Back in the Saddle, Again

The tendinitis is still with me, my Achilles still aches in the morning, and my calf still gets stiff and sometimes so sore that I can't touch it but I am back (again).  Here's the scoop since my last post:

At the end of April, Deb and I went to Boston to the National School Board Association national convention.  I ran three days while there and my knee got progressively worse.  Severe pain shot through the joint and after sitting for a few minutes, I could barely stand up, let alone put weight on the joint or bend it.  At this point, I was downing 2 Advil 3 times a day, which is what I thought Stan told me to do.  After taking Amtrak to Philadelphia, we drove to Copley PA to visit Deb's mother, where I ran once (6 or 7 miles at race pace) and felt pretty good.  I tried to go the next day and felt a sharp pain in my right calf, as though stabbed with a knife.  Knowing what a muscle strain felt like, I knew that if I continued running, I would regret it.  At that point, I decided to (gulp) take some time off.

Two weeks, to be exact.  No running, no elliptical, no exercise.  On or about the first week of May, I tried again and felt no pain.  Two miles, off, two miles, off, two and a half, off.  You get the picture.  Ease back, don't go too hard, don't go too fast, and be careful.  Two weeks ago, I cracked a tooth, had it pulled, and the dentist told me to take 4 Advil 3 times a day FOR PAIN AND SWELLING.  This sounded strangely like what Stan has told me except the dosage was different.  I was taking 2 tabs and the dentist suggested up to 4.  Had I heard Stan correctly?  I called his wife, Cindy, who is a pediatrician and also on the Blue Valley School Board with me and asked her thoughts.  Her relay from Stan was 4 tabs.  After taking 4 tabs, 3 times a day for 10 days (as recommended), I am now down to 2 tabs and without pain.  Oh, sometimes I get a twinge but nothing like I had.

Today was 10 miles at race pace plus 60 seconds.  Until todayt, I had a hard time running slower than race pace plus 15 seconds. I don't know if this was mental (likely), ego (even more likely) or physical (yeah, right).  Today, however, I didn't listen to my RunKeeper-announcement-lady blurting out the distance, time and pace every mile.  I didn't care about pace.  I tried to concentrate on nothing.  My running partner (and motorcycle partner and all-around nice guy)  Mike Slade and I just ran.  We had not agenda, no pre-conceived notions about speed or time or anything else.  We ran because we like the feeling, the conversation and the feeling of accomplishment.

I'm convinced that it was my best run ever.  Not fastest, not longest, not most competitive, and not one in which I felt particularly great.  But the one that I cared least about was the most fun.