Making the Tough Choices

The time has come to make some tough running choices.

I am scheduled to run the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon on December 7, 2014 in San Antonio, TX.  I was on schedule training wise until today's run which I cut short.  I was slated to run 14 miles today but only managed about 11.25 miles.  One short long run isn't enough to derail a marathon training plan and I know I could get right back on track in 2 weeks with a 17 miler scheduled if it wasn't for this pesky thing called Plantar Fasciitis.

I've been fighting Plantar Fasciitis since June when I ran a few too many miles on shot shoes.  I took a couple weeks off in June/July where I did a lot of pool time cross training to keep my fitness level up so I could give it a chance to heal.  It was feeling much better when I started back to running and I cut out speed work and reduced my max distance some to help me get to the marathon.

Unfortunately the more I run, the worse it seems to be getting.

The way I see it I have 2 options
1) Keep pressing forward towards the marathon and likely cause some permanent damage that will take surgery or a lot of time off running to fix or
2) take a month off - hit the pool - rehab my foot and drop from the marathon to the half marathon in December.  This would give me the opportunity to focus on the Glass Slipper Challenge at Disney World in February and the Pixie Dust Challenge at Disneyland in May.

It's a very hard decision for me to make.  I'm very pigheaded and have been known to run races and training runs when I shouldn't have.  My last marathon in 2007 was a rough race.  I had a stomach bug in the hours before the race and I really struggled with that race.  It was through shear determination and pig-headedness that I finished that race more than an hour off my goal time.  I have needed to run one more marathon to get the taste of that race out of my mouth.  I know if I keep pushing now this race has the opportunity to be even worse than NYC in 2007.

I'm not 100% sold on dropping back to the half but after weighing all my options today I am about 95% certain I am going to change my race distance and live to run another day. . There will be more marathons and Disney in 2016 is calling my name.  Maybe I will wake up in the morning and all the pain will have disappeared and I will change my mind, but I doubt that is the case.

So until then I will be logging a lot of laps at the local YMCA swimming pool.

More Destination Running - National Harbor, Maryland and Winchester, VA

It's been a great year for running in new and different places.  This summer has been especially crazy and I added two more run destinations to my list while on a combination business/vacation trip.

First stop National Harbor Maryland.  It was a beautiful but Windy afternoon.  I couldn't believe that at 5pm on July 28th I was able to go out and run and it feel "cool."  It was in the upper 70's low 80's and low humidity.  I almost didn't know what to do with myself.

National Harbor is just outside of Washington, DC.  As a matter of fact the trail I ran would take you into DC.  There was a sign that said 11 miles to the Washington Monument.  That would be a lovely 22 mile run but I was looking for 4-6  today.

So I did an out and back route down by the Harbor including the pier.

 And then I ran around the Harbor towards DC and up the footbridge that would take you across I-495.  At the top of the hill I turned around to head back

View from the top - Elevation gain 515'.  

For a brief moment I thought I might be at the Swan Resort in Disney World :) but no just a Swan and Ducky Paddle Boat for Rent

The Eagle at the top of the trail before crossing the interstate

A random sculpture

The Carousel

The Peep Mobile

And Fleet Street - yes I did find myself singing Sweeney Todd after seeing this sign.  

All in all it was a nice run, but I went too fast on the hill and aggravated my Plantar Fasciitis again.  

But for once I finished a run not looking like a sweaty mess.  (and those were really odd hand play climbing structures behind me)

After the run in National Harbor I took a few days off running to rest my foot during the rest of the conference before heading to Winchester, VA.

I ran 4 miles in Winchester a few times.  I learned quickly that I was not in Houston anymore.  

For example in Houston, we don't have 4 mile courses that look like this.

I also never run on old brick sidewalks - (watch your footing it is tricky)

And we have decorated train engines and cows but not apples.  

I love getting out and finding new trails to run when I'm traveling.  Planning out routes is becoming one of my favorite parts of trip planning.  Next time I get up that way I really want to run the Monuments in DC.  We walked them all instead later in the week.  That was definitely a work out.