Poop-Glorious-Poop

That pretty much sums up my last 3 weekday runs.

After the 7-miler on Saturday, other than a little soreness, I was feeling pretty good. Until I started out on Tuesday's (what was meant to be Monday's) brief little 2-miler.

You know how you just have those days? You stub your toe getting out of bed, then you slip and fall in the shower, then you notice a massive pimple right between your eyes, then you burn your toast, then you get a speeding ticket because you're running late for work... and so on? Well, that was the day-to-day equivalent of Tuesday's little 2-miler. From the office, the first mile was all downhill, but it felt really hard. When I heard the Garmin beep, I figured out why. 11:30! That's why. Which meant that the second mile, the uphill mile, was all that much more gruesome. I couldn't wait to get this one done and in the books so I was thrilled when I finally stumbled back to the parking lot to find my car... which, of course, had no awaiting bottle of water. Stupid Tuesday.

Wednesdays are a little tricky in our house because we take Ini to Doggie Daycare (aka "school") on Wednesdays. So, this means we have a pretty strict schedule of when we need to leave the house to drop him off, as well as when we have to leave work to pick him up. Until this week, it was even more crazy in the afternoons because we had to rush up to Indian Hills (oh, I've run those hills before) to take him to Agility class. However, this Wednesday we didn't have agility, so I planned a sweet little point-to-point route from our office out to a point close to where Miah would be driving after picking Ini up from school. I was really excited to be running a new route. So excited, in fact, that I left the house without... my Garmin. I did not realize this until I was already at the office, however, so going back for it was not an option. Immediately, Garmin-less anxiety set in.

Ugh. I've done these runs before. You know... where you just run. And you have no idea of your pace or your distance or anything? How did I ever survive pre-Garmin?

In the end, it was a pretty awesome run. It was annoying to not have any idea how far I'd gone at any given point... And it was annoying not to have any idea how fast I was going. But I did the run, and I felt really good! I ended up finishing in about 52minutes, for 4 miles, which is right at a 13m/m pace. I guess my body is learning how to run roughly the same pace with or without my Garmin directing me. The most annoying thing has to be that there is no record whatsoever that I even did this run. Aside from what I've just written here... and still there's no proof! I could have totally made this up!

The best part of this run, anyway, was finishing right at the car. Miah and Ini were waiting for me with lemon-lime gatorade. What could be better?

And then came today, when I was forced to run in the pre-dawn hours because I'm flying out to TN this evening to visit my family. Again, today, another terrible slog. I'm blaming this one on lack of rest. It was just a mere 12 hours ago that I ran that glorious 4-miler, after all.

It's either the lack of rest or the fact that my head just wasn't right before I even started. I just didn't want to be running. There are lots of runs that I start with this exact attitude, but usually it wears off after the first mile or so. Not so today. Again... I can easily blame this on the lack of sleep.

What was supposed to be a measly 3-miler turned into a 2.3miler. I just didn't have it today.

The really excellent news in all this is that I've done all my weekday runs this week, and my foot still seems to be holding up pretty well. I got the word back from the doctor on Tuesday that I do NOT have a stress fracture, though she also offered no explanation as to what actually is wrong with me. So, at this point, I figure I'm going to just keep running on it until my body says otherwise.

I'm on the schedule for an 8-miler this Saturday, though, as I mentioned, I'll be vacationing this weekend in TN with my parents. Luckily, my tiny hometown (and I mean tiny) is having its annual 5k race this weekend, so I'll be out there (with approximately 20 other people) on Saturday morning.

Question: If I run 3 miles, then pause and register for the race, then run the 5k then continue on for an additional 2ish miles after... does that qualify as an 8-mile run? Does pausing in the middle make the run less meaningful?

Saturday wrap up

Well, I did it. I ran 7 miles on Saturday with the group, just like I'd intended.

And the foot held up pretty well for the first 2 miles or so.

When I started the run, I felt pretty good. A very slight twinge of pain now and then, but otherwise I felt pretty healthy. I intentionally tried to hold back on the speed, which led to abysmal splits, but I thought it might be better for the injured foot to run slowly. But, right before the first water station, I was having consistent pain with every footfall. In all reality, I probably should have turned back as soon as it started hurting. But I've skipped so many weeknight runs in the last couple of weeks, I just couldn't bear to turn around. Finishing those 7 miles, however slowly, was an indication that I may still have a shot at running in Denver in 5 weeks.

Provided that the foot holds up, of course.

I am still waiting on the results from the bone scan that I had done last Thursday.

All in all, I had an average pace of 14:27 for Saturday's really hilly group run. The weather was perfect, but the course was tough, and I did end up walking 0.4miles in there along the way. You can get all the details here. It's starting to feel like fall in Colorado. I always love this time of year.

Miah keeps reminding me that I need to carefully weigh my options right now. Maybe I can keep running, through the pain, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I should. He says that if I keep going, I need to realize that I may be sacrificing other things down the road. Not only might I not be able to run in Memphis, but I also might sacrifice the upcoming ski season. These are good points, I realize, but I have been trying to ignore them up until this point.

That's it for now, as I have a date with my dentist. There will be drilling involved. Ugh. What a way to start a Monday!

I am so back...

Injury update: I had the bone scan done today, but I've had ZERO pain for two days in a row now, which means I'm going to be running again. I'm going to do a few miles tomorrow, then I'm on the schedule for 7miles on Saturday. I may not have the results of the bone scan until early next week, but I feel confident that everything is fine now. I haven't run since Saturday, so I guess the rest (combined with the ibuprofen I've been taking in ludicrous amounts) was enough to get me better.

It's funny, but taking just a few days off running has made me realize how important running is to me. Sure, I complain about it every now and then (or every day), and sometimes it does genuinely suck... but, the thought of not being able to do it... well, it sort of makes all the other parts of my life fall apart, too.

I'll post a summary of tomorrow's run to let you know how the gimpy foot holds up.

Of all the rotten luck...

I now have a pair of these:I didn't write anything last week because I was so upset about my latest misfortune and I kept thinking if I ignored it, maybe it would go away.

It began a few hours after my first group run. Miah and I were out looking at houses and I had a pretty nasty pain in my left foot. I figured it was a muscle spasm or something and it would go away with a little rest. But, it did not go away. I saw the chiropractor on Monday morning to rule out any weird bones-out-of-place issues. Then when I tried running on it on Tuesday, the pain got even worse. I hit my McDoctor's office on Wednesday, where they took an x-ray and didn't find anything wrong. Big surprise.

Still, I have my suspicions... I'm off for a bone scan come Thursday morning to find out if it is a stress fracture.

I did go out to the group run on Saturday, where I did 4 miserable miles. And, though I still have a lot of pain even just while walking, I'm going to try my hardest to get in a 2-miler today and a 3-miler tomorrow.

The thing is, I know there's something wrong with the foot. That much is clear, as it's been hurting for over a week now. But until I'm diagnosed with something, I can't just quit. What if I stay off the foot now (for another week) and then find out it was just a really bad bone bruise or something? Something that I could totally have run through? Then I'll be behind in my training and really mad at myself for giving up too soon.

At the same time, every time that I run (or walk, for that matter) I fear that I'm doing myself more damage. Maybe it's a situation where Denver is out of reach (a mere 6 weeks away), but if I stay off the foot I could still run Memphis?

I'm very torn about what to do. I'm obviously disappointed. I've put my heart into training for these races and I'm afraid they're about to be taken away from me.

The thing about running is, you need feet...

I'll get to my latest training runs in a second, just after this short statement:

On Friday, for my cross-training exercise, SoxFan and I went mountain biking at Green Mountain. We had a great time, but rather than riding the trail back (like a champ) I decided to ride back to the truck on the sidewalk (like a loser). However, there was a small stretch of road where there was no sidewalk, so I had to ride it out in the road.

:::I am aware that this is the correct way to ride a bike, and that riding on the sidewalk is illegal and is most often the cause of cars hitting cyclists.:::

Apparently the jerk who pulled up behind me and insisted on laying on the horn and screaming at me for riding my bike in the road was unaware of this small detail, despite my efforts to educate him with various hand gestures and colorful language. I was in the left lane for a reason, you jackass, because I needed to turn left, just like a car would do! And, generally speaking, laying on the horn while yelling at me out of your window and trying to squeeze between me (rather pushing me onto the yellow line and very nearly into oncoming traffic) and the car in the right lane is not considered the correct way to treat a cyclist on the road and I hope you (and your god forsaken Honda Ridgeline*) get pulled over and ticketed next time for your ridiculous behavior. Jackass.

Whew... Now that that is out of my system...

The remainder of last week's training runs went fairly well. After the abysmal 2 miler that SoxFan and Ini ran with me, I had one more 3.5 miler on Thursday morning, then a 5 miler on Saturday by myself on the Highline Canal. I managed to run the entire 5m, but I was having pain in the left side of my lower back so I stopped several times to bend over and stretch a bit. It was a great day for a run, though, otherwise.

Regarding this back pain... I'm worried it might be connected to the pain I've also been having in my left hip joint, which I'm also worried might be connected to the pain I've been having in my left IT band. (The hip bone is connected to the leg bone and all that.) So, rather than see my McDoctor about it (thank you for the superb care, Kaiser Permanente), who would probably just dismiss me with something ingenius like "oh, if it hurts when you run, then you shouldn't run" I've decided to try a chiropractor.

I know, I know. I've always heard they're quacks, too. I'm very skeptical, but there are a couple of people at work who say they go regularly and it works. If they start saying things like "If you let me crack this bone here, it'll cure your allergy to cottonwood trees"...I'm totally out. That's just wacko crazy person stuff.

If you have any experience with chiropractors (good or bad), please let me know. I'm supposed to go in next Monday, and I'm not sure what to expect.

On Sunday (my rest day), SoxFan and I decided to head out to Eleven Mile Canyon to do a little fly-fishing. He and his dad had really great luck there this time last year, so I hoped this would be an out-of-the-ordinary fly-fishing trip for me and I'd actually catch a fish rather than just getting a lot of casting practice. Ah... a nice, graceful, relaxing day of fly-fishing... what could be better?

I was also very excited to try out my luck at wading. In the past I've always fished from the bank while SoxFan wades the river...which was kindof convenient for me because then I could blame my lack of catching fish on the fact that I had to remain stuck on the side of the river. I didn't have proper felt-soled wading boots, but I did have an awesome new pair of Keen sandals that we figured would work in a pinch.

He caught 2. I caught none, and I was well into my second half-hour of pouting over this fact when I stepped on a tippy rock and fell into the river, thereby slicing a great wound into the front of my right leg and "spraining" my right foot. I didn't realize anything was wrong with my foot until this morning, around 3AM, when I got up to get water and realized I could not put weight on my right foot nor could I wiggle my right toes.

I woke up the hubs, who recommended that I stop crying and instead take an ibuprofen and see my McDoctor in the morning. So, that's exactly what I did. The pain was not as bad when I re-woke at 7AM, but I hobbled my way into the McDoctor's office anyway and they shot a couple of pictures of the foot, declared that I'd broken nothing, thereby deduced that it must be a "sprain" (though, for the life of me I don't understand how you "sprain" a foot), put me in a huge ridiculous Frankenstein boot and sent me packing.

I'm trying to see this as the best possible outcome. At 3AM, I was convinced that I'd definitely broken a bone in my foot, and any chance of running Denver was out of reach. As it is, I'm just out of commission for a few days at most (OK, so the McDoctor said 7-10 days of no running, but I just told her to shut her McMouth 'cause I had a plan) and I'm back to 100% by Saturday's 5miler. I am trying to completely ignore the fact that, should I have to actually skip an entire week of training, there's a good chance that I won't make it to Denver anyway.

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*My apologies to you if you happen to own a Honda Ridgeline. I think they are horrendous looking, but I'm sure yours is just lovely.