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.
