Like a Buddy Cop Movie...

It's very possible I learned a life lesson running this week. It's kind of a foo-foo lesson, and one you'd likely hear on Sesame Street, but the Children's Television Workshop may be right.

As I have engaged in my little bout of self discovery through distance running, the point has always been I am racing no one but myself. How do I see myself when running?





But for the first time since starting this madness, I set out to do my Saturday long run with someone. This person shall remain nameless so as to protect his reputation from being associated with the likes of me, however this is someone who does this stuff a lot. Triathlon competitor, done a couple Marathons, in ridiculously good shape. He deigned to go out running with my slow ass.

I did warn him- I've been running between a 9:30 and 10:00 mile average for anything over five miles. One of my mantras has been to relax and run. I told him he would likely be bored with how slow we were moving. He made a very good point back to me- we were preparing to run 10 miles. How many people did we know who would run ten miles at ANY pace? We have a pretty physically oriented firm for which we work, and yet, the usual run is about speed, and rarely about endurance. Endurance is the great equalizer in running. An interesting side note is the fact that women in sprints have never been able to get close to men in comparable shape. However, the longer the race gets, the more competitive the genders get. Women are as likely to win an Ultra-Marathon (50 or more miles) as any male competitor. Take for instance Jenn Shelton:



Runs Ultras all the time and apparently drinks tequila like it's water. Amen.

So anyway, I set out with a running partner, who as someone far more professional at this than I, had all the right gear, including this spiffy little gizmo which told us exactly how far we had run at any given moment, our pace, and his heart rate. (Let me also point out that it beeped when his heart rate went under 120- and it beeped often at my pace.) As we cruised along though, we chatted, and he kept pointing out we were making good time. In the end, we did a little more than we planned- 11.2 miles, and we did it in 1:37. This is odd, because we actually hit the ten mile mark at the time I had previously done the nine miler.

Now, my legs did complain a bit after, but with someone to work off of, to pace with, and even just to converse with while running, it went by faster, and if you were watching, I went by faster.

So perhaps there's a CTW moral to the story- two heads (or sets of legs) are better than one. Sure, I am only competing with myself, but that doesn't mean I can't bring someone along. Maybe now I should see my running self like this:




When preparing this, I went looking for the Lone Ranger to put up top in the "loner" part, but I always found him with Tonto. Obviously, he's already learned this lesson.

Week Four! (trying to keep it clean- grody things ahead though!)

Here I am, one month in. Given last week's injury I was afraid for a while this was all for not, and I was going to sink back onto my couch and return to the land of too many doritos, but I seem to be OK.

Started doing lots of calf stretching- read online that a lot of achilles tendon aches aren't the tendon at all, but the calf, which makes much sense since the injury I had earlier this year WAS MY CALF (duh Dan...). After copious amounts of various calf stretches, I ran and found the pain in my heel went away after about half a mile. Weird huh? Run more, hurt less. I know, I'm shocked too. Been that way all week though, I get my calf good and loose and warm, the heel feels fine, and even when it does hurt, it's a mild ache rather than the limpy 'ouch' producer it was last week.

Got to do my Wednesday four miler along the Courtney Campbell Causeway across old Tampa Bay. Did it just so the sun was coming up as I finished. Running right along the quiet water. Thought I was being stalked by an alligator, but in fact it was a whole population of feral cats living in the bushes along the water on the north side. One ran alongside we for a while, but I don't think was enjoying a jog as much as fleeing in terror from the bald stomping menace. Here's some pics, sorry the first one's blurry (I was running!)




Came back to Arizona that day, so my Thursday three miler was at an elevation about 5000 feet higher than my Wednesday four miler. Yes. I noticed. Very much.

Then Saturday was a new long run, and again further than I had ever run before. Did nine miles, broken into an out and back around Buffalo Soldier Trail and the Sierra Vista Mall. Took my body a while to get into it, and even at the turn around, I was not convinced this was a good idea. Learned some valuable lessons about running that long:



1) Urinate first. Hit me about mile three. Felt my bladder slosh like my camelback for a while. Then, oddly, by the time I got home, I didn't have to any more... (lesson 1.5- drink more water).



2) They aren't lying when they say wear something over your nipples. Tingly (relax BTW- first of all, that's not me; no metal hanging from my chest, and second, it's a dude. Though, I've always wondered why male nipples were OK and Female nipples weren't. At least a woman's nipples have practical application- mine just rub my shirt when I run. End of nipple tangent).



3) It doesn't matter if it is a clearly labeled multi-use path with signs telling you to pick up your dogs' droppings, someone won't. Only one fleet of foot spry twist kept me from befouling my Nike Free Everyday 2s this morning. Luckily I was not incoherent at the time. I love dogs, I loved my dog- I always picked up her poo when we were out.

It'd be nice to have a dog to run with. I'd pick up poo...



Next week: TEN MILER!

Ow. No really, ow!

Week three- I am on the road, on a business trip to Florida, and in an unfamiliar area, in particular downtown Tampa. Beyond that, my work here means doing my running at 5AM. So, being a scared Southern Arizona hick, the last thing I wanted to do was go running at 5AM in an VERY urban area I don't know at all.

So, I decided to use the treadmill in the hotel.

I used to do treadmills all the time. Having recently learned how to run properly however, my love of the hamster wheel has come to an end. Running just my three miles Tuesday was tedious agony. So (trust me, this is getting us to a point), on Wednesday, I decided I would try something new. I would do the majority of my four miles on the treadmill normally- then I would do two minutes- only two minutes- barefoot.

Barefoot running as a concept is something I discovered reading the MacDougal book "Born to Run." Found out there's a whole cult of barefoot runners, and even some podiatrists are beginning to talk about the wonders of SMART barefoot running. I recently bought a pair of deck shoes- just enough soles to protect the skin, but thin enough to allow your feet to feel the running surface and adapt appropriately. Think about it: if you wear arch supports, you keep the muscles in the arch from ever doing their job. What muscle can you constantly rest and expect to have perform when you need it? In "Born to Run" they even talk about a guy who learned how to barefoot run, and lost two shoe sizes because his arches came back.

The good news is, one of my feet was very ready for barefoot running, and could have done more than the two minutes. The bad news was my injury from six months back in my achilles structure in my right foot was not as healed as I thought.

So, this week was a bit of a set back. My achilles inflamed and hurt all day, and indeed still is achy. I have been icing it every night, and did not run Thursday. Today (Saturday), though scheduled to run five miles (light week on my Higdon plan), just a light jog felt off, so I did five miles of elliptical instead. Going to keep nursing this and see where I am Tuesday when I am scheduled to run again.

Now, though this is a setback, I am not horribly discouraged. My uninjured foot was very ready to try barefooting- I have been wearing the Nike "Free Everyday" shoes which is their cunning plan to get me to pay as much for a shoe with half the padding of a normal set of Nikes. They want in on the Vibram 5 Finger market. They have been a good shoe though, and are getting me weaned off lots of padded thudding shoe which keeps my feet from doing what they are supposed to. I am still convinced I can do it, but I need to work on my tendon in the right foot.

Also, I have flex time built into my schedule- I stated from the beginning my marathon isn't until May, so the Higdon schedule (which wraps up in February) gives me a little more time. I do want to be healthy and not damage my foot.

Lastly, now that I have not been able to run for a few days, I realize that I miss it! I WANT to run! Finally breaking the horrible habits my Firm has instilled in their completely wrongheaded ideas on running is making me into a believer. Had you told me three months ago I would want to go out and run, that I would ENJOY doing five or six miles, I would have called you a dirty liar and kicked you in the knee. Now... it is so.

So, my report this week is not as great as I want it to be, but I am still in the game. You and I will find out together how long it takes Achilles to stop killing the Trojans in my foot (that's a really forced play on words- sorry).

Who's the what?

Week two is complete! A good walk on Sunday, then three steady miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each. Then, this morning, seven miles in delightful 64 degree Arizona weather! Sounds great, huh?

Yeah, that's because you don't have my calves. This was the week (if you follow me on Facebook you heard this complaint) my body caught on to what I was trying to make it do. My three miles were good, and I kept the "think light, think easy, if you are working too hard you are doing it wrong" pace I planned to (between 9 minute or 9:30 miles). However, the calves were a bit whiney about it. Then this morning (Saturday) came the bog seven.

I haven't run seven miles since I was in Monterey CA the first time 16 years ago. I was doing a regular six before my calf tear in Washington, but seven is psychologically a bit different. Nevertheless, committed to this insane path I have chosen, I set out this morning about 7:30 to do what we call 'The Mall Loop' in Sierra Vista (about six) and and extra mile for fun. It is a nice run- good trails and paths, though all paved, it is smooth and away from traffic. There are good variations in uphill and downhill, and should something snap, break, grind, or quit, it is not so far for the lovely Jennifer to come drag my crying corpse back to home.

Had an odd experience with it today. I got to two miles- not much considering, and the calves were tight. Not screaming, but argumentative at least. Then they shut up and let me run. Then, around three miles my hip started to ache. I pushed on through, and it shut up too. Then, at mile four, my left foot began to tell me my arch hurt, while my right calf began to ache around the area of the tear. I steeled myself, adjusted my stride and kept on. Then came Mile Five, I worked through it and as I finished my fifth mile, it all fell away.

Suddenly, with two miles left, I felt like I just started running. My body felt fresh and ready, and even though I was running uphill, I started making better time than I had when I started. I finished strong and happy, and enjoyed a nice breakfast with chia seeds and peanut butter with some yogurt (replenished protein at lunch with some salami (gosh that sounds dirtier than it should) ). It was like my body said "fine, you aren't giving up, we'll stop throwing pain at you." I have no doubt the various parts which make up my physical presence are going to ambush me again at some point, but this week, today at least I showed them who was boss.

Though I really hope running doesn't turn me into Tony Danza.