Not Meant to Run

Ten years ago I would have told you I hated running. It was just a way to get in shape for wrestling. I would have said my body type wasn't suited to long distance running, and that there was a snowball's chance in hell that I'd ever run a marathon. Looking ahead to my third marathon, it is apparent that my actions have flown in the face of what I had previously promised, but there is still one thing that seems to ring true: my body isn't made for this. I've been trying to come back from my toe injury the past few weeks by doing some treadmill running, but it has consistently been one step forward and two steps back. I'll have a decent run and try to start increasing my distance only to wake up to soreness and pain in my toe. I tried to go out today and it felt bad immediately. I've come to the realization that I'm gong to have to stop training for an extended period of time--at least a couple of weeks--if I'm gong to get over it. This will leave precious little time for actual running training, and what time I have I'll be paranoid about reinjuring it. Constant fear of injury and mentally monitoring the joints really saps the fun out of running. If this becomes a recurring thing, I'll probably have to hang up my hat on marathon running. Its not worth the pain and struggle and arthritis in old age just to be constantly disappointed during training.

As for my marathon this year, its all pretty much in the air at this point. If two or three weeks cures me, I will be ok, might not make my goal, but I will get through it. If my toe isn't feeling 100% by race day, well, running one marathon on a sprained ankle was bad enough. There's always another race.

Well, that's enough doom and gloom for one post. I plan on biking and trying out some swimming in the lake and perhaps some water jogging. The biggest failing of these alternatives is that they don't adequately work the muscles of the calves and feet, so I'll try to throw in some exercise for that as I'm able. I swam around a lake called Lake La Fave in northeastern Wisconsin last weekend (a bit over a mile swim) which went ok, albeit slowly.

No Skin off My Nose

Its been a few weeks since my last post, so I guess its time for a little recap. My training was starting to pick up again culminating in a 13 milish run around the Minong Flowage in Northern Wisconsin on the 4th of July. The route is quite hilly, with several long steep hills and many gradual ones, making for a very sore butt for a few days, but overall the run when well. My ankle and toe held up surprisingly well, especially considering the road I ran on was bowed so running on either side was very unbalancing.

Just when I thought all was well, then came our final kickball game of the regular season. We were playing the other top team for the leage champ position (we were both 6-1) and I foolishly attempted a slide into first base in the final inning, because I was mad about getting tagged out on an earlier play. I ended up getting on base, but my left calf sustained a huge scrape--an oval about six inches by four inches of raw, torn and bleeding skin. Of course, I kept playing, and scored my run, then pitched out the final inning before heading home to nurse my wound. (I also sprained my left wrist, but that doesn't affect my running =) ) I ran a mile the next day on the treadmill, but every time I stood up and moved around the torn skin would flex and shift, so I decided to put running on hold until the wound healed up.


This it what it looks like now, after a 8 days of healing. Imagine the scabbed area covering most of the visible skin on my leg in this shot, and that's about big it was. (That large piece of gauze could barely cover it all.)


Anyhow, the wound healed up enough so that I ran 3 miles after about 5 days, and then went for my normal 7 miler the next day. I was pleased to find that I felt more affected by my missed training than the scrape. That was two days ago, so I'll either go for another run today or tommorrow, and hopefully a 10-13 miler on Saturday or Sunday. The marathon is about 12 weeks out now, so the training will ramp up from here on out. Every weekend I'll be going on longer runs, probably maxing out at a couple of 20 milers... maybe a bit longer with the way the routes work out.

In other kickball news, we had our end of the league tournament last night. We got a bye the first round for winning the leaque, and won the second round 12-2, despite whining and heckling from our opposition. Our final game was against the hated "Installers" team that gave us our one and only loss. (Everyone in the league seemed to hate them because they acted like a bunch of A hole frat guys.) Pitching was tough for me due to high winds from incoming rainclouds and refs calling balls on everying but piches that would roll strikes in bowling. Nevertheless we held went into the top of the final inning with a 7-2 lead, thanks to some great kicking, and managed to hold on 7-5 for the victory. We were congratulated heartily by the other teams who struck around to watch for sending the endlessly bunting braggarts home in defeat.