to control my anxieties. It's hard to be anxious with Rini around. She has this calm assertive Cesar Milan thing going on. Just kidding (kind of), but seriously, I was so glad that we were together for this.

I think we must have had the most chaotic intersection of the whole race. Luckily we were only directing the 50k racers, but having it be at the Muir Beach road with crossings on both sides on the busy Highway 1 was stressful. It didn't help that there was also an accident between a cyclist and a Tesla so the CHP officer was trying to do double duty.

The crazy part is that the Tesla apparently INTENTIONALLY hit the cyclist out of road rage. I felt like there was a lot of aggression in Marin, I'm not sure if it was just that day or what. I constantly had to overhear conversations between cyclists as to how runner's were "infesting" the trails, and how much of an inconvenience it was for them. I understand their point, I really do, but I also know that there really weren't that many 50k runners at this part of the trail, and the ones that were there were few and far between. Can't we all just get along? We're all out there to have fun and be outside...

Most people were pretty nice, and almost all of the runners were kind and thanked me for being there. I got a bit bored at the end because there were so few runners going through, but I was constantly entertained by the wild animals roaming nearby. I saw four deer crossing the road at separate times, and this coyote was totally hanging out with me a stone's throw a way.

Jon is still training for the North Face 50k. He was running in the same area for his group run and ended up running through the road that I was on. I snapped some pictures of him. That day he finished his longest run ever with 27 miles and over 5000 feet of elevation. That boy sure has come a long way (literally and figuratively) since I met him. 

One mistake that I did was not bring any food or eat a large breakfast before volunteering. Rini and I didn't grab lunch until almost 2:30 and we were both famished at that point. The experience was great, but next time I volunteer I'd like to try out sweeping the course or working at the aid station. 

In other running news, I got a new rain jacket. The Ultimate Direction Women's Ultra Jacket. It's a million dollars, but totally worth it for the built in mittens and the ability to turn my head with the hood on. Well, okay it's not really a million dollars. It's $180, which I think is basically the same thing. I have yet to actually try it in the rain, because I live in California. And it has only rained twice. In 10 years.

I'll give you a more in depth review when that happens.

For now, I guess I should attempt my sad exercises and cry. Here's some chickens and my blind dog.