The Anterior Tibialis Tendonopathy and Recovery 

After a successful summer of adventures and racing in the mountains, I was prepared to transition to a winter of faster racing on flat surfaces. However, I still had a a few trail oriented races on the calendar. I raced the North Bend Skyline 30K on October 12th for the second year in a row, but had a difficult day and did not perform nearly as well as the 2023 edition. The race featured 6500 vertical feet over 19.5 miles and greatly fatigued my legs. However, on October 27th, I toed the line again at another short distance trail race. This time it was at Cougar Mountain. I joined Seattle Run Club and the Cougar Cup 7.6 miler was my first race as a member of the cross country team. The race went well, I took 2nd with a time of 48:01. 

Then on November 9th, I decided to race the relatively new Willapa Trail Festival 50K. My goal was to run a fast 50K, and this out and back event on a rail trail was perfect. The race started to the northeast of Pe Ell at a storefront straddled between the Willapa Hills trail and the Chehalis River. The weather was ideal, cloudy with temperatures in the mid 40s. The first half of the race went mainly downhill and more or less followed the Chehalis River. 

At mile 14.5 (1:27:40) we were required to check into a store in the town of Adna. This ate into my pace a little, but once I got back on the trail headed westbound, I settled back into a good rhythm. The course turn around was at mile 15.9 in the town of Littell. I reached the midway point in 1:36:20. On the way back I had to stop into the town again (17.3 miles in 1:44:54). I struggled to keep the pace in check because of the gradual uphill trail all the way back. I was generally 26 seconds a mile slower on average and my return trip was 6:48 slower than my outbound trip. I reached the finish in 3:19:28 and took first place and the course record. 

There were numerous road crossings on route, but I do not recall having to wait for any traffic. There was a mix of fields and forest along the route. The surface was mainly crushed gravel, but also had a few wooden bridges and boardwalks and some paved sections. The scenery was mostly beautiful views of the Chehalis River weaving its way across the landscape to the Pacific Ocean. The race directors and volunteers were great and despite its simplicity, I highly recommend this race.

On November 10th I made the fatal mistake of racing the USATF PNW Championships at Lincoln Park in West Seattle. I am used to going from race to race, often times with just a few weeks in between hard efforts. However, I suppose less than 24 hours was just too much for my body to handle. I felt great for the entire race and the flat upper trails of Lincoln Park were smooth and fast. It was quite a change from Willapa Trail Festival 50K where I ran alone all morning. The cross country race had 61 people representing four different teams on the start line. 

It was a beautiful sunny morning with temperatures the low 50s and the trail surface was dry hard packed soil. The course was a clockwise loop with a total of 335 vertical feet. I finished 32nd in 34:04 or 5:32 average pace. Unfortunately the team finished 4th of 4 with 119 points. However, it was still a lot of fun to compete in my first team cross country race in 13 years. 

My anterior tibialis felt fine after the race and the entire recovery week of training. I was hoping to use the 50K as a long run in the build for Desert Solstice 24 hour, so I was not intending to take a down week. However, I took it easy through most of the week to recover to be safe. On Saturday I tried to up the mileage with a long run along the Carbon River trail at Mount Rainier National Park. 

The trail is a wide forest road that passes through old growth forest with towering Douglas Firs and Western Redcedars. After about 5 miles, the trail becomes narrow and passes through Ipsut campground. I decided to hike up through Ipsut Creek canyon to get a closer look at Ipsut Falls which required that I get into freezing knee deep water. Then I jumped onto the Wonderland trail and ran until the snow became a few inches deep. I tried to push the pace downhill and this is when I first started to feel the sharp pain in my lower leg. I assumed it would gradually subside as my muscles loosened up from the icy waters. Unfortunately, the pain continued to get worse all the way down the Carbon River trail until I was relegated to alternating between walking and jogging. After resting for a few minutes, even walking became painful. 

The week of November 17th was when I realized that the injury would not be going away in the near future. In order to keep my fitness I did a long bike ride and ran through the pain. On Sunday I raced the USATF Regional Championships 8K at Chambers Bay. The course was on an open grass field that was mostly mud by the time our race started. The route was a counterclockwise loop. It was a gloomy windy day with temperatures in the mid 40s. The outward appearance of the day matched my mood, mostly because I knew that my anterior tibialis would likely not be better prior to Desert Solstice. 

I finished in 52nd place out of 162 runners with a time of 27:49. Unfortunately, our team finished 10th out of 10 with 180 points. After this race, I had two weeks to rest prior to Desert Solstice and I was not optimistic that my leg would feel better.

The final three weeks preceding Desert Solstice 24 Hour were bleak. I mainly walked and biked with only a few runs. I diligently massaged and iced my anterior tibialis. I arrived in Phoenix on December 13th and dad and I hiked Camelback Mountain and my leg felt good so I was cautiously optimistic. The race got underway at 0800 on December 14th and I felt okay for the first 30 miles but my anterior tibialis gradually grew inflamed. 

By the time I hit mile 49 I had to take a lengthy rest and tape my ankle and change shoes. Unfortunately, I only made it another 10 miles before I decided to call it a day. The pain had grown too severe and my leg was visibly swollen. The silver lining was that Dad and I had some time to hike Bursera Peak and South Mountain in Phoenix before we headed back to Washington. But I was disappointed that I did not get an opportunity to push for a new 24 hour PR.

Surprisingly, in the latter part of December I was able to run again and I slowly built back my fitness and on January 11th I raced the Bridle Trails 15 miler. This was my first return to Bridle Trails race series since the 50K in 2017. I managed to get the win, but was unable to hit the time I was hoping for. 

Building on the success from Bridle Trails 15 Miler I decided to do Run Forest Run 50K for the third year in a row. I figured that if my anterior tibialis could not handle the 50K in February, I would be unable to successfully run Santa Barbara Nine Trails in March. So on February 15th at 0800, I started the Run Forest Run 50K from Lake Sylvia State Park. Fairly similar to previous years it was cloudy and misty with temperatures in the low 30s. The trail was muddy and significant portions of the course were snow covered and icy. I felt as though the course was in the worst shape of the three years, although the course has never been in great shape any year I have run it. 

In 2023, I ran 4:38:46 and finished 3rd, in 2024, I ran 4:27:13 and finished 2nd, and finally in 2025, I ran 4:31:50 and finished 1st. 

2025 Splits

2024 Splits

2023 Splits

After Run Forest Run 50K, I felt safe in declaring my anterior tibialis injury gone. I was still careful with my training but I generally did not have any more issues as the year progressed.