JFK Hopeful

It's one A.M. in the morning, can't sleep and feel like I'm coming down with a cold. Even so, I feel I have turned a corner in the road.

After three weeks of not drinking much beer I have given up and the results have been beneficial. Not only is my GI track better off but so is the neuropathy in my hands and feet. This defies all logic but if a couple of beers a day works then the heck with it. I have however, maintained the assault on dairy, cravings for ice cream, cheese and yogurt are fading away and staying that course will be in my ability.

Now for the really good news .... this past Sunday .... in an eight hour endurance event I was able to run twenty six miles virtually pain free. This  trail run, held at Greenbrier State Park had loops just under five and a quarter miles with eight hundred feet of elevation gain. Prior to the run I expected two laps, perhaps three if the pain in my foot wasn't too bad. It was crazy that after five laps the only thing holding me back was twinges in my right knee.

This was the longest run of the year, the first run beyond ten miles since I injured my Hamstring back in May. At the end I was tired but not exhausted, nothing cramped and little soreness in the following days. I did need several pit stops along the way but so what's new.

Perhaps more important than anything else, running without pain brings back the joy of running. This morning, as Molly and I ran there was nothing to distract me from cool air on my face and of leaves changing color... Sweet !

Stay Happy ..... Mike

Summer Ending

Summer slowly plods along with Fall soon ahead. If one day I look back at the summer of 2014, it will be best if I have forgotten running injuries which have kept me from enjoying the best weather since Sue and I moved here almost thirty years ago.

Achilles, Hamstring, Hamstring and now a “to be determined” heel injury. This has been the year that as challenge is met another arises. For the past five weeks my left heel leaves me gimping around after even the shortest of runs and when I get up in the morning.

Earlier in the year I registered for the JFK 50 miler, I have run ten, two since cancer and was looking forward to completing this years event ........ doubts are creeping in.

As far as my health is concerned, the “blood letting”, probing and imaging have come back with good results. The Neuropathy in my Hands and Feet is “improving”, but as nerves seem to return to my feet, numbness is replaced by tingling pain and burning. It's in the realm of unpleasant, not unbearable.

The GI track is an on going work I progress and I am experimenting with diet to see if I can help myself out. I have gone to virtually a no dairy diet, no easy adjustment as it includes half and half in my morning coffee, yogurt, cheese and of course ice cream. I have been on this diet for two weeks and it seems that it is working. I addition I have reduced beer consumption considerably just to make my dietary changes just that more miserable.

There have been bright spots this summer. Sue and I enjoyed some time alone at Chincoteague, I played good rounds of golf including the first with my son Patrick. Maggie got a job and AC&E summer business was stronger than usual.

In a few days I will see a Podiatrist to determine what I have done to my heel and how to address it. If I have to drop out of another event so be it, I can deal with it.

Stay Happy All … Mike