{"id":5451,"date":"2016-08-24T16:45:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T20:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/?p=5451"},"modified":"2016-08-24T16:45:44","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T20:45:44","slug":"wildcat-ridge-romp-august-13-2016-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/?p=5451","title":{"rendered":"Wildcat Ridge Romp – August 13, 2016 (Photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wildcat2\"<\/p>\n

On August 13, 2016, I participated in a trail race in Rockaway, NJ: The Wildcat Ridge Romp<\/a>. It didn’t go so well for me. But I took some nice pictures, as you will see below.<\/p>\n

As I wrote about in this post<\/a>, I sprained my ankle on June 26. I was diligent with going to physical therapy three days per week right from the start. I was determined to get this thing fixed in time for Wildcat. On day #38, I gave running a try for the first time since my injury. I wrote about that here.<\/a> On day #42, I ran part of the Wildcat course with some pain and some doubt as to my ability to run on race day.<\/p>\n

Day #49 came. Race day. I had high hopes and was prepared to go the distance. I had signed up for 50K, three times around the 10 mile course. I imagined: the first loop would go okay with a bearable amount of pain; the second loop would be tougher and I would use an ankle brace if needed; the third loop might be a bitch and I might have to walk a lot and maybe drag my dead foot along. The reality was: by mile two, I had some tough pain going on; by mile three, I was texting my wife to say I “probably” wouldn’t do more than one loop; by mile four, I was texting my wife to say I was “definitely” not doing more than one loop; by mile five, I gave up on texting because I was so drenched with the humidity that the touch screen on my phone wouldn’t recognize my sweaty swipes; also by mile five, I gave up on running and walked; by mile eight, I just wanted it to be over; by mile nine, I ran the remainder of the course to at least come in running<\/a>. I was done.<\/p>\n

At the end, someone said to me, “Wow. It took you 3 hours and 20 minutes to do that one loop??” I mumbled something about my ankle being angry at me. I felt like it wasn’t worth explaining. I went home feeling dejected. For months I had my heart set on completing this race as my first 50K. It didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

I probably took a few steps in the wrong direction as far as my recovery goes. As of this writing (day #60), I have seen my orthopedic doctor again. He has ordered an MRI. He is concerned that something is torn. I’m still a bit dejected, but I also realize that I don’t have much control over this situation. The only control I have is to not run. That is really hard when running is all I want to do.<\/p>\n

Please enjoy these photos. I’ll be over here in a corner licking my wounds. *wink*<\/p>\n

\"Early
Early morning pre-race waiting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"7
7 AM start about to happen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"image-5\"<\/p>\n

\"image-6\"<\/p>\n

\"Need
Need a bike?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Early
Early morning haze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The view from Hawk Watch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"image-14\"<\/p>\n

\"The
The rocks looked much bigger in person<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"image-17\"<\/p>\n

\"I
I swear they were much bigger in person<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"image-19\"<\/p>\n

\"image-21\"<\/p>\n

\"Near
Near Splitrock Reservoir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dam
Dam at Splitrock Reservoir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Splitrock
Splitrock Reservoir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Atop
Atop the dam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I
I love the humor of the race director who marked the trail with orange paint, including some horse droppings along the way<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A case of trail runner’s leg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 13, 2016, I participated in a trail race in Rockaway, NJ: The Wildcat Ridge Romp. It didn’t go so well for me. But I took some nice pictures, as you will see below. As I wrote about in this post, I sprained my ankle on June 26. I was diligent with going to … Continue reading “Wildcat Ridge Romp – August 13, 2016 (Photos)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,70,78,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-jersey","category-galleries","category-photos","category-running"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5452,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451\/revisions\/5452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloggingsam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}