Gearing Up for a Good 100

Oh, it's June already. Which means I'll be running my first 100 Mile this month. If you're a regular visitor (lol), you'll know I was slotted to run Lake Martin 100 as my first 100 Mile, back in March. But sadly I got injured in January and was barely able to run leading up to it, and decided to stop at 50.

But my brain was sufficiently infected, so I sought out another 100 Mile to do later in the year. I was already signed up for Ice Age Trail 50 Mile, so I figured I could use that as my peak training run. I found Mohican 100 Mile on June 20, which was just about perfect timing, and I didn't hesitate to sign up. Look for a race report later this month.

My injury wasn't clearing up like it should, so I bit the bullet and went to see a PT. That was a wonderful experience, actually. Mike at Drexel PT & Rehab Services assessed my strength and mobility and prescribed a medley of stretches and band exercises to do every day. Et voila: Little by little things got better.

Ice Age Trail 50 Mile went great. I wore a goat shirt. I ran with my friend Mike, who was doing it as his first 50 Mile. We took it nice and slow, and when we were done I felt as though I'd only spent a few hours hiking. I think this means I'm ready for the 100! Since then I put on an 83-mile week (my highest mileage to date), followed by a 73-mile week (a hardy follow-up). My calf (the source of injury) is a tiny bit weird still, but the injury has largely gone away even while I've been piling up miles. I'm confident that as I start tapering now into June 20, it'll heal completely. The swelling is finally gone. Some simple daily PT exercises go a long way!

Before the race. Mike and I were running the 50 mile, and my mom and Mike's wife Danijela were running the 50k.

At mile 37!