Ouch!

Who knew one little toe (the big toe actually… well, technically the nail of the big toe) could hurt so much?? I know it’s a very yucky topic but I can’t really think of much else right now so unfortunately, you’re stuck with the story!  I had a feeling that it might be an uncomfortable run today since my toe was bothering me enough to wake me up a few times last night and I knew for sure that it would be when just putting on my sock irritated it.  I opted to bandage it up in the hopes that it would offer some protection against the friction and impact of hitting against my shoe which, in theory, was a great idea but unfortunately, didn’t seem to help all that much.   

As you can see in today’s photo, I opted to go immediately back to the car and fling my shoe and sock off vs. my usual routine of cooling down, stretching and looking for a lovely photo op (I promise to make up for it with a much more visually appealing shot next time!).  I will spare you the super icky details but the long and short of it is that it’s feeling a bit better now that some of the pressure under the nail has been relieved (thank you Dr. Google!) and I’m hopeful that I’ll be in good enough shape to tackle my 12 mile run this Friday.  

On a brighter (and way less disgusting) note, I had a fabulous wine phone date with my BFF last night (the bendy member of the Dynamic Duo) during which she gave me a much needed and incredibly appreciated boost of confidence about my running… actually, it was more of an all-encompassing boost which was needed just as much, if not more, than one for my running. She’s  just as much of a sucker for a good inspirational quote/image/monologue/etc. as I am so you can imagine that some of our conversations have the potential to sound like something out of Jerry Maguire, the Dr. Phil show or something written on a Lululemon bag. Nonetheless, there just simply isn't anything better than a conversation with someone who knows you better than you do and who can help you see things more clearly regardless of the situation.

So with my spirits bolstered and excitement for my journey and goal renewed, I fought through today’s discomfort and made it through all 9 miles.  Despite some of the physical issues I’m encountering, I’m actually looking forward to the challenges of the last 6.5 weeks of training.  I’m feeling encouraged by the progress I’ve made thus far, super loved and supported by my friends and family and totally elated that the part of me that says “I can’t” appears to be fighting a losing battle with the part that says “I can”.

9 miles, 1hr 31min 29sec, avg 10.09

Cheers,

SF runner in training

Hopper's Hands

After a weekend spent resting as much as possible and avoiding shoes other than flip flops (it looks like I’m on the verge of yet another toenail incident after Friday’s 16 miles…I know, totally disgusting), I was able to get out the door and through yesterday’s 9 miles relatively easily (well, with the exception of the searing toe pain!).

Part of my usual running route takes me to Fort Point (a very majestic historic site tucked underneath the bridge that is absolutely worth a visit) where I, along with zillions of others, tap the Hopper’s Hands plaque that is on the fence that marks the furthest point of accessible land (you might be able to get a little further by climbing on some rocks but I'll leave that to the crazy people who surf under the bridge!). The plaque originally came to be when one of the bridge iron workers (Ken Hopper) noticed that people running to the point would touch the fence like a finish line of sorts.  Ken asked the bridge sign painter to make a sign with handprints on it as well as one with dog paw prints as he also witnessed people coaxing their dogs to the fence for a big finish. The plaque not only represents Ken's thoughtfulness to those who use the site as a symbol of a reached goal, but more importantly, it's a reminder of the acts of bravery and compassion extended by Ken and his fellow iron workers who doubled as bridge suicide interventionists by lending a hand of help to those in need. Okay, history lesson done and no pop quiz if you all promise to go see the signs for yourselves someday.  I tried to get the paw prints into the photo as well but I was rather precariously balanced and it was all I could do to not topple over while balancing with my feet up in the air!

Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day and I’m actually looking forward to my morning 9 miles as well as the leisurely 12 that are coming up this Friday (yeah for drop-back week!!).

9miles, 1hr 32min 12sec, avg 10.13

Cheers,

SF runner in training

16 miles and counting!

While I wasn’t able to trick myself into believing that I was on vacation, I was still able to somehow coerce my head and all of my other parts into running 16 miles today!  Despite still being a little sick and the distance being 2 miles further than I’ve ever run before, today's run went relatively well.  I did learn that I can’t run with one of those fuel belt things (basically a sporty belt that holds a few pods of liquid and a small pouch for those gummy things… no, it isn’t a fanny pack) as I spent the first 3 miles trying to adjust the belt so it would stop bouncing around like I was hauling implants around on my waist. Once I looped by the car to offload the stupid belt thing, I was in much better spirits and miles 3 – 9 passed by rather quickly despite including some hill work. 

I stopped back at the car for some Gatorade and gummy things again at mile 10 which kicked in and gave me a much needed boost of energy at around mile 12.  Using my trunk as my own personal water station was somewhat cumbersome as I had to stop moving to unlock, grab what I needed, lock and get going again, it was still way less annoying than the fuel belt and didn’t add as much time as I thought it would.  Miles 12 – 14.5 included the added challenge of some serious wind which, when it’s at your back is great but when running right into it, can make you feel like you’re barely making any forward progress at all.  

Once I realized how much the wind had picked up, I altered my route to make sure the wind would be pushing me towards my finish rather than away so other than some achy hips, sore feet and tired legs, the last 1.5 miles were a breeze (look at me with the clever pun on a Friday!).  The change in route not only got me out of some of the worst of the wind, but it also brought me past The Palace of Fine Arts … a beautiful structure that I have memories of visiting many times growing up and find just as magical today as I did then. 

The magic tape on my knees (I decided to do both today so as not to encounter the left being jealous of the attention the right was receiving and dissent) seemed to help them both feel stable and strong throughout so the tape is now a must for each and every run. Another running must for me is  my Lululemon Inspire Crop running pants as they have just the right amount of compression, a zip pocket on the back and the perfect fit (thank you to my fabulous hairstylist for the introduction to them and for my great hair… sorry it’s being abused by wind, sun, sweat, constant washings and an ever-present ponytail… I promise to do it more justice once I get through this!).     

Clearly, I don’t do well with “equipment” based distractions so while all of my trial and error, rants and raves, etc. may seem superfluous, it really does make a difference in how my running goes for me so my searching shall continue as  now that the shoe issue seems to be thankfully resolved (Nike Air Pegasus 28+… not quite perfect but so much better than any of the countless others), I can work on finding the perfect tank/shirt, socks and earphones for my iPod.  

With that being said, the search for my remaining “musts” is going to have to wait until after I spend some serious time with my recovery “musts” as right about now my parts are pretty pissed about what I tricked them into doing earlier today.  Nothing says Friday Night more than compression pants, ice packs and Advil... well, at least for a runner in training!

16miles, 2hrs 50min 28sec, avg 10.39 (pretty good for including the stops at the car!)

Cheers,

SF runner in training

Who doesn't love a collage?

The run I did yesterday while still feeling somewhat sick totally caught up with me last night and I went to bed fairly certain that my plan to get up and go for a run this morning wasn’t going to come to fruition.  So when I woke up feeling rather blah still and with my knee that was bothering me yesterday still felt a little funny, it took me a while to decide if this was one of those run through it times or not.  I spent a solid 20 minutes deciding to run, deciding to get back into bed, deciding to have coffee, deciding that I should have water instead, making the bed, sitting down on the half made bed, remaking the part of the bed I messed up, etc., etc.

 

Just as I thought making a decision on what to do was completely hopeless, I found inspiration in the collages that I made a few weeks ago in the hopes that they would offer up encouragement when I needed it most.  Yes, you read that correctly… I absolutely sat on my living room floor with scissors, paper, pictures and quotes and made myself some serious collages (I know, very 8th grade of me but hey, I grew up in a time where the coolest way to decorate your bedroom involved making giant montages from the pages of magazines like Sassy, Seventeen & Tiger Beat while listening to Duran Duran and wondering if George Michael might go with you to prom).   

So with my motivation firmly in place, I crossed the city to Crissy Field and got in 7 flat (I bribed myself with the promise of no hill work today), sunny and relatively painless miles (thank you magic Kinesio tape -that pink and black stuff on my leg in the photo- for keeping my kneecap from trying to escape!).

Tomorrow is a rest day in preparation for the long run on Friday which, to be honest, I’m a bit worried about as 16 miles sounds really, really far. I wonder if I wear that coconut sunscreen, listen to some festive music on my iPod and squint until things are slightly blurry while running I can trick myself into thinking I'm on vacation and that there is a poolside cabana with bottomless mini umbrella drinks waiting for me at the end... Check back in a few days and I'll let you know if it played out as planned or if I ended up tripping over a tourist from my blurred vision and slightly nauseated  from the overwhelming scent of coconuts.

7miles, 1hr 10min 44sec, avg 10.06

Cheers,

SF runner in training

Can legs fall off?

As I promised myself I would, I got up and out the door this morning for a run at Crissy Field despite still feeling somewhat under the weather.  While I think my theory of sweating out the rest of my illness may have been slightly flawed, it definitely did help to shake off some of my lingering crankiness/cynicism (yeah for naturally produced serotonin!).  

So while the fresh air and physical exertion did some good mentally, physically it was a pretty difficult run.  Not only was I a total snotty mess (I know, totally gross), but I also encountered some new aches and discomfort along with one rather unnerving shooting pain in the side of my knee.  I stopped briefly at one point to check in with my angry right knee and took a few walking breaks to try and sort out my left calf, right ankle, right shin and balls of my feet (so basically the knees and below… what is up with that??!).   

 

Thankfully, I was able to sort most of it out enough to finish strong and make it through all 8 miles (technically 8.26 due to a slight unplanned detour… I have to stop getting distracted by cute puppies and running outfits!) after which I collapsed on one of the lovely Adirondack chairs outside of the Beach Hut Cafe (I'm certain that I looked about 1,000 years old trying to get up afterwards but it was delightful while I was in it!). 

With another 8 mile short run (it just made me laugh out loud that I now consider 8 miles "short"... ha ha!) coming up this week, a 16 miler one at the end of the week and nothing but increases pretty much from here on out, I'm in total recovery mode this evening.  I'm also spending what is surely an abnormally excessive amount of time Googling all of my random aches and pains as I'm certain I'm only a few more clicks from learning the secret to keeping my legs from falling off. 

Fingers crossed that ice, Advil, some compression, stretching, all of the magic muscle thingies I have and the knowledge I gain from Dr. Google will sort out whatever is pissing off my legs so that they will stay attached and willing participants throughout this journey!

8.26 miles, 1hr 26min 21sec, avg 10.28

Cheers,

SF runner in training

One missed run and a lot of tissues

Okay, so I didn’t totally fall of the training wagon over the last week but I have encountered a slight bump in the road in the form of some sort of flu/sinus thing that has kept me pretty much down for the count since Thursday night (picture lots and lots of tissues, that stinky Vick's vapor rub stuff,more liquids than humanly possible and an array of items from the pharmacy that will either cure me or at the very least enable me to manufacture some sort of illicit street drug in my kitchen).

I did manage to get in 7 miles last Monday around my neighborhood (sidewalks suck as do drivers that never, ever look for pedestrians and bikers that never, ever stop at stop signs) before heading out to the ballpark to watch the Giant’s game from a very lovely skybox (particularly delightful given the great company, unlimited Cracker Jacks and delicious complementary wine!). I forgot to take feet pictures last week so am including this one as well as the one below for your viewing pleasure... please note that I am not in the picture below but will be flattered if you think it's me in any of the inspirational saying images (except for the one from a few weeks ago that shows the rather rotund little girl running as fast as her little legs would carry her... that's not quite the image I'm aiming for).

I also squeezed in 6 miles at the crack of dawn on Wednesday before it got to be a thousand degrees (or 97… whichever sounds more impressive) in Granite Bay where I was helping my amazingly fabulous extended family get settled  in their great new home. I was just going to add that I missed a few cross training sessions last week due to being out of town but now that I think about it, the moving of boxes, furniture, etc. that we were doing surely has to count as some sort of “training” doesn’t it? 

The unfortunate part is that by Friday I was too sick to do my long run and am still dealing with the fever and congestion which have proved to be enough to keep my running shoes on the floor rather than on my feet where they belong. Needless to say, I’m super bummed but trying to listen to my body (as well as my mom, dad, significant other, etc.) and not push myself too hard as I tend to be one of those people who can slip towards things like pneumonia and bronchitis at the blink of an eye if I’m not careful.  

So here I am on a very wet and stormy summer day (it literally looks like the middle of winter out there) feeling very grumpy because I can’t run (and questioning my decision not to run today about every 5 minutes), trying not to get ahead of myself in terms of worrying about my training progress and doing my best not to get sucked into the abyss of terrible reality shows on TV (okay, I might not be trying all that hard not to get sucked in… isn’t that the kind of thing you’re supposed to do when you’re home sick on a rainy day??).  I plan on staying on my couch island for the remainder of today drinking lots of fluids and medicating heavily so that I can start tomorrow by sweating out the remainder of this plague and shaking off the rest of the funk that's been hanging over me for the last few weeks... with less than 2 months to go it's seriously time to go big or go home (favorite saying of sporty Dynamic Duo)!

Monday, May 28th: 7miles, 1hr 15min 36sec, avg 10.48 (lots of moving hazards)

Wednesday, May 30th: 6.13miles, 1 hr 03min 07sec, avg 10:17 (less moving hazards but lots of intersections with traffic lights)

Cheers,
SF runner in training

Running against the wind (you know, like that song?)

Today was the day that I needed to run further than I ever had… 14 miles and I was really nervous about it when I set out this morning… would my parts cooperate, would I be able to get enough water and remember to eat the little gummy things, etc., etc.  Well guess what? It all worked out and I did it!!!  .9 miles more than I’ve ever run at one time before and while it was physically exhausting, I hung in there, kept my mind in the right place and my body rewarded me with finishing pretty much unscathed. 

In honor for the 75^th anniversary of the Golden Gate this weekend, I decided to include a trip across it in today’s run.  The views were stunning as always but it was beyond windy and I found myself to be extremely grateful for the very high and sturdy railings as a few gusts actually knocked me off balance and into them (slightly terrifying but mostly annoying because the wind was blowing me sideways rather than forward as I was so wishing it would be doing).  After the steep climb back down from my treacherous bridge crossing, I wound my way along the bay over to Fort Mason to tackle that scary hill as well as the hordes of scary tourists (only scary because they were on bikes and trying to look at maps, take pictures and ride all at once).  I did think I was rather clever by working my route in a way that resulted in the wind being at my back for the last 1.5 miles rather than trying to shove me backwards as it had been doing for the majority of the time.

Today's run left me pretty exhausted so I’m off to continue my icing and hydrating regime while wearing the superhero pants that bendy Dynamic Duo (the Pilates/yoga instructor one… the other Dynamic Duo is more sporty than bendy) gave me.  The pants are CWX compression pants that are super hard to get on but once on, they have magical healing powers (and also shrink you down at least 2 sizes… too bad that doesn’t last once you take them off!).  

If you look closely, you can see the Coast Guard
helicopter (that little spec above the cloud that looks like it's touching my left toe), the Coast Guard fire boat (spraying water on the right edge of the photo) and the Navy ship they were escorting into the bay (on the left).  It's a miracle the photo is in focus as I was perched on a picnic table in a hybrid Pilates 100s pose (thanks for the lessons bendy DD!) which is never easy for me let alone after having run 14 miles.

14 miles, 2hrs 24min 05sec, avg 10.17

Cheers,
SF runner in training