These are my running feet I love so much! I caved. Peer pressure? No. Feeling left out? Somewhat, but that wasn't it. Sick of my body getting weaker and flabbier? Definitely, but that wasn't really why either.
27 days after my last run in SF, I ran 2 miles. It wasn't intentional, it just happened. You know, like when you've downed an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's in a matter of microseconds and when you're done, you can't even remember how that pint got in your grocery cart let alone how you consumed all 80 billion calories in one sitting - it just happened.
Saturday, I went to my Athletic Training class. Remember that class where Nazi Drill Sergeant likes to call out wicked torture exercises to us poor out-of-shape individuals, who somehow think this one class is going to magically change their bodies overnight and turn us into stellar athletes? Not that this is what I think mind you, but you know, for the others that are in this class that may think so. Nevertheless, yep, that's the class I was at.
Have I ever mentioned we run in that class? We do all sorts of speedwork drills, agility ladders and may favorite of all: run-as-fast-as-you-can-for-50-yards-til-you-wanna-puke-then-go-lift-those-way-too-heavy-pile-of-rocks-over-your-head-10-times-but-first-do-20-burpees-with-a-pushup. So yeah, before I even knew what I was doing, I was running. Opps.
But day 27 of no running and I'm at AT class and as I was doing these drills I was thinking of my heel the entire time. It didn't hurt and it wasn't "annoying" me. It usually never does until many miles into the run but it wasn't even bothering me. Sometimes it bothers me if I'm just standing there doing nothing. Or if I get out of bed and step on the floor. Or if it's a full moon. Or if there's an earthquake in China. Or....if I'm on the elliptical trainer, trying to be a good girl and not run on it. The pain is so random, I can't ever tell you when it's going to occur....except one thing I do know is if I have my running shoes on for any length of time - that's a sure fire way for it to start misbehaving. I can be standing there doing absolutely nothing and if I'm doing that nothing while wearing my running shoes for any prolonged period of time, the heel lets me know it ain't all too happy.
So after class, the one I almost died in, I guess I felt I hadn't endured enough abuse to the body as I didn't seen any miraculous changes to it (not that that is what I think, of course) so I went upstairs to try and get some cardio on that monotonous as all get out elliptical trainer. I actually have nothing against this machine, but we will never be besties, best I can tell. I can set that puppy to a resistance Hercules wouldn't even like and I just can't get my HR up on it. But whatever, I need me some cardio cuz that's what I'm lacking dearly in the past month. Weight training, no problem - I haul myself to all these weight training classes 3 times a week. Funny, a year ago I went kicking and screaming to do my weight training....now I eagerly wait for this BA weight lifting class I've been going to, which pretty much kicks my butt. I actually love it. But get me more than 2 days of any cardio over a half hour and it's like sheer torture. Hello?? There's something so wrong with this!!
Walking up the stairs, I spot "it" in all her glory - my beloved treadmill. I just walked over to it and before I knew it, I was running.
2 whole miles!
At a 10:20 pace (gasp!!!).
Whatever the pace, whatever the distance - holy crap, I was running one long, continuous run (long being relative here). My body felt like green jello all grossed out and out of place, not really sure it knew what to do. 27 days down. 27 is a lot of days. I think that's the most I've ever not run in about a billion years. My legs were stiff, my left hamstring was tight and my annoying glute pain was screaming (nothing's changed there. Glad to know my persistent aches and pains and tight muscle parts never went away!) but I just kept going - if you call 2 miles "going". After about a mile, things were starting to loosen up, as they usually do and by mile 2, I was feeling right at home. Ahhhhhh.
But I didn't want to tempt fate so I stopped at the grandiose mileage and got off. 2 miles. At a 10:20 pace. Sunday I woke up and puttered around the house way too long and missed my weight lifting class.... so what the hell, I put on my running shoes and I ran to the track by my house (.65 miles) and spewed out 5 laps around the track at a 8:22 pace and ran the .65 miles home, bringing my grand total for the month of August to 4.45.
Monday, my legs were sore. Sad, huh? I cannot believe how quickly you can lose your "stuff", which is what's been eating at me the most the past week....I visually started to notice how much muscle mass I'm losing and how grossly out of shape I'm becoming - despite the massive weight lifting (Ben and Jerry's will do that to you, apparently, no matter how much weight lifting you do). So Monday I popped on my basement treadmill and cranked out 2 more whopping miles to shake the stiffness out. It was slow, but oh how I've missed my treadmill!! August running log: 6.45. Whooaaaa, start the presses and alert the media!
Here's the scoop, however twisted it may be: I spend 27 days off my feet running, trying to get this dumb heel to cooperate and heal up. Nothing happened, best I can tell. I still had pain, intermittently, at the most sporadic moments, for no apparent reason at all. I'd be standing there watching the girls come in at the race last week and OUCH. Or I'd be on the elliptical trainer and nothing one day and screaming the next. So last week, before I went to the AT class which later drew me to the treadmill, I was speaking with the cross country coach at school and we both came to the conclusion that I did what I was suppose to do with zero progress whatsoever - whatever is wrong with the heel is not being mended by time off from running.
Which brings me to a small (haha, grab your coffee, this will be awhile) vent about insurance in this great country of ours. If you think there is nothing wrong with the health care in our country, I am here to tell you that you are dead wrong. I am a 47 year old female who has run the vast majority my life; eat protein smoothies with spinach and Chia Seeds daily; total exercise freak, even ran the Boston Marathon twice .... and I have been "denied" by what was to be my new insurance company on August 2nd. The denial is due to some stupid "female" procedure I had two years ago, which basically was done only because my doctor was a little freakoid about something that wasn't even bothering me ... and in the end it turned out to be nothing. Nothing!!! Now the insurance company isn't very happy about this little procedure and until I can go back and have another procedure to verify all is ok, then they will not insure me. And since I have no insurance, this little procedure (how many times are you allowed the word "procedure" in one paragraph??) is going to cost me several hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket. And even then, there's no guarantee they will insure me because honestly, all these claims people know is how to check "denied" if they see one thing that may possibly be off kilter . So I have 6 (SIX) calls to my doctor about the situation and I have yet to receive one phone call back from them. Tomorrow will be one week of endless phone calls with no progress whatsoever. Be grateful you are insured. I truly mean that!
Therefore, no, I have not have my heel looked at professionally cuz I've been denied by the government of this wonderful country. You may be 500 lbs and sit on your butt all day watching endless television, smoke a pack of cigarettes and eat an entire box of Ding Dongs for dinner and be insured. I cannot.
So I will run. A little. I will run until my heel screams not to and then I'll stop. I have no plans, I have no visions, I have no big races on the horizon. I'll just run and try to get back into decent shape (80 months???) and just do what I can do until somewhere, somehow, some way, I can become a real person in this society and have this heel officially diagnosed. I have totally given up trying to self-diagnose what it is - I have an excellent webMD degree but I have such contradicting symptoms that I can no longer even guess at what it is.
So this is the plan and I'm sticking with it: Continue my cross training; go to weight lifting class 3x/week; do Jamoosh's Hard Core Club 3x/week. And I will run. I did what I was suppose to do - I took some time off and nothing happened, so now I'm going to do what I know how to do better than most anything else in this entire screwed up health care system universe: run.
It may not be the smartest plan I've ever come up with, but I don't give a crap anymore. You gotta do what you gotta do to stay sane in this crazy world and this is what I feel I must do right now.
Game on. Let's run!!
And here us lovely ladies are, (Shana, Marcia, Tara, Me) all fueled up with carbs and ready to run (aside from me, I just carb'd up .... and expanding since I'm not expending those calories. Unlike!!). Lunch was so fun, we laughed so much and everyone just got along exceptionally well (I'm the only one who has met all these fab ladies, the rest of them had never met one another. I'm so blessed!! Shana I met this spring when she was here for the Bolder Boulder, Marcia I met in Boston and spent most of a day together, and Tara...well, we live close by and go to the pool frequently and make fun of ourselves for our excessive talking and little swimming). 
After this picture, Shana and her husband (who, btw, is super nice and was being very patient with us crazy chicas) left for a hike while Marcia, Tara and I headed about 25 minutes West to the town of Silverthorn, where we were spending the night at my friend's condo. This little brainiac idea of mine saved us about 2 hours in the morning by not having to drive to the race start from Denver....plus it gave Marcia some time in the high country where Tara and I are just so freaking blessed to live. 
Early to bed, not much sleep, and early to rise on Saturday to get the girls out the door and to the start line. Woohoooo! Tara was having some stomach issues but I told her to suck it up and get on that start line! Pep taks are an acquired skill, obviously. The porta potty lines at this race are totally insane; people were 20 deep still when they announced the 2-minute start so out of potty line they came with full bladders and are now lined up to race. Look at them holding it in at the start!! (Mr. Garmin is more obsessed with his watch than his the hot chicks holding their bladders in front of him, he obviously doesn't know what he's missing).
Beth's husband, Ken, Beth, Tara, Marcia and Shana. Way to go guys,!!! What an awesome day (and entire weekend!!) with awesome company!
We then made our way to the expo to get our race packets. The one thing about this expo that will forever be stuck in my tiny pea-brain is when the packet-pickup guy gave me my safety pins for the race bib, he'd only give me two. And they were those tiny, itty-bitty gold ones. I asked for 2 more and he told me he was only allowed to give me two. HUH?? There was no way in hell that bib was going to stay on my shorts with two microscopic safety pins. Other souls around me were grabbing handfuls of pins. And what do these things cost...1 penny to mass produce about a thousand??? Karen gave me hers. So stupid!
Green and Rad girls were really fun and it was so great to meet them. We chatted awhile before we had to go our separate ways, but I was so glad to meet them. I hope our paths will cross again one day, I know they'd be so much fun to hang out with. Green Girl even gave me a little miracle treatment for my heel. THANKS, Greenie!!! (more on that later)
The rest of the day, Karen and I just walked around the water and had a late, carb-loading lunch. We discussed doing some touristy things, like the ferry to Sausalito or driving the little electric cars, but I just kinda wanted to chill and get to bed early-ish. It was a gorgeous day, about 65 degrees (and I got sunburned - eeks) - one of those days with a picture planted in my mind's laminated pages of a photo album. 
As I stood there in my starting line corral, I couldn't help but admire the Bay Bridge with it's lights shining way up to the fog. It kind of struck me here, for the first time really, what I was about to do. Most marathons I run, I can get over-the-top tense in the couple weeks leading up to the race. I question everything about my past training and if I'm truly ready to be on that start line. It was a relief to have a marathon where I didn't have that and could stand there and look at the bridge and admire it's beauty instead of a being a total lunatic over every single race detail.
Exit FW and now aong the bay at mile 2 1/2 and the famous Giradilli Chocolate factory.
Official race photo below. Thanks to my friend, Mike, for spending a lot of time photoshopping the watermark "Proof" off of the photo for me. And lookie there, I'm ahead of the Kenyans - go me!
I hate to admit this but I didn't think running over the Golden Gate Bridge was all that thrilling and provided me with some grand glory my head thought it would. By the time I hit the bridge again on the way back (you run across, make a small loop on the other side - which, if it were a clear day, would be an amazing view - but it wasn't and you couldn't see a thing other than fog - then circle back to cross the bridge again), I just wanted that whole bridge thing to be DONE! I can't tell you exactly why...partically because it was crowded, you couldn't see anything, the traffic on the other side was soooo close, and it was long. I also knew that once I got across this massive thing, I'd be close to the 10-mile marker, and 10 miles = double digit miles. WOOT! Something kind of mentally adventageous knowing there's 16 miles left vs 17. It was also misting on the bridge and really, I wasn't enjoying the fact I was running in a cloud and couldn't see anything. Physically. I almost always mentally run in a cloud, but that's for another blog post. Anyhoo, the one thing I so looked forward to, running across the infamous GG Bridge, wasn't worth all the hoopla my pre-race mind thought it would be. I wasn't running high in suspension over a large body of water....well, I WAS, but with 6 lanes of concrete, it just felt like another road. It was sort of surreal at the start of the bridge but quickly became a game to see how fast I could get off it. Oh, and I did have a morbid thought that if this entire bridge collapsed, there'd be a sh!t-load of people going done. Time to move on! Or OFF - the bridge that is.
Now we start to enter Golden Gate Park. It's very green, lots of trees, very serene - a stark contrast to the last couple miles of non-green. This park is HUGE, made even huger by the fact you run loops, out and backs, and god knows what else just to tack on some miles. Alright, it's pretty, I'll give it that!
But good god, there were many times in this mile 12 - 19 park section where I literally thought I missed a turn and was now in one of the many other parts of this race. The first half marathon ends here, the second begins, the 10K is somewhere in here maybe and we're all mashed together at various entry and exit points; there's only two places I can recall where there were signs to get you on the right path. I'm not good at directions, I had no idea at times if I was in the right place. The only time I spoke on the course to another participant was somewhere around mile 15, "Are you doing the full marathon? Am I in the right place?"
To which he answered, "I am doing the full, and I have no clue if we're in the right place. I guess we'll be lost together" Look at that sign - what if I looked down to get a gel or something and missed it?? I was so sure I missed my friends at the half way point (Katie was running the 2nd half marathon and she brought my friend, Karen, with them to the half way point where I was to meet them), I drug out my phone and made my first ever "texting while running a marathon" text to Karen, "I just vrossed the haalf way. I think I missed you :( See you @ the finish. xo". Hell yah, I actually typed an @ sign while running - who cares I couldn't spell crossed or half. I rock at texting and running!! Turns out, in another two minutes I did see them and it was just heaven on earth to see familiar faces! I stopped here for about a minute and got high-fives from Ari, Katie's husband, who told me the 3:40 pace group was just in front of me. Hahahah....um, there was no way - and that wasn't my goal of this race anyway. Katie and Karen were full of encouragement and Karen wipped out a Diet Coke for me. OMG, I took a couple sips and wow, the bubbles and caffeine just did their magic!! A hug to Katie and off I went. No one even asked me if I was going to stop here and I never even gave stopping a thought. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd try to do the full marathon, just run it SLOW and steady and only stop if the heel misbehaved. It wasn't, so on I went. No questions asked. Karen later told me she said to Katie, "I guess she's doing the whole thing."
Karen snapped this beauty of me and the Diet Coke. I think it needs to be my new Facebook profile it's so freaking awesome!!! NOT!
(this is not a pic I took, I stole this from someone's blog since I gave my camera to Karen at the half way point as I was overly DONE whipping that thing out and trying to take a picture. Same thing happened in Boston. Why do I think I'm going to be photographer extraordinaire during a marathon when I know I won't bother with it after I get tired? Anyhoo, this marathoner guy totally posing for his pic at mile 19. haha) 
and just a wide array of total mishmash: Asian restaurants, eclectic stores, tattoo parlors, donuts shops, bars...you name it, it was here! Even a yard sale on the street at mile 22. In case you see something you can't live without and have to return later to buy. Yep, I see lots of beauties in there I need - especially that woman's bust! 
Ok, I am dragging here...I almost tripped and bit it big time. I stumbled a few steps but thankfully never did a face plant. My motto for the next 3 miles, which I repeated endlessly: Pick up your feet! I think I was babying that dang right heel so much I was altering my form with my other leg because this was the 2nd time my left foot wasn't doing it's job in the past 2 miles. Pick up your feet. Pick up your feet. Yeah, how's that for motivational inspiration, huh??? Pick up your DAMN feet!!! If any of y'all need a bit of motivation for your next race, you know where to find me!! 
Mile 24-ish. Official race photo. Un-photoshopped. 
I always think the worst mile of every marathon I've ever done is between 24-25. Kinda like when I do mile repeats and the 3rd lap comes with the most dread and the absolute slowest split. It was a total relief when I saw mile 25. And the below sign.
Finnnnaaaallly, I cross the finish at 4:18 and a bit of change. Far from a finish line PR, but I think I set a PR on the nose blowing! Dang that was the WORST! If you look real hard in the picture below, you can see me in the black shirt and pink shorts on the blue finish line in the left corner. Honestly? I couldn't believe I just ran a marathon on a crappy heel having run like one 20-miler (on a treadmill to boot). I was estatic!!
I'm always one of those emotional chicks who believes she's a better person by each marathon I've ever ran, and who knows more about herself at the finish line of every 26.2 miles than she knew at the start. SF taught me that I'm a lot tougher than I ever gave myself credit. Oh, I still have a ton of wimp in me, but if I can finish a marathon with absolute minimal training, 10 bs over marathon racing weight, and a crack running down the middle of my heel (that's only a guess, I still have not been to the doc due to an insurance snafu. Hopefully soon though), then good God, I have strength I never knew I had!
SF also reconfirmed I LOVE the marathon. Absolutely love everything about it. The training (when training properly), the agony, the challenge, the mental toughness, the physical transformation my body goes through, the pain, and the sheer joy of crossing that finish line. During the last year I worked with my trainer, he kept trying to point me away from the marathon, knowing the stress and anxiety of the race can sometimes overwhelm me, and focus on the half, knowing I can crank out a killer half marathon, if I trained for it....but that scenerio never sat well with me. Maybe one day, yes, but I am not done with the marathon - it's inside me. It's part of who I am. My talent for running marathons is minimal at best and it took awhile before it became a passion. But I think that’s why I love it so much – it doesn't come easy. Don't we love things so much more when we have to work hard to earn them?
We shuffled back to Karen's apartment, showered and loaded up on banana pancakes at a local restaurant a few blocks away. Everyone was drinking mimosas, so of course I had to order one, but it just wasn't going down well. I felt bad wasting it but I just couldn't stomach it. Katie and fam departed and headed back to San Jose (whaaa) and Karen and I walked back to her apt. It felt good to get off my feet and just be a vegetable for awhile. We Facebooked and looked at pictures. She had to catch a flight back to Seattle so I was solo for the night. Very relaxing. I walked down on the waterfront and got some shrimp (yum!) down on the wharf. It felt good to walk down to the wharf, but oh lordy...my feet and legs were just in agony walking back to the apartment after I ate dinner. I think it took me over an hour to walk a mile and a half. I've never been so relieved to find a couch as I was after that walk downtown.
We grabbed some lunch after out visit with LB. Jamoosh, this pic below is for you!! Be proud!!
Katie then took me back to her place in San Jose and we played for a couple days. We had an excellent time!! She made me grilled BBQ chicken, her husband fixed my phone (never carry your phone with you in a marathon without putting in a zip lock bag. Just sayin'), we talked about blog world, and we just laughed and laughed. That girl touches my heart....despite our large age difference, we just really connect on some sort of level. Probably our passion for running, our crazy lives, our similar dispositions. On Tuesday, my last day in California, we drove over to the Santa Cruz area and walked the beach. I love the ocean. Absolutely LOVE it!! Me and Lilly, Katie's doggie, had fun walking along the sand, picking up shells, and just savoring the beauty.
The smiles say it all! Love ya, Katie!!