Blister in the sun

Yesterday, I went for a short run (I can’t say that it was easy, given that the winds out of the west were 30mph), and the whole time I had pain in my calf and shin. It wasn’t excruciating; just the kind of thing you don’t want lingering as you start a 20 mile run (as I was scheduled to do with the running club the next day). I took 3 ibuprofin and strapped a makeshift icepack to my leg. I recalled having had this type of pain before and tried to remember what I’d done for it. Then it came to me: new shoes.

A pair of running shoes is good for about 400-500 miles; I have no idea how many miles are on the shoes I’d been wearing (probably not that many), but suddenly and without any warning, it was time for a new pair. Rob and I headed over to Body N Sole with the gift certificate my sister gave us for Christmas that we’d never gotten around to using. Without too much hesitation, I chose the Mizuno Wave Nirvanas. I’ve run in Mizunos for a couple of marathons, and I really like the brand, so I thought it was time to go back to them. I realized it was probably not wise to buy a brand new pair of shoes for a 20-mile run, but desperate times call for desperate measures. My calf/shin still hurt at night, so I took 3 more ibuprofin and went to bed with ice strapped on my leg.

In the morning, my leg felt fine, but the temperature was hovering around 40 degrees. I dressed in layers and took off to meet up with the running club. Everything was fine for the first couple of miles. Most of the people there were only doing about 13 or 14 miles, and everybody was going kind of fast. I forced myself not to chase the lead group and stayed with a couple of people who were going more my pace. By mile 4, the temperature seemed to have raised about 20 degrees and I was boiling in my layers. I stashed my long sleeves behind a tree near the “aid station” and rolled up my Capri pants. Most of the run was out in the country—empty stretches of country roads, with cornfields on one or both sides and sometimes lots of trees. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Nicaragua. I didn’t really care that I was mainly alone out there. I just tried to keep the lead group in sight and kept scanning the trees for monkeys (there weren’t any).

Long about mile 8, the bottom of my right foot started hurting, in the tell-tale way that a blister does. Eventually I pulled off into a corn field and readjusted my sock, but that didn’t seem to help any. A couple miles later, I pulled off again to try to make further adjustments. I’d worn my Bitch Socks, as I often do for long runs, and they’d never bothered me before. But then again, it hasn’t been this hot for a while. The sun-warmed asphalt, combined with an unfortunately placed seam on the Bitch Socks was wreaking havoc on my foot. I ended up cutting back to the starting point with the 14-milers, but I wasn’t sure what to do from there. I was thinking that I would have to get in my car and go home, apply aloe and massive quantities of bandaids, and then try to do the remaining 6. It turned out that one of the other guys who had been running had a spare pair of socks that he loaned me. I turned my Bitch Socks inside out (so that the seam was no longer rubbing my foot) and put the spare socks on over these (double layers can stave off blistering). I ended up finishing off the last 6 miles; it didn’t feel great, but at least it was bearable.

After making it back home, showering, eating, and re-grouping, it was time to head over to the Bike Fest. We met Aimee and Co. over there; we all rode bikes around for a while and then went to the Custard Cup to refuel. So much for getting down to my ideal marathon weight. Maybe next time.

Rob and Meli on the tandem

Little Miss C. leading the bike parade


The view from the back of the tandem bike is always the same...

After we came back home, Rob spent some time in the bike hole (aka, garage) working on Ida May, my super petite, ultra light (18 pounds!) road bike that I have been too afraid to ride ever since I crashed last fall. He made a bunch of adjustments to the handlebars, pedals, etc, to make me feel more stable on the bike. It took some coaxing, but he eventually convinced me to ride around the block a couple of times. It went okay, but its going to be a long time before I voluntarily take Ida May out onto the open roads.

I’ve spent the rest of the day eating (no wonder I keep gaining weight instead of losing it) and am pretty worn out. I’d best get to sleep soon and try to stave off taper madness. Thanks for reading!