Old Injuries, New Shoes and a Quest for Fun

The first half marathon of the Heartland 39.3 Challenge is four days away, and I am wondering why I thought it would be fun to run three half marathons in five weeks.  I fee like I might be whistling Zip-a-Dee-do-Dah out of my you-know-what by the time I’m done with this quest.

Thanks to all who gave suggestions for my long run last weekend.  I appreciate it!  I ended up running a very comfortable 10 miles at around a 9:20, then shut it down with plenty of gas left in the tank, as I was running a bit late to take the boys to see War Horse (overall “meh” rating, but amazing puppetry!)  So it all worked out well…

The race is just four days away, so I drove the course yesterday.  I know most of it, but hadn’t been down by the start in quite awhile.  I sort of wish I hadn’t made the drive, because now I am nervous.  The overall course is fantastic and relatively flat, but the first three miles are all uphill…a steady, unyielding ascent up pain mountain.

Yuck.  I hate uphill starts.  I really was hoping to start slow and easy, but it looks like the first three miles will be a fight to contain my speed and desire to hurry up the hill and get it the hell over with.  I don’t want to pay for a mistake later on.  Hell hath no fury like lactic acid (or technically hydrogen ion) buildup.

HH is sick of running and just ready to get this over with.  Neither of us can remember what we listed as our projected finish time, so I am hoping we will be put in different corrals.  I just don’t want to see him during the race, because I have a feeling it would be highly DEmotivating for me.

And now for a lesson on shoes…lesson being that you should not go to your favorite running store and ask about new shoes on a busy weekend.  My plantar fasciitis has been kicking up big time in recent weeks, including my right foot, which is a new and frankly alarming development, as being hobbled on both feet is infinitely more difficult than limping around on one good foot.

My first thought was that my shoes needed replacement, as I knew they were close to the mark.  I went to Garry Gribbles (a major chain of stores here in KC) a few weekends ago and got a young kid in a full store.  He examined the soles and told me I was fine for quite awhile yet.  Well, three weeks later, and the little plantar fasciitis elf is still stabbing me in both heels with his tiny sharp sword.  I went back a few days ago, got an older dude, and was promptly told that the shoes should have been replaced quite some time ago and that the midsole had totally broken down.

Perhaps I should make a voodoo doll of the young worthless lad out of the frozen water bottle that I am constantly icing my feet with these past few weeks.  Ahole.  Wishing you an abundance of hydrogen ions on your next race, young man!

My new shoes are my same model (Asics GT-2000), but in a horrendous new bright aqua and orange orgasm of color.  I feel like a circus clown in these things.

Shine bright like a diamond!

My feet are feeling foolish but much happier, which is great considering that they have to take me through this weekend’s half marathon and two more before May 11th.

My race prediction? I am going to go lasso a 1:38:03 like Early to Rise Runner…no, I jest, but please go check out her AWESOME recap where she “chicked” some guys (my new favorite term) at the finish and spurred herself to a PR by five minutes.

I think she’s one of “those” people I’ve complained about in my post Ten Types of People Who Annoy Me During Races…you know, the real fit bitch.

I say that with love, Alyssa! 🙂

As for me, I could end up anywhere from a 1:52-1:56, I am guessing.  I will be happy with anything under 1:55, and I will drown myself in wine with anything over that number (who am I kidding?  It will be a wine fest either way!)

If I don’t do well, I will blame my running coach…

He’s always interrupting our training runs so he can defecate in a yard…

 

 

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The Boy Was Back In Town (And Liebster Award Part Zwei!)

What a weekend!  HH was able to make it home for a brief visit.  Though he is well aware of my domestic inabilities, I felt the need to spruce things up for his late Friday evening return.

We were three excited family members…

Dogs were bathed…don’t they look like angels here?  Five seconds after I snapped this photo, she bit his penis and started a war that culminated in her peeing in the dining room…

I even put on a reasonable amount of makeup and vacuumed the floors.  Yes, I go all out.  He’s a lucky man.  We had a wonderful family weekend, and he took to the skies again this morning at 5:45.  He will be gone for too long, and I will likely not vacuum until he returns.

Before my brief flurry of household cleaning on Friday, I snuck in my 12-mile run.  The run did not go so great, for two reasons.  Number one, and this is TMI fo sho, I waited all damn day to use the restroom and never could, so I finally gave up and headed out.  Of course, after about 9 miles, I had to go something fierce and thought I might not be able to hold it in.

You laugh (and cringe perhaps), but as any runner knows, it’s extremely difficult to keep running, feet pounding the pavement, while the problem is “bangin’ away at your innards!” (a friend’s old quote.)  I flopped a huge instant sweat.  To make matters worse, I was running up a steep hill.  I started running faster to get closer to home, and then things started moving and it was beyond my control and I wasn’t sure if I’d made a noise or not because my music was cranking but was so glad that there wasn’t anyone on the street in case I had made a sound—

and then a lawn guy popped out from behind a truck I was passing and I knew by the smirk on his face that I had in fact made an indelicate noise.

Soooooo embarrassing!  A nightmare!  I tried to keep my composure and gave him a jaunty little wave like nothing was wrong.  Inside, I died a little.

Number two (reason, not problem described above), my left quad feels borderline injured, and I am in a semi-panic over it.  I cut back my taper miles a bit last week and then cut the 12 miles to 10.25 in an attempt to baby it (and get my ass in the door to the bathroom.)  I felt the muscle on every step.  This put me in a foul mood.  What if it’s strained?  What if it doesn’t get better?

I bought a foam roller to replace my muscle stick and have spent a significant amount of time sprawled out on the floor torturing myself and noticing dust bunnies hiding under furniture.  The pain is the worst right where my quad meets my knee in front.  My fingers are crossed that tapering and rolling will put the pain to rest.  I’ve also been icing and working on my plantar fasciitis double time with my prescription cream, as I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the strained muscle is on the same side.  With less than two weeks to go, there is no time now for injuries (nor excess fiber!)

On to the second part of my Liebster Award!  Remember that I had to cut my post short?  I never got to nominate blogs and pass questions on to them.  So here goes!

These are three blogs that I love that I believe have less than 200 followers.  Per the oh-so-official rules, I am to let them know that I’ve nominated them and pose some questions that I would like them to answer if they choose to participate.  Here is my list:

Rues de Genève:  My friend Kirstin writes this blog detailing her family’s adventures living in Switzerland.   She’s a great example of taking Swiss life (and life in general) by the you-know-whats and making it your own!

Welcome To the Nuthouse:  Suzan just completed her first half-marathon, and her description of it turned me into an instant follower.  She is all kinds of awesome.

Run It Off:  She has disappeared lately, and I hope she’ll return.  I was loving her blogging style.

And here are my questions for these bloggers (I promised Kirstin she would have fun answering them, so they’re a little on the erratic side.  Like me)—

• What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod/iPhone/mp3 player?
• Favorite city in the world? 
• What is your most annoying habit?
• Which sounds worse:  a day spent watching the Kardashian sisters or a day spent reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy?  Please explain your answer.
• Why do you like/hate blogging?
• What motivates you to exercise?  Do you have a favorite workout song?
• Complete the following:  No party is complete without ____________.
• Are you more of a sprinter or long-distance runner?  Why?
• You’ve had a terrible day…failed at everything you’ve done.  It’s 5:00.  You reach for _____________.
• Parallel park or drive around the block?
• What is the most embarrassing moment in your life?

I hope you’ll check these wonderful blogs out!  I’m off to flop around a little on my roller and then run 4 taper miles!