A Long Post, but Worth It...In my Opinion

After a week (yikes! A week!) without running for one reason or another, I got my ass back in the saddle this weekend. The combination of laziness (see my previous post) and the crappy weather that graces the Eastern Seaboard this time of year kept me from running last week and it sucked.

From my last post, I have progressed to stubborn resolution to get my runs in each week leading up to the National Half Marathon. To that end, I knew that I’d need a few days to run and get my body used to the grind again. Even a week off from running (voluntary or otherwise) can allow your body to lose some of its fitness, and that was certainly the case with me. Saturday I went out for a simple 5-miler to get back in the swing and to gauge where I was in the fitness spectrum.

I found that I was further behind than I anticipated, as I was winded by mile 5. Yet I slogged through and wasn’t too worse for the wear. I’ve been blessed with very few injuries since I began running last summer, and I certainly have no major injuries to report; just the normal wear and tear injuries. One of the most annoying has been a “hot spot” on the inside of my left foot, near the ball of my foot. It’s where the big toe joint is, only on the side of the foot. Last summer it was getting worn down and, thanks to a crappy insert from Dr. Scholl’s, a nice blister formed there. It healed just fine until in early January, when I wore some new socks that I had gotten for Christmas. The irony is that the socks are designed to prevent blistering by putting more padding on areas such as my hot spot. Unfortunately, the point where the padding stops and the regular material begins is right at my big toe joint. This makes no sense to me, as these socks are sized for larger feet (I wear a size 14), so one would think that the padding would be designed to reach further down the sock as well. But no, this is not the case. As a result, my hot spot has continued to bother me since then. My run on Saturday further aggravated it.

Luckily, I don’t get really painful or even long-lasting blisters there. The area puffs up after the run, but is never very painful, just uncomfortable. Despite what experts say, I end up popping it to drain the fluid out and then disinfect it and cover it with a blister pad. The next day, it’s fine. Saturday’s run, however, didn’t result in any puffing, but just the beginning of what I hope is callusing. However, to protect the area, I am starting to wrap it in athletic tape to create some more padding. On longer runs, I may use some gauze or other jerry rigged system to prevent a really bad blister. On the whole, however, it’s not enough to prevent me from running.

The only other ache would be the usual tightness in my calf muscles, but I think this will decrease as they get used to running again.

On a side note, my step father got a really great tip for icing an injury from his physical therapist. The tendon in his right index finger tore several months back and he finally got surgery on it to repair the damage and clean out the scar tissue. So he’s had to go to a physical therapist (who himself had to go through extensive therapy after being paralyzed in a mountain biking accident, which is truly amazing). Anyway, the therapist said to get an ice bag and fill it with a solution of two parts water and one part rubbing alcohol. Put that in the freezer for a couple hours. The alcohol will keep the water from totally freezing and you’ll have a thick slushy ice pack that will mould to whatever body part you put it on. Plus it’s really cold so you can use it longer. I used this yesterday after my run and it worked really well. Plus, there’s no dripping to clean up.

Yesterday I ran an easy 8 miler, which turned into a 8.7 miler because I reached 8 miles way before the point I wanted to. So I kept going until I reached my usual stopping point, which came out to be about 0.7 miles further, according to the Garmin. I felt pretty good after the run, and only had to ice my calves a little bit directly afterwards (see my new ice pack tip above!). Here are the splits:

Mile 1: 8:59
Mile 2: 8:42
Mile 3: 9:11
Mile 4: 9:23
Mile 5: 9:28
Mile 6: 9:05
Mile 7: 9:10
Mile 8: 9:05
Implied pace for 0.7 miles: 8:51

Total: 1:19:09
Average: 9:07

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On another note, the National Marathon and Half Marathon has a new sponsor. I guess Wirefly couldn’t pay the bill or something because the event is now called the SunTrust National Marathon & Half Marathon. I hope that they didn’t order the shirts already, as I don’t want a stinking Wirefly logo on my technical shirt. I’m glad that they have a new sponsor for a few reasons. First, Wirefly seemed to be a poor man’s sponsor. By that I mean, the National Marathon is a relatively new event, having been run only twice before and so it’s understandable that the organizers would get any sponsor that would have them. However, the success of the event, and the generally good press it’s gotten from runners, has helped the event grow and thus, the need for a sponsor willing to shell out more cash for a better event became more acute.

I know that SunTrust sponsors the Richmond Marathon and the Rock N’ Roll in Virginia Beach, and I would assume other big marathons in the South, so having them sign on to the National Marathon is a great sign for the event. Plus it adds more credibility to the event as a solid, enjoyable and well-run event. All good things, to be sure.

This makes me even more excited to experience the race next month, as my confidence in the running of the whole weekend has increased now that SunTrust has signed on. Hopefully my confidence will be well-founded.

For those so inclined, click here for the press release.

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To that end, I have finalized our travel plans for the half marathon weekend. Even though Washington is but an hour’s drive away from Baltimore, the fact that the race is being held at 7:00 AM at RFK stadium made both Annie and me think it might be worth the extra money to stay in the city the night before to save us from having to wake up at 4 AM or some other ungodly hour.

I found a decent deal on a nice room at the Four Points Sheraton Washington D.C. Downtown near Capitol Hill using my AAA membership. It’s about the same as most of the other accommodations I was looking at, although this hotel gets 3 ½ stars, I believe, so I think I am getting a good return on that money. Plus Sheraton has some insane beds, so I think I will sleep really well the night before.

Logistically it was the best choice as well. RFK stadium is on the Blue and Orange lines on the Metro, but we’ll drive to Forrest Glen Metro stop, on the Red line, and leave the car there and take the Metro into DC to save on parking. So, I needed some place that was close to both lines. Some places were close to one, but not convenient to the other. However the Four Points Sheraton is on K Street NW, and about three or so blocks from Metro Center, which is the crossing point of the Red AND Blue and Orange lines. Perfect!

With that out of the way, we’re ready to go. Now I just need to make sure I finish my training properly.

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Finally, I was going to write about the utility and stylishness (such as it is) of running tights. I’ve read several posts on various blogs about this issue, as tights are a good option when the temperatures get low. However, this post is already long enough so I will save that topic for another day, probably tomorrow.