5 weeks til the marathon

I'm still hanging in there.

I took Monday off, and rode my bike on Tuesday.

Wednesday I did 12 x 200m, with 200m active recovery after each repeat. The active recovery included skipping and hopping on one foot, and let me tell you, people on the lakefront path thought that was either weird or hilarious. I had a little shin pain but not a lot.

Thursday I biked again. On the way home, my shins randomly started to hurt after not bothering me all day. The pain continued all evening. So, any thoughts of a brief run on Friday were put aside.

I took Friday off, and went to bed that night very nervous and jittery. Could I really do 18 miles in the morning?

My friend Maryam picked me up at 5:50 the next morning, and we and two of her friends drove to a spot about 5 miles from the end of the path. We started off with the intention of running 4.5 miles south, then 9 miles north, then 4.5 back south to the car. I did the whole first half with Maryam, and we did a run/walk in an 8:1 ratio -- 8 minutes of running then 1 minute of walking. When we got back to the car the first time, Maryam waited at the car for one of her friends that decided to drop out of the run because of knee pain, but I decided to keep going, as her pace felt a bit too fast for me and I figured she would catch up to me anyway.

She didn't. I don't think my pace slowed down much at all. I passed her and her other friend a mile and a half after the turn around, so they were 3 miles behind me. I continued with the run/walk all the way through, with the exception of skipping my last walk because I was only about 2 minutes from finishing. I hit my finish line after 3:20:54, which means I kept about an 11:10 pace overall -- fast enough to get me a 5-hour marathon time if I could maintain it.

Shins didn't give me many problems. One little spot would hurt, then the pain would go away, then it'd show up somewhere else. The top inside of my right shin did hurt through about 6 miles or so, but even that went away in the end. Shins did as well as I had any right to hope. They did not bother me much the rest of the day or yesterday, either.

Unfortunately, about 200m from the finish, the front of my right ankle and top of my right foot started to suddenly hurt. I finished -- that close, how could I not?? Then I walked about another 200m to a drinking fountain, stretched a bit, then walked back to the car. My ankle still hurt a little, but I felt weird all over once I stopped running. My legs were so stiff that I had to kind of stretch in waves. I stretched a little, then walked some more, then stretched a little farther. It took me a while to feel somewhat normal.

I made my way back to the car, took off my shoes, and put my compression socks on. I spent a good 10 minutes trying to work out what I thought was a foot cramp. Finally, it felt somewhat normal. I flexed my ankle and it felt stiff but ok. So I put my shoes back on and walked back toward the path to watch for Maryam and Maureen.

Walking hurt a lot. The same ankle was really bothering me, almost enough to make me limp. It continued to do so each time I walked as we went to brunch and after I got home. This really worried me. Not only was this a devil I didn't know, but it was affecting my everyday mobility, not just my running.

After some experimentation that day, I realized that my ankle only hurt if my sock was on over it. The sock pulls the skin back and forth a bit, and that is what hurt. I could walk fine if I folded down my sock far enough.

I walked around a lot yesterday with my sock folded down like that. Towards the end of the day, I was able to put it back on, but my ankle still feels a little stiff and hurts if I rub the sore area.

I'm glad that I'm mobile, but my worst fear is that this will happen again in the middle of the marathon. The pain was really intense. I suppose I could just fold down my sock and live with the blister that is sure to appear on my heel. But there are also a thousand other things that could happen during the marathon. While I've struggled with injury a lot, this is the first time something made me completely unable to run.

Eyes forward, though. No use dwelling. My plan right now is just to keep icing, avoid wearing socks when I can, and hope for the best. I'm also going to buy some low-cut socks and new arch supports.

Aside from the ankle issue, the run/walk plan had both pros and cons. On the plus side, it's really helpful psychologically to focus on time instead of distance. I also had fewer aches and pains overall, and less soreness. However, I was MUCH more tired at the end. After 16, I felt like I could keep going. After 18, I was DONE. So, I'm planning on trying the run/walk again when I do the 20 miler, and making a race strategy decision after that.

This week, I hoping to do a short run today, a speed workout on Wednesday, and 8 miles on Saturday. I'll hopefully also bike to work twice, though I'm a little afraid of the high winds in the forecast!

Breathe in, breathe out... 5 weeks to go. I'm going to do this if it kills me.

Miles on my shoes: 111