Déjà Vu All Over Again

Maine Half Marathon - View from the NordicTrack Treadmill
 

For the second time this year I have restarted my training. Following the meniscectomy of my left knee I crawled back into shape only to have a cellulitis attack my residual; this took even longer to heal. It has been about 8 weeks since I started treatment for it and it is still a little discolored though nearly back to 100%. I am convinced using mineral oil for the skin lubricant was the exact cause of this unpleasantness.

When I was told to use mineral oil I tried to find out exactly what kind to use as there are many types of the product on the market. I received no definitive answer so I just started using off the shelf stuff I bought at CVS. While traveling to Hannibal MO with my sister-in-law, she mentioned how she completely avoided any skin care product that had mineral oil listed as an ingredient. It clogs pores, can actually dry the skin, and has other nasty properties as well.

I then researched the stuff and definitively put 1 plus 1 together and knew what had happened too late. (That's a joke, son.) An excellent article "Negative Effects of Mineral Oil in Skin Care" is here. I have since thrown out all of the oil and will never use it again.

That said, I completed 5 planned days of running last week and did all of my workouts while keeping close watch on my residual for any adverse skin conditions. There were no issues and the skin continued to heal. I ran 21 miles with all but two on the treadmill. I did not want to put my leg in the broiler that is our weather right now. Once it is fully healed I will do more running outside.

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We are going to Maine in this fall and Jennifer and I will be running the half marathon at the Maine Marathon. I ran this back in 2006; Jennifer was under the weather and became a spectator that day. I should be nearly out of my initial back-to-running phase at this race and must expect my time to reflect that fact. Since we fly into Portland before driving further north, this race simply demands we attend, who are we to say no to crisp fall weather especially considering what we are dealing with at the present. Somewhere I have a photo of the 2006 race and I'll post it when it is found.

I don't have a specific time goal for Maine except not to suck too badly. It will be several more months before I return to some semblance of higher fitness. With Boston as my goal race, I will only be running most races as fitness tests or as higher level workouts, with one half in January raced hard to determine a reasonable expectation for Beantown.

My long run this week will be 8 miles. It was back in May when I last ran double digits and I am looking forward to making those distances soon, perhaps 10 next weekend. To help protect my knee, I will do considerable amount of time on the treadmill where the impact is softer. I am so glad to have this terrific training aid and sorry to hear of the passing of the inventor, William Staub. I love my treadmill because it frees me from excuses, particularly from our late afternoon thunder-and-particularly-lightening storms. Having had a couple of close calls with the bolts from above, I do not care to push my luck.

I hope I am done with comebacks for a while. I've am currently updating my marathon plan from last year; I love writing up training schedules. This time I am hoping for more adherence and less deterrence.

Future, please smile on this small parade. We promise to honor the day. I believe we will make a difference in many lives. I have learned of life's small miracles.

Let us do more.