Optimism

Something is just wrong with runners.

We engage in an activity most people avoid or consider punishment from their days in High-School sports.  When we encounter an overuse injury we are frustrated at trying to reach levels that we used to easily attain.  Maybe we step back for a while, but at the first signs of progress, we push it.

Maybe something is just wrong with me.

After months of pampering my left foot and getting to where three or four miles felt pain-free, I started off on a nice run in Alameda CA, just north of the Oakland airport.
The day was cold and rainy, but I was well-dressed for the weather.  My heel felt good, my legs felt good, I had the time to not hurry.  I had a great prescription for an easy five-mile tempo run at 10:15 pace.  Just trying to build miles and return to a marathon-training program.
I watched the rainclouds boil across the Bay from San Francisco.  The concrete sidewalk gave way to an asphalt trail, then a gravel path that ran along the water.  The miles went quickly and I had to keep watch on my Garmin and keep telling myself to slow down.
At 2.5 miles I saw my turn-around point glide past, thinking I would not add that many more miles by going clear around the peninsula.  On a fine, cool day a faster pace would be OK. Wouldn't it?

Back at the truck I was already starting to feel my calves and heel.  I finished with eight miles, one of them under 9:00, another at 9:30.  I gave up the next week's running to enjoy my day at the Bay, and risked a flare-up of the plantar faciitis.

I did enjoy the run, though.  Something must be wrong with me.

Third?

Looking back over my running logs, I can see where the problem started.

In June, I was trying some quarter-mile repeats to increase my speed.  In the past, I had had some over-use injuries when attempting speed-work, but after two marathons, and currently running 25 to 35 miles per week, I thought I could ease some speed-work into my routine.

"June 9th: Intervals   4X400, 1X600  (Maybe too fast on pace, left shin pain high, heel pain.  Light rain 62 degrees. Path near Pilot Truckstop in Austintown OH)"

"June 14th: Easy  3 miles in Dubois PA  (heel pain after, maybe try stretching?)"

"June 25th: Tempo 4 miles in El Paso TX  (left heel pain--WHAT IS UP?)"

After months of dealing with a classic case of plantar faciitis, I finally cut my miles down to less than five, easy, miles per WEEK!  After four weeks of getting jealous of people running over crosswalks, or complaining about putting in a few miles, I ran 2.25 miles and felt only a hot spot.  Today I ran 3.5 easy miles and felt little pain.

So far so good...

For a person who used to hate to run, it is frustrating to finally convince myself that I LIKE to run, then be unable to do it.  I wanted to run a nine-minute-mile marathon (3:55:48) but now that running was taken away from me for five months, I am determined to train for, and DON'T MESS WITH ME I will run a nine-minute-mile marathon.

I have lost a lot of fitness and leg-muscle tone.  I know how to deal with being out of shape and I know how to deal with my legs being sore.  It will not be easy, but I will return!