Good Afternoon!

Trying to coast out the afternoon at work. Taking a peak at MFP. Don't tell!

I'm hoping to run 3 on the TM tonight, and 5 outside on Sunday. I didn't run on Wednesday night due to life being in the way.

I have a foam roller, and I have used it a lot. My chiropractor has convinced me that I stand a chance of messing myself up if I do it incorrectly, so it has set idle for awhile. For the last several months, I have been dealing with a "frozen shoulder", and my chiropractor, and my massage therapist (read physical therapist), have been beating me up to get my shoulder in place. When I see the massage therapist (in the same office) she uses a combination of deep tissue massage, and making my work my arm through very painful movement/rotation. This ain't a let's make Steve feel good type of massage. Tuesday of this week, she made me cry like a baby. I have to say that I have more motion in my shoulder now than I've probably had in years. Earlier, I couldn't even hang my elbow out the car window without extreme pain. Now I've got a good range of motion again. My chiropractor compares it to tennis elbow, or runners knee. Could be any of several things, but in my case it is simply bound up muscles. The root is decades of slouching at a desk, and leaning on elbow in desk chairs with arms. The bottom line of what I need to do is focus on exercises that "open the chest", and "build the traps". Think chicken wings with elbows trying to meet in the back. Also, grit through raising my arms over my head. Fun stuff!

@shenry111 - I had a frozen shoulder in 2013. Doctor just said she sees a lot of them in women my age. Something about hormones. Um yeah. Anyway I got a 5 day course of steroids and exercises to do twice a day. Toughed through the pain of the exercises and had full mobility back when I saw her 3 months later. I'm much more diligent now with my stretching as I don't want to go through that again.

Trail marathon tomorrow First running (I hope) since my crash last Saturday. My massage therapist worked on my hip flexor and shoulder. It wasn't relaxing at all but I'm moving with much more ease now. This is the first night my shoulder hasn't been aching.

I was successful at completing my trail marathon yesterday even if it wasn't the day I imagined I would have during all my miles of training.

The total elevation change is 3,506 feet. There is a mix of single track, sandy horse trails, and grassy meadows. Yesterday's race was the hottest weather in the three years that I've done it. Since the marathon doesn't start until 9am (50 miles at 5am, 50K at 7am), you are guaranteed to be running in the typically warmest part of the day. It was in the low 70's when we started. The weather records claim that the high was only 75 yesterday, but with full sun and humidity, it sure felt a lot warmer.

My friend and I started out jogging as the first mile is along the highway until we reach an access point to the trails in the woods. My hip flexor was much better but still wasn't feeling 100%. I never felt smooth and easy in my gait while jogging. We switched to run/walk in the woods, walking all the uphills. My friend is also dealing with an injury to her shin that probably was caused by her 12 hour race 2 weeks ago.

I knew by mile 5 that I wasn't going to be able to keep jogging much longer. My friend walks much faster than I. Since she had to work last night, I told her to go on ahead. At this point, the trail sweep became my buddy. When we got to the next aid station at mile 6.8, I was able to gain some ground on my trail sweep as he stayed back to check in with the crew there.

Around mile 8.5, I came upon woman who was walking. She was a 50K runner. At this point, both the 50K and marathon people have the same amount of miles until the finish. I knew I wouldn't be making 4:00pm cutoff nor would she. She did DNF. Note, I have NEVER overtook 50K runners at this part of the course before in the past 2 years. Then I came across yet another 50K runner around mile 10. I actually knew her from another race we had done in 2015. She was having a tough day and was also DNF. A short time later, I could hear my trail sweep coming up behind me. Then he was talking to another man. Eh?? Apparently there was another marathoner behind me. How the trail sweep missed him before is a mystery. Anyway, that allowed me to shake off the trail sweep for the rest of the day!

Much of miles 9 through 14 are open meadow. No relief from the sun beating down on you. I was hot enough just briskly walking so I was actually glad that I didn't feel compelled to run as I likely would have been flirting with heat exhaustion. I'd much rather run in cold conditions as most of my friends know.

Once I got to mile 14.4, the 50 mile runners rejoined us so I had people to cheer on! The miles passed quickly even though I was walking. All things considered, I was feeling good and it was so beautiful out on the trails. I overtook 2 other marathoners coming into the mile 22 aid station. Apparently they weren't aware of the cutoff times, but I assured them they would be allowed to finish as the trail sweep was already occupied with someone else. Since the 50 mile runners have until 6:00pm to finish, we were good to keep going.

I finished in 7:37:59 and was 105th out of 108 runners. I was 3rd in my age group because there were only 3 of us!

Now it is time to heal up before a 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks.

Great job, Regina!

Got in 2+ miles yesterday at a local park before the rain really started. Humidity and heat really did not help, but that was the time selected to run. None on tap today, but planning on a run very early Monday to get the day started.

@shenry111 - oh no! Take it easy and I hope you heal up quickly.