Return to Shadow Canyon

I hadn't run Shadow Canyon since early July before I fractured my foot. I hadn't planned on going there but to get Alex to run with me it has to be more interesting than our nearby open space trails. I invited him to Eldorado Springs and from there gave him a couple of options and he chose the steeper one. The temperature was about at freezing and Alex suffers from exercise induced asthma when it's cold. We actually stopped by the pharmacy to get a refill on his inhaler prescription before going but it had expired. We took it easy and even hiked some sections but the narrow rocky trails higher up just want to be run. We still complete the 5 miles in a tad over an hour. I was disappointed the last time I posted video on here but I'm going to try it again.

You may want to mute the volume so you don't have to hear me grunting about filming and watching my steps at the same time. And this is different footage from what I posted of Facebook.

A Runner is Born

At the alternative high school where I teach we have experiential learning outings at the end of each six week term for students who pass all of their classes. Yesterday, they chose from a vertical wind tunnel, a tour of Invesco Field where the Denver Broncos play, slam poetry at downtown cafe, a scavenger hunt at the Denver Museum of Natural History, or mountain trail running with me. Needless to say, my offering wasn't many kids' first choice. They had to rank their choices 1-5. I didn't ask but it occurred to me that maybe the four that signed up for me got mixed up on whether 1 was the top choice or 5 was the top choice; I know I've done that on surveys before. By the departure time yesterday morning, two had been disqualified, one showed up after we had left to catch the bus, so it was just one student and I.

We took public transportation to Boulder and were in downtown at 9:50AM. We dumped our backpacks where I store our vending cart, made a pit stop, and head out walking and connected up with the Boulder Creek Path. We reached Settler's Park where we were going pick up mountain park trails but they were all blocked with police tape because a helicopter was loading power line parts and flying off with them. We bypassed the whole area by walking through a historic Boulder neighborhood.

We arrived at the Mt. Sanitas Trailhead and started to jog. My running buddy for the day had run the Bolder Boulder when he was in middle school so although he wasn't in runner shape, what to expect was not unfamiliar to him. We alternated between jogging, walk, climbing, hiking, and taking an occasional brief breather. At one point after I took off jogging on a flatter part of the trail I noticed he hadn't followed. When he caught up, he said he didn't feel so well, that maybe he should have eaten something. I had advised him beforehand and also offered the option again before heading out. I gave him a gel, which he didn't enjoy but it seemed to revive him. Before too long we finished our ascent of 1400 feet at the summit of Mt. Sanitas. We caught our breath and started down a steeper trail than we had taken going up. In some places we had to climb down facing the mountain to avoid slipping and becoming our own personal mini avalanche.

We made it down without incident and took the gently sloped Dakota Ridge valley access road down to the trailhead. At one point as we're cruising down the path he punches out at the air and declares, "I feel like Rocky".

Perfect. Mission Accomplished.

Bonus Days

Being able to run after work this week was like finding a three dollar chocolate truffle after eating your way through the trick or treat candy that filled your pillow case. It had to be savoured. Daylight savings starts tomorrow so any runs after work for the next few months will be in the dark and cold. The temperatures have been in the seventies all week but with the last hour of daylight they slipped into the sixties; what a treat to run on a November afternoon in shorts and a T-shirt.

I had run a lot last weekend so on Monday afternoon I was content to just get out and take Elliott for a stroll around the neighborhood as the trees began to cast long shadows across their golden leaves that lay underfoot. Tuesday and Wednesday were marathon teaching days with four hours of adult classes each evening after my regular workday with the alternative education congregation. I was content to have chat quick meal and a beer while catching up with Ruth and being entertained by Elliott for a few minutes before going succumbing to slumber.

Thursday, was the kind of day you want to tell everyone you know to get outside and enjoy the day so before changing into summer running clothes I poked my head into Valerie's hazmat zone where she was seated at her little desk with books propped open around her littered with bite-sized candy bar wrappers, the radio on, the laptop in front of her, and cell phone in hand. She swung around, clearly having an OMG moment and knowing she was going to surprise me said,"I've been thinking I want to run cross country next year, but that would mean starting to run so I decided that they next time you invited me I would go, but I have too much homework right now...so, the next time." Wow, what a surprise. I enjoyed the sunny late afternoon running all the streets and cul-de-sacs of the adjoining multi-million dollar-homed neighborhood feeling so fortunate that I felt like I was slumming there.

Yesterday afternoon I was drawn directly home by the prospect of savouring the last sunny post-work run of the Indian summer for this year. I texted Valerie on the way home,"Run?" "X_X....Maybe" I texted back,"fuel hydrate". When I arrived she was already in running shorts, a T-shirt, and her like-new Asics from last year. :)

I had a couple of things to take care of first; Valerie went out for a quick mile and a quarter warm up around the neighborhood. I wanted her reacquaintance with running to be more than just plodding along on pavement so we drove around to get near the open space trails that I usually run to from the house. "We jogged and chatted side by side until we came to the single track and Valerie went ahead to set the pace. Before we reached the high point of our trail the sun had ducked behind Bear Mountain and the air felt cooler although we occasionally passed through warm pockets of air. Valerie sprinted up to the summit and I pushed as well, thinking about how she'd feel the today. We stopped for a minute enjoying the view of almost the entire county before coasting back down to the truck.

Many runners lament their children not following in their foot steps. Who knows if Valerie will join me again but yesterday's 2.3 miles was better than a three dollar truffle at the bottom of a trick or treat bag.

Weekend Warrior

Running has taken a back seat on the bus of my weekly activities. The eight or nine students that would inconsistently run with me at school has dwindled to zero. Now it is difficult to justify going out for a run by myself while on the job. (I have been eating at lunchtime but maybe I should make some adjustment there.) Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I teach Adult Spanish classes and the other three weekday evenings usually find me running errands, taking care of household chores, engaging in a little human interaction with my people. Elliott of course needs some daddy time and it can't all be in the seat of the running stroller. I have managed to escape a couple of times on the weekends.

Yesterday, I was able to enjoy an Indian summer afternoon - sunny, seventy-five, and calm. I ran open space trails and some pavement for an hour and a half covering nine miles and today I it looks like I should be able to go for a FiveFingers run. That will probably just be three or four miles because my feet and calf muscles are having to get accustomed to being minimally shod all over again.

I am anxious for all the minimalist shoes to hit the market. As I've mentioned in a previous blog, I ended up with Achilles tendonitis just 44 miles and 18 days after being sold on a pair of New Balance boats. It can't be a coincidence. It sounds like finding the right pair is not going to be easy either. Here in Boulder, Colorado, definitely one of the running capitals of the country, the running shoe stores are saying they might carry one or another; clearly I'm going to have to shop different stores to compare them.

Unceremonious 1000th Mile

I finally reached 1000 miles for the calendar year yesterday on a 7.1 mile run. I had anticipated reaching 1000 in July and maybe even two thousand by the end of the year but a stress fracture will put an end to grandios running dreams. I enjoyed a half hour 3 mile Vibramed trail run this afternoon.

Parenthood Paranoia

Elliott has been a dream child. He wears out his grandpa-like dad and mother-like mother because he is on the go from the time he wakes up until after we'd like to be asleep. He's even foregoing naps of more than about 20 minutes. He's never been sick (knock on wood), not even a cold, since he was born even though we've all had our turns at being ill in one way or another. He understands Ruth and I regardless of whether we speak to him in English or Spanish and his vocabulary at 18 months included words from both languages with almost an equal number from American Sign Language.
...................Elliott with Lego phone

Little by little over the past month it seemed as though these words were going away and everything seemed to be replaced with his pointing at something and saying "teen". He also seemed to be a bit indifferent to my presence. I was noticing but not really processing it until Ruth mentioned about four days ago that Elliott's language seemed to be regressing and that there were some other behavioral things that concerned her. I said I thought the same thing. I woke up at about 2AM Wednesday morning and fired up the laptop and googled "language regression" or something similar. I learned that nineteen months of age is the median age for language loss related to autism. I didn't read much beyond that. I felt an unfamiliar wave of devastation come over me. I woke Ruth up and neither one of us slept much more than an hour before morning.

I made an appointment with the pediatrician for Friday and Ruth began some intense infant interaction and documentation. She worked at prompting him to produce words that we knew that he had been using. She was encouraged by her day with him. I played some hide and seek with him and when he would find me or I would find him he would run up and hug me around the legs.

I had read at some point that older parents, children born between October and March who had jaundice at birth were more likely to have autism. I also remembered reading at some point about other characteristics of the disease and I know that Elliott hadn't been exhibiting any of those traits. We started to review his behavior and nothing was alarming. We felt a bit more at ease.

We felt more at ease once we met with the pediatrician and after answering his questions and recounting our observations he declared with lots of confidence that Elliott was a healthy normal child. We had been letting a little cartoon called Pocoyo that we stumbled upon on Youtube and Sesame Street entertain him so that we could attend to household chores,etc. He seemed to enjoy them and was mesmerized. Although he enjoyed the video input it was only a receptive (in)activity. We wonder if we were just letting him get away with his one word. We've engaged him continually for all of his long waking hours and when he's said "teen" for something we've made sure to state the word for whatever it was. It would be convenient to think he's been saying "thing" but I don't think so.

This morning he wanted to go outside. While in the driveway, I said, "Let's go to the mail box." He started off toward it with me in tow. I lifted him up to open it. "Nada," he said, Spanish for "nothing". What's wrong with Elliott? Nada.

Navigating Uncertainty

I broke seven miles yesterday for the first time since breaking my foot. October in Colorado provides perfect conditions for afternoon runs. The sunshine highlights the autumn colors and with the temperature at 65 and no humidity it is hard to beat. I wish I could plod along more confidently though.

I'm facing a couple of concerns. Symptoms of Achilles tendonitis were first felt after 44 miles spread over 18 days (two weeks have passed and I have somewhat kept it at bay through downtime stretching) in new New Balance 1226 high mileage trainers. I had believed that I should protect my feet somewhat as they acclimated to running again after seven weeks of relative inactivity. I want to return to barefoot running again and have worn the FiveFingers twice for a total of 5.4 miles. The concern there is that it doesn't seem as though the foot that had the stress-fractured second metatarsal has returned to normal yet. An indication of this is that I my three middle toes claw when I put pressure down on my forefoot. I've done some reading with respect to the possible causes and there are a couple of possibilities consistence with my case. It can occur when the foot and even seemingly unrelated parts of the body experience a trauma. It can occur when a foot is relatively flat and the pressure causes one muscle to pull harder than the one that would otherwise balance it out. Both of these seem consistent with my case; After seven week of not using the foot I suspect that the arch may have lost some of its form.

The dilemma then, is deciding how to approach the recovery. Orthotics, or at least a supportive shoe are often recommended to support the arch and hence allow the muscles to pull in a balanced fashion so that the toes don't pull up and back. Does this just allow the foot to continue in its weakened state? I'm concerned that if I were to run more in the FiveFingers expecting to restrengthen the foot that I may end up doing harm by pounding on the recovering forefoot and also cause injury by repetitive movement of parts that are not operating in the correct position relative to each other.

I've been addressing the problem much as I approach the transition to minimalist running: by doing the longer runs with shoes, the shorter runs in the Vibrams on softer surfaces, and general walking around in bare feet.