(L) Okay friends, this is the time that you should be asking yourself, “how good of a friend am I?”

I received a phone call from my friend, Gina, this week and she left me this very loving and supportive message:

“I just read your blog and I realized I have not been a very good friend.  I have not been supporting you in your endeavors and you are working so hard.  So, in support of your training I want you to know that I, too, will be increasing my fluid intake although it will be in the form of alcohol and I will definitely be increasing my food intake.  Oh, and I am not planning on running at all!”  Gina L.

See what I mean?  It really doesn’t take much to support your friends.

This week marked the end of my constant travel to the mountains for ski racing, which gives me more time for running.  I am really happy about this considering this is what I have been dealing with most of the winter.

(G)Last week, I was all sunshine and light about my recovery week. I even said I didn’t have any torture in my life. Apparently, the universe was listening and all that gloating sent karma to bite me directly on my posterior. This week, torture returned and clearly it was well-rested… as it had a lot to offer.

The week started with a nagging discomfort in my neck that continued to an excruciating upper back/neck muscle spasm. The situation reduced me to walking on Wednesday and only moving my head in a very limited range of motion. I rallied for an 8-mile run on Thursday and that felt like progress.

Friday brought with it relief of the muscle spasm issue but not without going through what seemed like hand-to-hand combat to get there. Trigger-point massage is no joke and, if I do say so, not for sissies.

Saturday’s 24 miles were long and at the end I had to ask myself: Could I do 26 more miles in a couple months? I guess we’ll find out.

The week rounded out with a 10-mile jaunt on Sunday that took a little mental wrangling to get into but once I got started wasn’t bad at all.  Just in case I ever doubted it, I know now: 52 miles in a week feels like 52 miles.

Off to Florida this week for the Everglades Ultra and a little sun, sand, and hopefully, very distant gators and pythons.

Big shout out to Mary for her 5K race this weekend.  If she continues to run fast, we may have to kick her off of our team!  Slow down roadrunner!

10 weeks and counting…

Tuesday’s weekly Torture Report is designed to keep all of you posted on the insanity of training for a race to celebrate G’s 40th birthday. The goal is 50 miles but we’ll see how it goes. To find out more on how this plan was set in motion, check out Lowi’s blog. If you missed the last Torture Report, you can catch up here.

With Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G