Saturday, 9 May 2009

2/10 - Race 2 - ouch!

- Race .
Before we started today I had terrible trouble getting the lacing right on my left shoe.
It felt too tight- I loosened it - it still felt too tight - I loosened it more. It still wasn't right - but I thought it would be OK
- this was to prove a problem!

The plan today was to set off more conservatively and spend the first couple of miles letting the legs loosen up, and then see where I went from there. This went well. The weather was good, windy but dry with the occasional spatter of light drizzle - perfect running weather

I ended up running with Steve, and we chatted about a whole bunch of things which made the early miles fly by. We run in a very similar way in that we run undulations at similar relative paces, and so there was no need to tweak pace :-)

By Newby Bridge my instep was feeling a bit tender. A quick 'tweak' of the shoe seemed to relieve it.

And then on the downhill at 18 the discomfort became unbearable.
I had to stop and radically re-lace my shoe in a way that took ALL pressure off a large part of the top of my foot.
Stupid Stupid boy!

It was fine on the flats and the ups, and with this agricultural 'fix', I was able to run with less and less discomfort.
But it had wrecked my rhythm.

I stopped for a quick rest and to further relieve the pressure on the foot at the 22 mile feed station, and to have a decent drink.
With 4 miles to go, what had been a really nice run had turned into a slog.
I just wanted it over.

I finished OK - but was feeling a little sorry for myself as the wind and rain had started to pick up in earnest. Everything seemed to hurt as I went for a quick shower before heading to lunch.

Lorna came bowling in looking fabulous in well under 4 hours again :-)

Foot was treated, and a plan for the morning was made. Swelling hasn't completely gone down yet.

I'm hoping that it'll settle by the morning!

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