I managed to stay healthy and in good shape. Big disappointment was that Ferrell retired from racing and this time, he actually meant it. So, my race schedule was reduced just from the disorientation of not having a race buddy to do these with. Still, I did do some races; the Brazen Racing Saratoga half marathon, to Castle Rock was a big one. Metric Century at Chico, the Mt Diablo 30K Summit Stomp in October, successfully done this year w/o getting lost like in '22. It's my longest running race since the 1996 LA Marathon. And - GraniteMan! I chopped some time off my 2019 GraniteMan, and only 2 people finished the race this year. I was 2nd overall!
I had trouble recovering from the Mt Diablo 30K, but after 2 weeks I was back out. Then did a 21 mile weekend in Fall Creek which I again had trouble recovering from. I discovered a good strategy. My left hip flexor was really sore and just refused to get better. Rollering didn't help much, nor did the new HyperVolt impact massager I bought. What helped really effectively was splaying my left hip out in stretch position, and then digging my thumb into that hip flexor, I believe it was the psoas. That was painful but I kept it up for quite a few minutes of deep massage. And - voila' ! I was better, and that was now many weeks ago, and I've been fine since then. I was able to put in my 2nd highest running total, finishing with a couple of rain-runs through Fall Creek. Recall in Dec '22 I did 192 miles to get over the 1,000 mile mark. This year I was not so far behind, and a mere 93 miles in December was enough to get to 1,020 miles. Overall, I'm happy with it all - Age 71 and still feeling great and eager to get out onto the trails!
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