24 hrs (recovery zone)

First off… THANK YOU EVERYONE! I definitely feel humbled by the support this MORE Project effort received. From my awesome volunteer support crew, to those who pledged and donated, to Paislee for being an AWESOME crew chief! You all have my utmost respect and gratitude!

Well, Sunday night was a blur as we got back, unloaded the car, and passed out. I was actually a tad surprised by how good I felt Monday, and my Chiropractor was likewise surprised by how relatively limber I was considering less than 36 hours earlier I was finishing up my 64th mile… I guess the training program paid off somewhat!

My right knee is finally back to normal today as well, and so the only real residual affect is some muscle soreness in the Anterior Tibialis, and the Gastrocnemius (likely due to the heavy use traveling over that crazy, off-angle, ankle-twisting, slick-rock landscape) and the feet. I think I’ll need to adapt some of my winter training to include some kind of trail running simulation, and some weight lifting to build up the muscles in the lower leg and around the knee. There was so much heavy pounding running on that slick-rock, that I think I’d have had greater endurance with some greater muscular support around my knees.

The feet issue is primarily the toes… I think I goofed on maintaining proper foot care. I know I should have changed socks more frequently (every 4 laps would have been smart), and probably applied a skin lubricant between the toes each sock-change. Likely would have made a difference. The other item is just the actual “impact” on the feet. They’re still a tad sore, so I have to assume that’s part of the equation, but I’m going to ping out to my more accomplished running associates and see what advice they have to offer.

Lastly, I’ve decided to adjust my race schedule for several reasons. I’m not going to do the Fruita race, and instead going to do the SLC Marathon. My pacing crew is doing the half-marathon, so I can run with them for the first 7 miles, and then Allen Steele from my office is running the marathon so I can run with him for the rest of it… assuming he doesn’t run me into the dirt! He is fast on his shorter runs, so if he’s going to hammer it that way for 26.2, I’ll have to fall back. All in all, 26.2 will be a better option than 50 considering I only have 19 days until the 17th and I’m still recovering from the 24hrs.