The Daily Log 12/5/08

Distance: 5.14 miles
Time: 51:09
Pace: 9:56/mile
Weight: 196lbs
Terrain: Bumpy
Temperature: Cold and windy.
Gear: Long-sleeved Adidas Climacool shirt, Adidas Running Fleece, K-State stocking cap, Adidas long training pants over Adidas running shorts, Nike Air Zoom Vomero Shoes
Hydration: None
Fuel: None
Medical: Right shin, knee, foot
Recovery: Stretches, Aleve, ice
Shoe Mile Count: 149.54 miles
Days until Marathon: 44

...left, right, left, right... I'll give myself this, I believe in giving equal opportunities to all of my lower extremities when it comes to pain.

Kind of a weird run. The left calf was a total non-factor; it's as if it was never hurt. (I shouldn't count my chickens obviously, but there was no pain at all on this run, which I found very surprising). On the other hand, my right leg was rather sore in several places. In order of occurrence they were...

Shin: sore but bearable, it's felt a lot worse. No major surprise there.
Knee: tight for a while at about 4 miles around the ITB, but I think a certain amount of runner's knee is inevitable when you're logging a lot of miles. If it progresses from "tight" to "painful" or continues to be sore after the run, I'll be more concerned.
Foot: This was a new one, though I suspect it's probably related to the other hot spots. The top of my right foot became rather painful at around 4 1/2 miles and actually made me decide to cut the run about a mile short of where I had planned. It did loosen up a little after a quarter of a mile or so, but I erred on the side of caution and stopped anyway. Hopefully this is another of those temporary injuries I seem to have picked up consistently during training and not something that lingers.

I call this run the Santa Fe trail because the mid-section is run on a road called Santa Fe (such imagination --ed). It's rather hilly with few truly flat sections, but I took it pretty easy and came in with around a 10:00 pace, which was ideal. It was windier than yesterday, but still pretty great running weather and I felt like, were it not for the foot pain, I could have run for hours. The extra day off has left me feeling very fresh. Assuming my foot feels better after a couple of days rest, I feel very good about my 16 mile trek Monday morning.

Please visit my 'Make Cures Happen' fundraising page and make a donation for research into leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Also, check out my blog entry for more.