Pulling the Plug

This week I went for a run.  The Doc said to go for it, he even said I could go as far as 8 miles (even to my ears that sounded nuts, who runs 8 miles your first run back after an injury, if I know that is stupid, it must be really bad advice, lol).  I told him I would try 5 (ummmmm, ya because 5 is so much smarter than 8, bahahahaha). The next morning  Doug and I dropped Chloe off at school and headed to our favorite trail (which also happens to be the only trail in this area).  We start down the first trail  and my left leg is SCREAMING but my foot doesn't hurt and then WHAMMMO! It SCREAMS at me: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME."  My foot was shot after 1 measly mile. We walked all the way back to the car.  I was so bummed.  I knew at that moment that Rocky was a really truly bad idea.  If it hurt to run one mile then I was going to run all 50 miles with my foot screaming, which I can do and have done but, I have to question how smart that is.  So I pulled the plug.  I am not going to race Rocky or even run it.  I am going to lay off until this sucker doesn't hurt anymore.  I have to.  I love running to much to totally screw up my foot. 

In other news we now have a closing date set for next week.  We should be packed up and on our way to CT next week at this time.  It is going to be quite a change and I am so sad to leave my friends here but I so look forward to seeing more of Doug.  Oh and I am super psyched about our new house, it is our dream home.  We are so lucky to have found it.  When I do get back up and running I will be treated to miles and miles of trails right out my front door. 

Happy Running All! 

Arsenal

 My original arsenal of shoes were all a lovely set of Mizuno Wave Riders (See Picture Below).  Oh they were grand.  They got me through my first few ultras.  I know you are thinking I have an excessive amount of shoes and yes I do but they are all in different stages of wear.  Some have 300+ miles and are headed out and some have 5 miles and are on their way in.  The old shoes hang around long enough to show the new shoes the ropes, lol.  This year however I began to add the Brooks Launch into the mix, oh that is a nice shoe.  Here is the issue, all my shoes are neutral and old Doc McHotty says I need to switch it up to a Stability Shoe. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! What was that???? A new shoe?  Is that really a good idea?  I don't like change and therefore my feet don't like it either.  What to do what to do?

Here is the standoff...The new pair of stability shoes facing off with the old arsenal.  Who will win this battle?  You will have to stay tuned. 

Ok just joking...sort of.  I don't like change and all of my shoes are neutral except for this one new pair but, I am totally up for changing shoes if it helps me run better.  Old Doc McHotty  says I have a slight pronation on my left foot and therefore things track ever so slightly off and it wouldn't be a problem if I ran a normal  distance.  However over 50 or 100 miles the slight pronation and the extra work it causes up my leg begins to cause injuries.  I am actually fascinated by how one issue relates to another and how inter connected the whole body is.  It is really like the Butterfly Effect (Chaos theory) at its best (you know where a butterfly flaps its wings in NY that causes a monsoon in China, or something like that).  One little issue leads to a slightly bigger issue that leads to an even bigger issue that leads to an all out injury.  Super interesting.  So next step is to get totally healed up so I can try my new shoes. 

Wait....What???? Did I just say I haven't tried my new shoes.  Why yes, I did (so happy you asked).  I am so proud of myself.  I am now at a week and 1/2 off from running and the foot is feeling a ton better.  I think I am almost ready to try out a mile or so and see what happens.  Can you believe I have a big 50 mile race in less than 2wks and am not even stressing about not running?  I can't believe it but it is true.  I feel really happy with my decision to get this injury under control now. 

Happy Running Everyone.

Like Sand in Your Underwear...

...I am irritated (and irritating, it is a talent)...with myself.  I am not new to running.  I am not new to injuries.  I am not mentally deficient however, one has to wonder why anyone with half a brain would run for 6 months on an injury.  That silly metatarsal has gone from being annoying and a bit painful to all out hurting to stand on  and now my knee hurts.  ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I HATE injuries.  You know what I dislike more?  When I could have prevented it. 

A quick recap: At Lone Ranger I really hosed up my feet.  I ran until somehow I bruised the soles of my feet, they hurt beyond what I can describe.  The podiatrist there (yes they had one on hand, hummmmmm, that maybe should have been a sign to me as to what was to come) said your feet are messed up if you keep running (if somehow you can) you are risking stress fractures if you don't already have them.  This for most people would have been a clear sign to stop but, NOOOOOOO!!!!! I had put in a ton of time and I wasn't about to stop because some silly dude who doesn't run and spent years in school studying feet tells me too.  That would be way to obvious and rational.  Nooooo.  Like Robert Frost, I like to take the road less traveled so I went back out on the course, well...sort of...if you count walking and crawling as racing.  So any who, this will come as a shocker to all of you but, this race led to an issue with my MH1 (Metatarsal Head 1). 

I know what you are thinking...but, you took time off after so it healed right?   Ummmmm...well...not so much.  Unless you count finding another 100 miler to run and jumping into another round of training, if you do count that then, yes, I rested, and I did it well. 

I then proceeded to run another 6 months on this MH1.  I ran one 100 miler and two marathons with the issue and of course trained for a 50 miler.  And here I sit 3wks out from my 50 mile race with a MH1 issue and now some sort of knee issue.  Oh yes I somehow managed to get the foot pain to travel up to my knee.  I know... I am good, you don't have to tell me. 

I am done running!

What I meant  by that is that I am taking some time off.  I am not running at all on this foot or knee until both feel totally normal and then I am easing back into it.  Well, except for...I do plan to run Rocky.  So really I am hoping that with 3.5 weeks off the foot and knee can fix themselves.  I really want to run Rocky even if it isn't my fastest.  I want to run it.  But, more than I want to run Rocky I want to have my knee and foot back to normal.  This is ridiculous.  I let one small injury spiral out of control because I didn't have the wisdom to take some time off.  So, I guess if the foot and knee aren't feeling better in 3 weeks I will have a tough decision to make.  Ughhhhh... I think I will ignore that possibility for the moment.

Here is the funny part of all of this.  I have needed time off from running mentally for months now but, haven't wanted to mess up any training.  So while I was running on this beat up foot I didn't even want to be out there.  I wanted to run just didn't feel like doing ultra training.  Sometimes all the miles get to me.  80-100 mile weeks are a lot of work.  So for now I am taking a break.  I might cross train, I might not. 

Any bets on how long I last??? :)

Happy Running! Hope you are all injury free and running with Joy.

ART

Last week I noticed my 1st metatarsal (1st MTH on picture) was really starting to hurt..again...still...whatever...little sucker was getting worse.  As I ran an 18 miler it was pitching a particularly violent hissy fit what made it worse was I was listening to The Marathon Show and, they were talking about ART (Active Release Techniques) as I ran.  So as they talked about curing such ailments mine went on a tirade.  I took it as a sign, a sign from the running gods and maybe Joe Taricani (host of the Marathon Show), lol.  I ran home, looked up ART in my area, found a doctor and got myself an appointment. 

Fast forward a few days, I had a dilemma, a real problem.  I could get into to see the Doc but, it was at the end of the 3.5 hr block that Chloe is at school.  These blocks of time are my only out door running time when Doug is out of town (which he has been for a few weeks now).  So what would I do?  Not run so I could go to the doctor?  Crazy talk, I had 2hrs between dropping Chloe off and the appointment time.  Run a short run then shower up and head to the appointment?  Nonsense I had a 2hr block of time, I couldn't waste 1hr cleaning up.  Eureka, I had it, the dude is a Sports Doctor right?  Surely he has dealt with sweat before...you know where I am going with this...yep, dropped Chloe off, sped over to the Doctors Office, hopped out and ran 15.6 miles before I ran in for my appointment.  Ok it was slightly embarrassing to be sweaty with some HOT Triathlete Doctor touching my feet but, I got over it, and at least I had shaved (thanks Cindy for reminding me to do that)  lol.  So what did the HOT doctor do for me?

He started by watching me walk.  Deduced my metatarsal was messed up, duuuuuhhhhh, that is why I was there.  But then I got up on the table and that guy, bent the hell out of my toe, holy crap, he bent it so far back I thought it was going to snap clean off.  You know what, it hurts, yep, might find this nuts but, if your metatarsal is really hosed up it hurts like the dickens for someone to mash their stupidly strong thumb into it and take their other stupidly strong hand and bend the toe in 1/2.  But dang, it worked.  Got up walked around and sure enough it didn't hurt so much.  Then Doctor McHotty got it in his head to "fix" my plantar fasciitis as well.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I should have run from the room when he pulled out his magical plastic scraping tool but I had no idea what was coming next.  He opens a drawer and grabs some sliver of plastic, and then goes to town scraping, yes folks, scraping the fascia, it sounded awful (like he was dragging the plastic over cement) and didn't feel so great either.  But by the next day and especially two days later it was feeling pretty dang great and that was with 30+ miles run on it.  Yes, Doc McHotty did tell me it was best not to run on it for a few days but, when a patient runs to the office for treatment you sort of know the probability of them taking time off is somewhere between non existent and zero. 

The proof is in the pudding...foot is feeling a ton better.  Since I managed to crank out 92 miles in the first 6 days of this past week I am giving myself 2 days off to see if I can get this foot really feeling better.  Pretty psyched with ART and with my mileage.  I think ole Doc McHotty deserves a: WOOOT WOOOT! 

One more big mileage week before I begin my taper for Rocky. 

Happy Running Everyone.

Running Bling

Don't you just love that necklace (the one to the left)?  The beads at the bottom are the birth stones of Doug, Chloe and I.  "Strive" defines an ultra in one word.  I wanted a necklace that was motivational, that meant something to me, that was inspiring.  I didn't want an ordinary running necklace.  I have been looking for a while.  Along came Liz then Cindy and here is where the story begins...

Cindy (local running friend, just ran her first marathon) called before her marathon and ... wait this begins before that...Cindy and I were running one Tuesday and we were talking about the Nike Marathon and how they get a Tiffany Necklace at the finish line, she said (in her sweet Texas accent)  "that is one reason I would be motivated to run a marathon."  Fast forward a few weeks...Cindy and I are once again running and she says she is thinking of running the White Rock Marathon (my head almost blew clean off my body, I was so excited, I didn't hear anything else she said) but, if she did she needed a necklace for a reward, something to keep her going, something to look forward to.  I was over the moon about the prospect of Cindy running a marathon.  I think I might have yelped and danced I was so excited.  Didn't care about the necklace, didn't even think about it again except on the like gagillion occasions she mentioned it, lol.  You see Cindy is my fashionable friend.  She looks great, nahhhh she looks amazing and she can put together an outfit that belongs in some magazine.  Yes she still hangs out with me, somehow she overlooks my lack of make up, my odd outfits that typically include compression socks in neon colors and my steadfast devotion to a hairstyle that I like to call "wake and go." So when Cindy said she was running a marathon to get a necklace, all I heard was "running marathon" all the rest was white noise and all she was thinking was "necklace." Oh we are quite a pair.  So you can imagine my surprise when she called a few weeks out from the marathon to ask about a blow torch and making a "26.2" charm.  WHAT??? Cindy and a blow torch...Not good.  I started scrambling.  I didn't want her to get a burn injury before the race or worse yet burn down her home.  I had to figure out how to get her the necklace of her dreams without anyone being permanently disfigured.   And then ...into my mind pops (ding) Liz.  My dear friend.  My Wednesday play date.  Liz makes awesome jewelry certainly she could make a "26.2" charm.  Liz and Cindy got together and start plotting Cindy's necklace.  OMG! It turned out to be one heck of a necklace. 

Liz does upcycled jewelry which means she buys old necklaces, takes them apart and makes new pieces with them.  She also hand crafts her own new charms/ medallions via many innovative techniques.  The girl can make anything.  She is really talented.



Cindy's Marathon Necklace

So Liz steps in, saves the day.  Makes Cindy a necklace and then I started thinking....wait...I want a necklace too.  I have been looking for years and haven't found the running necklace of my dreams.  So I sit down with Liz and describe my necklace.  Next thing you know she has made me a necklace too.  And the kicker, her necklaces were cheaper than what Cindy and I could find on line.  Her stuff ranges from $25-$50.  That is pretty impressive.  Cindy's necklace has beads the entire way around it so she can wear it with her hair up and it looks great from all angles.  LOVE IT!

Liz also made these IMT (Iron Man in Training) bracelets for another client.  I know it is hard to get past the awesome hand model but please try and keep your eyes on the bracelet, lol. 

So if you are interested in having Liz make you something contact her at: creativeinputbyliz@live.com. She is going to do a Giveaway on Heather's Blog later on this month so, keep an eye out for that.  I will post when she does it.  Oh wait I almost forgot the best part of this tale.  So Liz and I have been hanging out for a few years now.  We get together pretty much once a week every week and until now she has held out on me.  She has not given into my running mania but...a few days ago on FB...she posted (I am excited just repeating this)...that she is in fact going to train for and run her first 1/2 this year.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and finally WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is darn lucky she didn't tell me in person, I would have tackled the girl.  So freaking excited for her.  Go Liz go!