Super Goal

Several months ago, I signed up for the Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon at the Rose Bowl. I thought it would be a convenient race to get back on the training wagon. Unfortunately, I didn't start running with any sense of regularity until after the new year. So I am a bit behind.

I'm on a bit of an accelerated training program to get my mileage up. My concern isn't about having a good finish time (well, that is always a LITTLE bit of a factor), but avoiding injury. I've had problems in the past when I started upping my mileage too quickly. My longest run in the past 18 months was the 80s 10K in October, so I'm a bit out of practice. The goal was to have a long run of 8 miles last week, 9 miles this week, 10 next week. Then I'll have 2 weeks before the race. 

I did the 8 miles last Sunday. When I started, my left shoe felt a little tight but I just thought it would loosen up as I ran. I have no idea why I would think that. If anything, my feet would probably swell and the shoe would get tighter. Sure enough, around mile 5 or 6 I was starting to feel it in the behind-the-ankle-above-the-heel area. I thought to myself, "I should adjust my shoe" but I was already a little tired and just didn't want to deal with it. Yes, I was too lazy to stop running. And by the end of the run, my foot hurt. 

My foot hurt Monday. My foot hurt Tuesday. At this point, I was a little concerned so I decided to self-medicated myself. And by that I mean I wore my Crocs to work. Now I know their are a lot of Croc haters out there but I am telling you, you are morons. Nothing will feel better on your feet then spending the day in Crocs. And it's not like I was wearing a pair with lots of holes and bling buttons attached - these were my Uptown "dress" Crocs. Do not Mock the Crocs.

By Wednesday I was able to do 5 miles with a little bit of pain. More discomfort actually, so I think I was doing OK. I intentionally waited until Sunday to do the inner, to give my foot the most time to heal.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. That means nothing to me. And I'm one of those weirdos who would rather run when it's too hot than too cold, so I waited until the afternoon to do my run. Unfortunately, I grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take me to run 9 miles, and grossly overestimated the time of sunset. The sun slipped below the mountains with about 4 miles to go, went under the horizon with 3 miles to go, and I was pretty much running the horse trail in Griffith Park in darkness for the last 2. I had the lights of the freeway for part of the way, but that basically just gave me night blindness so I could not see the ground at all. And the trail is very lumpy and uneven. It was a bit disconcerting.

I'm sorry to say I made it back to the car without incident. No interesting stories of twisted ankles or being attacked by coyotes. There is a very slight pressure behind my ankle now, but nothing to worry to about. I'm not going to set any PRs at the race, but I should finish it OK.