Run With Garrison

Aloha and Good Morning everyone!
Wanted to thank everyone for their comments and for starting this adventure with me. It has been a truly amazing week and I am completely stunned by how many people are viewing and following the site. Thanks for passing it along to your friends. I have had a few friends text and ask about the recovery process, so here it goes…..

I am now a little over a week past finishing my first 100 mile race and I am finally starting to feel ok. Just about all of the swelling has gone down. For 3-5 days, the following areas were swollen and funky looking : feet, cankles, lower legs, knees, thighs, and even my lower back! I would have taken/posted photos but nobody really wants to see that stuff (including myself). Toenails are pretty much fine and the one blister on the end of my left pinkie toe is almost all gone. I have been sleeping a ton and eating everything I can get my hands on–all that food that tastes soooo good that I try to limit while training. It took a few days for my right hip to feel better and now it is just my entire right thigh that is a bit stiff/sore. Nothing a few hours with Barbara @Massage Specialists can’t fix for me–That reminds me, I need to make an appointment this week!
I have not run a single step this past week but I have walked a few miles everyday. This coming week I will likely start to run again at a nice pace. Hopefully, I can get out for a few miles with a few of my Honolulu running buddies–as long as they can tolerate my super-slow pace. I think a nice goal of 20-25 miles this week should work–I will listen to my body to figure out what is right.

I am now starting to plan out the rest of my 2012 and I have decided I will race a few more races and take a few more trips to the west coast than I originally planned. As soon as Hawaiian Airlines has another sale, I am going to buy the tickets for the rest of the year. I was planning on heading back to Tahoe for the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 miler but it looks like the race is sold out. After searching a bit online, it looks like there is an ultra in Northern California almost every weekend–Which is great because that allow me to hang out with some great friends and catch up while I am on the road. I am thinking about racing once a month for most of the rest of the year. So far, I will be racing 50k on Mt Diablo on April 21 and the Miwok 100k May 5. Here are a few other races I am thinking about and if any of you have feedback or suggestions, please let me know! I am just listing out a some races that look cool, no way I could race all of them this year.
May 27-Hibiscus 13.1–local
June: 2–Diablo 60k
3- Canyon 50k in Oakland
10-Skyline to Sea 50k
23–San Lorenzo River 50k
July 7-Pacifica 50k
14-Golden Gate 50k
August 11-Crystal Springs 50k
11–Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series 15k
12-Skyline 50k or Stevens Creek 50k
25-Tampala 50k
September–Maybe a return to Noble Canyon in San Diego?
1-Tantalus 50k–local
2-Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series 20k
15-Headlands 50/100
15-Diablo 50k
23-Diablo 50k–Lots of races on/around Mt. Diablo!
30- Redwood 50k
October 6-Rio Del Lago 50/100
7-Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series 25k
14-Tantalus 10 miler
Dick Collins Firetrails 50–Date not available yet
27-Peacock 100k
28-Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series 30k
Nov 3-Lake Chabot 50k
18-Honolulu Marathon Readiness Series 13.1

Yea, I know, long list…but that is where my head is right now. I am excited about my potential as an Ultra runner and I want to get out and get more and more racing experience.

I am looking forward to a great year and bringing you all the stories along the way!

One more thing before we head off to the North Shore for the day….I have received a sponsorship from a great local company iRun. They make the waterproof headphones I run with everyday. They are super cool and I want to say a big MAHALO to iRun. Please check them out at http://www.irunearphones.com

Happy Running!

Michael