Boring Life Updates!

Well I try to be regular and post every Sunday but this week I have nothing to say. No insightful observations or hilarious musings. I’ve had a nasty chest cold this week and have been focusing on midterms and my training. I ran my first 30k yesterday and it was (as I’m sure anyone who has run the same distance can attest) terrible and amazing. It hurt in new ways that I didn’t know my body could hurt. I hobbled a bit this morning but once I got warmed up I didn’t feel too bad. One of the extensor tendons in my left foot got a bit upset at the overuse and is a little inflamed today. I’ve been icing it and trying to avoid fancy footwork (it’s so hard to do).

I ran the 30k at a molasses-like pace of 6:35/km on average. The grand total time was 3:19:20, which must seem terribly long for faster runners but it made me feel pretty good! My initial time goal when I started training for the marathon was a cushy and vague sub-5 hour time. However, after seeing that I can maintain around 6:30/km in training, I’m hoping I can push it for a sub-4:30 time. We shall see! At this point, as long as I cross the finish line, I’ll feel accomplished.

I also got brand new shoes. After the big deal I made after my last new pair, you’d expect a post. However, I got the exact same pair made by the same company in the same colour and size for the same price. They’re just whiter. Here’s a comparison shot:

No there is no shadow on the left pair. They're just that dirty.

The lighting is terrible because I took it at 5:30 in the morning before my run. I knew I was going to hit the trails in the rain so I took the photo before the whiteness could get mudded up.

They work fine, obviously. The tightness may have contributed to my angry tendon so I’ll make sure they’re a little looser for my speedwork tomorrow.

All in all, it was a very regular, end of February week. I hope you guys had a more exciting time of it!

Tales of Toes

I had an absolutely ridiculous amount of time off for the holidays this year, nearly a month. I am not good with free time. I can handle about a day/ day and a half of not working or not going to school before I go mental. I hate just sitting around wasting time. This holiday was no exception. I’d get my run out of the way early in the morning and then have a huge gaping day of free time in front of me that I had no idea what to do with. This may sound appealing to many of you but I am the sort of person who needs to be doing something productive.

So I got some things done. Worked out some financial/government things that had been hanging over my head. Completed my application to my dream school with fingers crossed (UBC Sauder reps, if you’re reading this… choose me!). Finally got around to focusing on speedwork. And, most important, painted my nails. I painted them right up.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be worthy of a story, but having enough time to paint my nails and not have them get messed up when I have to do something productive was pretty exciting for me.

Also, this:

Happy Feet! Get it? HAPPY FEET.

Just kidding. I was going to attach a photo of the nightmare I found on my right big toenail. And then I decided I liked having people read my posts and didn’t want to scare anyone away.

I’ll put it this way: when I took the old nail polish off my toes, I originally thought I’d painted my big toe black and then covered it with the bright blue I thought I was removing. Nope! That would have been stupid! Turns out I jammed my toe somehow and it’s just black! Doesn’t hurt at all and hasn’t hurt in my recent memory, so I’m forced to assumed it happened on a long run somewhere along the way and the runner’s high allowed me to ignore it.

Either that or I’m just utterly insensitive to odd pains in my feet anymore. On second thought, this seems more likely. I’m sure I’ve just convinced a lot of you to take up running with these mental pictures! You’re welcome!

That’s my fun running story of the week. In terms of training, I’m just working on building up mileage and trying to get a better handle on pre-run meals because I’ve been losing steam a little more mid-run than I’m used to. I’ve started taking Gu’s with me for the long runs and trying to load up on more carbs the night before. Hopefully I’ll start seeing improvements soon! Any tips would be appreciated.

And hey, it’s the second week of January already! Good luck to everyone with resolutions! Sticking with it is the hardest part. Also, I’ve been thinking about getting into foam-rolling because of a tight hamstring. Any thoughts?

Happy trails everyone!