9 miles, Followed by Plantar Fasciitis

Have you missed me?! I know it's been awhile. Life has been so busy lately! Onto the running news, since that's what you are here for! About 2 weeks ago, I ran my longest mileage yet, 9 miles! It was the hardest run to date and was full of hills. I will admit there were moments that I struggled big time! The hills were serious! I felt pretty good immediately following the run, but on my 30 minute drive home, my left knee began to hurt...well, if you've been following my blog, you know I have had my fair share of injuries and issues while training for this half marathon. So, all I kept thinking was "please don't let this be serious, please don't let this be serious!" I got home and was in excruciating pain and my friend suggested taking a soak in my bathtub, so I did that and then iced and elevated my knee off and on for the remainder of the afternoon. Walking up and down the stairs was excruciating, so I began to stress that I had really hurt myself that morning. Before bed, I iced my knee again and took a couple of my trusty friend, Advil and hoped for the best. Well, imagine my surprise when I woke up the next morning and my knee was pretty much pain-free...it was a tad sore...but, it seems the pain had transferred itself to my left foot...think pain so bad that you can barely walk. I mean taking the first step after getting out of bed, brought tears to my eyes! So, of course, I'm thinking "great, another foot issue! just what I need." Well, this was a different sort of pain than I had ever felt and boy was it excruciating. I was basically hopping around all day because putting any pressure on it was excruciating (Have I used that word enough in this blog post yet?! That is the only word to describe the pain!) I began searching the Internet for what this injury could be. I started at www.runnersworld.com and pretty much diagnosed myself with Plantar Fasciitis. Here is a definition of Plantar Fasciitis if you are interested in learning more about it. Apparently it is a pretty common injury. However it is extremely painful and hard to get rid of in my opinion. Stretching and icing is the best thing for it, so you can bet I've been doing all those things like crazy! I tried to do my 6 mile run on Saturday, regardless of my foot pain and actually was able to run with the pain but about 1.5 miles in, my knee started to hurt really badly...same knee as the week before. I tried to run on it a bit more, but decided more running could potentially make this injury worse. I ended being in pretty awful pain the rest of the afternoon and evening, but woke up the next morning with little pain in the knee, but horrible pain in the foot again. Well, I saw a different chiropractor this week since my usual one, Dr. Rob is out of town. He officially diagnosed me with Plantar Fasciitis, though, the guys at the shoe store and my coaches (and myself) had already diagnosed me. I feel like this Dr. made it worse and I have been in even more pain since seeing him, so I am not exactly sure what is going on at this point. I am hoping to get in with Dr. Rob on Monday when he gets back into the office and maybe he can give me a better answer as to what my next step should be. I will admit that it has been a little discouraging dealing with yet another injury during my journey to the half marathon. It has been frustrating, but I know I can do it! We have less than 2 months until race day and I am really excited! I feel like I have been training for ages...although my body seems to think otherwise! I know this is just another bump in my road but it really helps to remind myself of the real reason I am doing this half marathon! I am doing this for all the people affected by blood cancer or any cancer, who can't! I run for LIFE! I am really thrilled with how my fundraising is going! I am at 94% of my 6500.00 goal! I am hoping to raise even more money than that, but I am so pleased with how much I have raised so far! For me, the main goal of training for a marathon with Team In Training is the raise as much money as you can for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and I am so happy to be doing this! If you want to help me reach my goal, you can go here to donate! Remember every penny counts and it is tax deduct able! I will be back soon with more news on my poor foot! Until then, happy running to all my running buddies! :)

8 Miles...

Saturday, I ran 8 miles! Good news is, I am still here to tell the tale! I have been pretty nervous all week about this run...I feel nervous each week, we go up 2 miles. For me, it's just important that I am able to accomplish each mile, every week. It is amazing to me that I am just 5.1 miles away from the distance I will be running in the half marathon October 17th! I have such a sense of accomplishment when I think about running. Running has always been something that I dreaded, but now it is something that I look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I'm no speed racer, but I am out there, doing it and that is really all that matters. I have never been stressed about my running times or anything like that. Honestly, the main reason to do Team In Training (TNT) is to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! I am out there running all of these miles for all the people who can't...I typically have to remind myself of that about 5 miles in. It is great motivation to think about everyone I am running for; people sick in the hospital with cancer, going through chemo, as well as people who have lost their battle to any type of cancer. I can actually picture these people as I run. I had first hand experience with watching people get their chemo treatments, since my siblings and I switched off who would take our mom each week. Walking into that "chemo lounge," you see fighters. Each and every person in there! Thinking about these amazing people when I run is a HUGE motivation!

I tried using Sport Beans again yesterday and while I don't get a sudden surge of energy, I was able to go 8 miles, so they must be doing something for me! As I was running on Saturday, a coach from the Central TNT team was running beside me. She was really great to talk to and gave me some great insight for the marathon. She also told me that even though I didn't think the Sport Beans were working, if I tried running without them, it would be much harder. She made a very good point. We ran along the coast on Saturday and through some neighborhoods. Running along the coast is one of my favorite places to run. There is just such a peacefulness about watching the water and surfers while I am running. I always miss this when we run at different places on our Saturday morning Team runs. So, back to the 8 miles. I am still doing 5/1 intervals. Running 5 minutes seems like 1 hour and power walking for 1 minute seems like 5 seconds! This is working for me though, so I am sticking with it. This coach from the other team also told me that doing intervals is a great way to run a marathon. She explained that when she ran the Boston Marathon this past Spring, she always marched through the aid stations and hung out there for a a minute or two and then kept going. She said she always ended up passing the people who would run through the aid stations and skip the aid. It was encouraging to hear that I am doing this all correctly! I had a pretty good run, except the fact that I am still having pain in my feet...it has now turned into both feet. I am honestly thinking that switching to a Stability shoe has caused more damage. At this point, I feel frustrated because everyone is telling me something different. I am on my 2nd pair of shoes. I am not sure what my next step will be. I have had 2 women recommend the same Nike shoe in the past 2 days, so I may end up trying that, because at this point, I feel like it's time to try something else. My feet both started hurting pretty badly at mile 7, but I was determined to finish the full 8 miles and I'm so glad I did. I iced both feet for awhile when I got back to our base. While icing, I spoke with a few different people and got a few more opinions on what to do. I am NOT letting this foot thing get me down! I am doing really well in my training and I am sure I will find the perfect (magic) shoe in no time! We have a back down week this coming weekend, so I will be running 5 or 6 miles. I am headed to Washington state for one of my best friend's wedding, on Wednesday, so I will be running this mileage on a treadmill this week! I am headed to run hills with my Team tonight , pilates on Tuesday and spinning class bright and early at 5:30 on Wednesday morning! Here's to a great week!

With Love,
Ashley