another nice swim

Last night I found out my friends Paul and Teresa were back from climbing in Russia so I called Teresa to see if she was up for a swim. We hit Madison Park this morning at 8 and swam to the Tennis Courts and back - about 1.2 miles. It was lightly raining and very humid and still so the water was nice and flat and not a lot of boat traffic. The water was AWESOME and it was fun to watch the rain dancing off the surface. It just felt great to get out there and enjoy it. I think the time (for me) was about 40-45 minutes, and I had plenty left in the tank (I was taking it easy). So that got me to thinking about the Park-to-Park swim - if it's not too soon post surgery. I'll ask my doc next week at my pre-surgery meeting.

nice morning

It's raining (duh!) and we are back to more familiar PNW weather today. I was going to go to Madison Pk and swim early (6-ish) this morning but as usual didn't make it out of bed. And I had a hard time visualizing getting warm in the rain after swimming in the lake. However, Pop Mounger pool has lap swim 6-7:30 and I just wanted time in the water, so I made it there at 7. It was a nice swim - not crowded at all and I split the lane with another person. Fun part was watching raindrops hit my goggles during backstroke. Got in just enough to wake me up and make me feel good!

Right knee feels a little "congested" today - there is some swelling over the lateral meniscus. Don't know why since range of motion is good, but should know when I see John O'Kane this Thursday, who will tell me what the MRI showed. He's predicting inflammation which a cortisone shot should stop. We'll see. Have been back on the "strengthening wagon" this week and running a little.

Seattle Hardrockers

Last Friday was the Hardrock 100 - one of the toughest 100M ultras there is. It's all above 13,000 ft and has an overall cumulative elevation gain of 33,0000 ft. This years winners were both from Seattle - Scott Jurek and Krissy Moehl (also 3rd overall) and they both broke course records for the men's and women's races. Not only that, but Scott ran it on an ankle he rolled the Monday before the race! Damn! Good thing his PT background was there to help him decide whether to run. He almost didn't, according the paper. And I was impressed by Krissy in that she said she had cut her training mileage this time around from when she broke the course record in the HURT 100. Anyone who finishes HR100 is a mega stud in my book - like James Varner who got in at the last minute. He was undertrained and I'm betting didn't get there a month ahead to acclimatize, yet he was on pace to be in the top ten til it caught up with him. He walked more or less the last 25 miles but he finished! That's perseverance.

Congrats to all the runners - what a show!!