4 is better than 2

I would like to say I felt great, but I was not moving very well today, just kind of flat.  I'm ok with this, but it would be nice to go through a taper and actually feel great - this is common for me.  We did a set of 5x2 min, pace was moderately slow, but fast enough to feel like we did some work.  I can't wait to run, the week before the marathon is brutal!!

5 easy miles. I felt a little sluggish getting going, but really good at the end.  My legs are feeling better and I am ready to run!

Planned day off. 

Through in a couple 2 min reps to open the legs back up after the drive down to St. George. I felt fair on the first and good on the second.  My lungs are a little congested, but I think that will clear in the next day.  I think the body is ready to roll!

Ready to roll!!!  I am ready to be done tapering, and I am ready to run - yea!!!!!  Good Luck to All!!

First, a congratulations to all the bloggers out there who had outstanding races, what an amazing day for many of you.

My day was not quite what I had envisioned, but I will take solace in the fact that I did at the very least cross the finish line.  The race started well enough with a 5:47 first mile, about where I wanted to be, I figured I could run pretty comfortably around 5:50 pace and maybe a bit faster on the downhill sections.  I stayed on goal pace until Veyo, I just wanted to cruise through the climbs and focus on hammering the downhills.  Besides having frozen hands I was not feeling too bad, but my pace through the hills was much slower than I would have liked.  At about 14 my left achilles started getting tight, I did not think too much of it, but it kept getting tighter and tighter as the race went on.  By 16 I was limping and had to stop and stretch.  The stretch helped a little, but by 18 I was limping full on and not able to push at all.  My altered stride started to affect my IT band on the same side and before I knew I was stopping and stretching every mile or so.  I thought of dropping out at this point, but there was no way down so I continued to limp my way through.  At this point I was only running 8:30 miles and hurting every step.  By the time I reached 24 I figured I could still run under 3 hours and picked up my hobble to pace that would allow be to finish under 3 hours.  

I really had better expectations for the day, but I made a commitment to finish and I did.  By the afternoon my left foot was sore enough that I was barely able to walk at all, but it will heal as will my ego.  I will now focus on getting healthy and make another attempt in the not too distant future.

Again, a special thanks to all the kind words from all you bloggers, and to Travis Hildeband for yelling at me not to quit.  This is an amazing community, and I am proud to be a part of it and to have met so many great people! 

OUCH!!!!! The foot is not good, I cannot walk without a limp and significant pain.  To add insult to injury, my quads are unbelievable sore too.  I spent a little time swimming today, that helped loosen things up a little bit.

Foot is still not good, although I stretched a lot this evening and it did help quite a bit.  I can walk on it, kind of!  More time in the pool today, that helps make everything feel quite a bit better. I am not planning on running until at least next week.  I suppose I should be able to walk before I can plan on running!!

Soreness is dissipating, left quad a bit tender still.  Foot is still a little sore, but feels better after stretching.  Will plan on starting to run next week - yea!

First attempt at running in a couple weeks.  The foot is still sore, but it did allow me to run, kind of!  I was very slow, but compared to a week ago, I have significantly less pain.  Pipeline.

A little better than yesterday, the foot was still sore, but I was able to push off a little better and a few less stops to  stretch.

On pipeline again.  Still having a fair amount of pain, but a large improvement from Tuesday.  The flex work I have been doing seems to be helping. 

Best run I have had this week, pain was almost marginal. I hope this is a step in the right direction.  I did a lot of flexibility work before I ran, it helps when the foot is actually mobile!!  I actually pushed a little on the run.

Pipeline.  I did not run yesterday and did not do much in regards to mobility and I paid for it.  The foot was tight and quite sore for the first 3 miles.  I ran into Bill on the trail, I hope he gets healthy soon. On the way back, the foot felt better, but still not completely pain free.  I go back and see Dr. Baker tomorrow, whatever he did last week made an enormous difference, I will hope for the same again tomorrow.

Out on Pipeline again.  Foot was tender today, much more so.  Again, it felt better toward the end, but I need to change my approach a bit.

Up in Park City.  Trying a little different shoe, I  want to see if I stabilize the foot a bit more, if I can get a little bit more control.  It felt like I was running in a pair of bricks, but the pain was not as bad as yesterday.  This should be an interesting test.

About the same as yesterday.  It was a beautiful day for a run, the foot was marginally better, but still tender.