I should probably wait until after the weekend to write this post but I'm going with the optimistic approach.
Running a few miles here and there last week while in Ireland felt pretty good (not least because of the lovely autumn weather. Yes, autumn/fall, not winter!). Then Monday night I went out around the lakes for 7M. Everything feels good when running but when I get done and massage my shin there is definitely some residual 'stuff' in there and I get some tingling and mild fascia burn when I rub deep.
So, my plan is to run a few more 7-8 milers this week and then Sunday morning, after volunteering at Wild Duluth on Saturday, I'm planning to run ~2hrs on the SHT heading south from Duluth. It's a fab section of trail around Spirit Mountain.
And that run will likely dictate the rest of my season. For sure I am not running NF Madison but I did sign up for Hellgate 100K. This is a race I really really want to do. I signed up last year and had to cancel due to that shin injury. So I'd be pretty bummed to have a repeat of that. On the other hand I have no intention of running with an injury (ha, I say that like the throught would never enter my head) so if Sunday's long run tells me the shin is not healed I'll be backing off for the rest of the season and quite possibly taking on a different focus - hot yoga teacher training. The course is being offered starting the weekend after this so I need to decide next week. I am definitely interested and even though it's not cheap I would consider it a good investment. But it's quite time intensive (3hrs Fri/Sat/Sun through mid-Dec as well as min 3 classes per week) and between work and travel through end of year it might not be possible in any case. It would also mean missing Hellgate so that's why it's sort of "either or".
So, if the running goes well over the next week I'll stick with plans for the race and build up to a few 20/30+ milers in Nov. And plan on the yoga course next winter (usually offered once a year). If not, and schedule allows, I'll take on a new challenge...
Looking forward to seeing some of you up north this weekend. Should be a beautiful run. Perhaps not the fall colours run people were thinking of but the course should be in great condition and it looks like Saturday will be a bit warmer than this week.
