2009 Season = Over

Lots of options for how to title this post, but since I mostly talk about running 'round these parts I thought I would relate the events of this week to the effect on my training. To be honest, I have never cared about running so little as I have the past three days.

The story is long and involved so I'll just sum it up here: Katie had the baby Monday night, August 10, 12 weeks premature. Her name is Charlotte Kathleen Russell and she weighed 1lb 7oz. For the full story, pictures and updates you can look at the page we set up for Charlotte here: http://www.carepages.com/carepages/charlotterussell

Right now Katie and I plan on being in Marquette until at least early November, possibly December. Given the circumstances I really could care less that I'm not going to run a race this fall.

I had been getting back into decent shape after Grandma's. I ran two 10 mile races on back to back weekends and ran about the same time (although with very different race strategies) low-53's. This past weekend I got in two long runs, 3hrs/27.5M Saturday and 2hrs/18.5M Sunday. I was looking to travel out to South Dakota with Wynn and do Lean Horse Half Hundred later in August.

Right now I plan to take the next week or two off from running. I'll do my exerciese like the excellent general strength videos by Jay Johnson for Running Times. Then I'll work on my base and strength with long runs through the fall. I'm gunning for the US 50k/100k double in March/April of next year if all goes well.

The one item I still have to work out is whether or not to have knee surgery this fall. For approximately the last ten years I have had a cyst of varying size on the back of my left knee. After some research and a confirmation from the PT it was determined it is a Baker's Cyst - a pocket of excess synovial fluid caused by some dysfunction in my knee. I had an MRI set for this coming Monday and was looking at having the outpatient surgery sometime this fall after I ran some races, but now I'm not sure its a good idea. It doesn't effect my running much, if at all, and there is virtually no risk to doing nothing for now. The recovery time is only about four weeks. Too much to think about at the moment anyways.

So as you can see, when I come back from a blogging layoff, I make it count. Thanks to everyone that has sent along prayers and positive thoughts. The first day was the hardest for me because my mind would focus on the possibility of losing both ladies. Now, with Katie on the mend and Charlotte showing some progress, I'm settling into a routine, albeit a much different one. I know I'm not eating or sleeping as much as I should, but the days just seem to fly by around here and before you know it I haven't showered and the last meal I ate was a Nature Valley granola bar.

But it helps to have the support network of family and friends. With Katie in Marquette now, we have our little family together to face the challenges of the days ahead.