Once again the "Month of Mike" returns starting off tomorrow weekend with a class of 75 Golf event followed by the annual MSM Alumni Golf Tournament on Saturday. I look forward to seeing friends whom I have not seen for some years.
Call it fortunate or unfortunate, my golf game is in pretty good shape. Once again I have a running injury. This one started ten or eleven weeks ago when my foot twisted badly crossing a "Rock Garden" while on a seventeen mile training run. For six or seven weeks I cut back my running and when I did I ran almost 100% on roads and the C&O Canal to avoid twisting my foot. I thought it worked, until, eight miles into the Capon Valley 50K the beast returned. By mile twenty I was in serious discomfort, somewhere around mile twenty eight I was walking down some of the steep downhill's backwards. It wasn't a total disaster however as I was rewarded with a free shower the last hour of my run. The sounds of the storm were intense, the wind blew branches off trees and when the temperature plummeted twenty some ought degrees I went from being hot to cold within minutes. Were it not for an "unofficial" aid station manned by Superhero Police Officers passing out beer and Moonshine I might not have finished the race..... thanks guys whomever you may be.
My plans for the fall have not changed, I still intend to try Oil Creek in October for my "One and Done 100K" followed by JFK 50 miler in November. We'll just have to wait and see, I have nothing to prove, if this brings anything other than self satisfaction I'll just have to bid farewell to Ultra Running.
Follow up visits with the Docs have been good, later this month I'll have routine blood
work with the follow up with the Oncologist. Even though there is no logical reason to be nervous I always am.
Not running has once again reinforced the importance of doing so from a pain management standpoint. I am still using more pain medication then I would like, still by many standards, low dose, but even so this worries me. My hands are the chief issue and quite frankly I cannot play golf when my hands are "Wonky" (my technical term for electrified burning hands)
The GI Track is way more predictable these days with few real surprises (although they still happen). Removing most dairy from my diet seems to have really helped but I do miss my Ice Cream. I am resigned to the fact that I may deal with these challenges for the rest of my life but this is a small price to pay.
Next weekend I'll drive a U-Haul to Chicago with my Father's possessions. Dad will be moving in with my brother Bill. It has been hard being witness to his decline and hard to pull apart the home that Mom and Dad built over a lifetime. I hope I will look at this transition and attempt to be better prepared for my final years, for Sue and my children.
Month of Mike will be a "Mixed" Month, I am grateful to be here to embrace it.
