The ear is healing up fine and I’ve been running ~35 miles per week for the last few weeks, most of that barefooted and indoors on a treadmill. When I do get outside, I’ve been in New Balance MT-100’s, for warmth. I ran ~3 miles in KSOs outside one day, but they seem to make my plantar fascia feel odd.
It feels really good to be running more lately. C’mon Spring!
It’s going to be a little slow going around here for a while.
I had a mastoidectomy and tympanoplasty on the 18th and am not allowed to do any strenuous exercise for a week or two. I developed an infection in the mastoid process, a honeycomb-like structured protrusion of the skull you can feel if you press behind your ear. This infection basically ate the ossicles, the three minute bones behind your eardrum, and some other structures and left me unable to hear through that ear. They went in from behind the ear and cleaned out the infection. They also took a small skin graft from my arm and made a new eardrum for me, to keep out new infection and to, perhaps, someday facilitate prosthetics and hearing aids.
So maybe in a year or so they can replace those bones and stuff and restore my hearing, I’ll find out a bit more about that during my follow-up visit in a couple days.
It has been a little slow going lately, mostly due to catching a bit of a cold and feeling generally out of it. I’ve been doing ~20 miles per week since the last post, mostly on asphalt with a couple excursions over to the Fells thrown in…and a couple runs on the treadmill when outside was just a little too bleak to inspire communion. My body feels good save those few days where the illness really had me.
The article that I speak about in the previous post has been printed and can been seen at the Boston Globe’s site. 
I had the pleasure of meeting up with ~8 other bare foot runners for a run and interview/photo session with the Boston Globe, hosted by the Shamrock Running Club in Woburn, MA. Here is a shot of the group that was able to make the run. Tim, far left, who runs barefootrunner.net, didn’t run but instead drove around with the photographer to help set up some action shots, probably because he ran 36 hours straight(!) a few days earlier to help raise donations of canned goods for the less fortunate– way to go Tim! Next to Tim is Jim, Ed (sorry, I think it was “Ed”!) who ran a ~3:15 marathon in VFFs a couple days earlier, and Preston. Very nice guys and I am looking forward to running with them all again sometime. The rest of us ran ~3.5 miles, getting to know each other a bit along the way and generally enjoying a nice evening run together.
Sadly, one fellow, who was speaking with the reporter, was left behind when the group abruptly took off for the run… and a couple other guys had to leave before the run, but came by to say hello and whatnot…it’s too bad we didn’t get more time together…next time! The story will be running within a couple weeks apparently, I’ll post a link when it does.
I was able take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather over the last few days and enjoy some trail running in the reservation nearby. After barefooting the ~3 miles over there, I switched over to the MT100’s which worked extremely well except for a small blister that formed on my Achilles tendon from the rather stiff heel cup. It looks worse than it is.
They seem quite tough for such a light shoe. I even wore them on the road for a bit on the way home and they worked well there too! As you can see from the rocky path picture above, the rock plate got more than its fair share of use and worked well. Color me impressed.
I’ve been putting off writing this entry for a few days, probably because I know I’ll do the experience little justice with my reporting, but I want to get something out…so I’ll end here, but will try to write more, as it was really a great couple days. I will note that on the second venture, I came across a beautiful Eastern Milk snake, about 3 feet long and enjoying a drink near some cascading waterfalls (I’ll bring the camera next time, I just discovered the area that day…).
