Well, I think the best way to let you know what the last week has been like is to take you through a day-by-day replay. You seasoned runners know how your body reacts to big challenges, but I know there are folks who read that don't know anything about it, so I'll cue you in on how my body reacted. And of course, as promised, it's a long one. Riveting I'm sure, but long.
Background:
In case you aren't a loyal follower of my blog (shame on you) or you haven't been subjected to my in-person and/or Facebook whining, let me fill you in. Last Sunday, May 1, I participated in and completed a half-marathon in the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. It was my first half-marathon, and about 8 miles in to the 13.1 miles, I declared it to be my last. It was an extremely painful experience. Rain + hills and hills and hills + under-training = ouch. But I finished. Read all about it in my blog post here, written Sunday evening after the race.
Monday:
I totally made it through a day of work, y'all. And I didn't do it from the comfort of my couch, which was my contingency plan. Yes, working from home would have been a really easy option considering what my body was doing, but something made me want to go in. I wanted to say, "HA! I'm here! I survived! I made it and I made it to my cube! Look at my nasty feet!" Granted, I probably would have gotten more work done if I had worked from home; I spent most of the day recalling the Pig's terrible-ness to the wonderfully supportive folks in my department. But they donated to Fernside, so they deserved to hear the full story, right?
Monday was an extremely wobbly and wonky-walking kind of day. My feet felt bruised on the bottom, my toenails hurt (more on this in a bit), and my hips--OHHHH my hips! They were very sore and stiff, which prevented me from making fast movements (like getting out of people's way as they walked quickly down the hallway). Sitting down was very comfortable. Taking the first few steps after getting up? Not so much. The surprising thing was that my "usual" pain spots didn't hurt. My lower back was peachy keen--no problemo. My legs felt just fine.
Another surprise was the sore muscles in my middle and upper back and shoulders. See, during the last mile-ish of the Pig, I was in so much pain (feet and ankle) that I was completely clenched from my fingertips, up my arms, across my shoulders, and down through my legs, all in an effort to alleviate the pain.
No worries, though. I lathered Biofreeze all over myself for the second night in a row, including on my legs. (For future reference, Biofreeze on your legs at bedtime makes for a FRIGID hour under the blankets. Talk about shivers!)
Tuesday:
I made it to work again on Tuesday, and I wore my gym shoes in the office again (one of the benefits of tearing your feet to pieces in a half-marathon). My shins started to feel a little cramped. My feet still felt really tender on the bottom and my toenails continued to hurt. But, the nails weren't falling off. Both Monday and Tuesday, there were several times where I would have preferred the nails to fall off, because surely it would have been more comfortable than what I felt. My two big-toe nails were throbbing (or rather what's under the nails).
Despite the feet/nail issue, I was moving just a bit better. I still hobbled when I got out of my desk chair, but it took me far less time to loosen up and walk more smoothly. Still couldn't change direction quickly, though, and my hips were still sore and stiff. Shoulders/back = still sore.
Tuesday night, while I was sitting on my living room floor going through some paperwork, I was playing with my feet (as I'm sure we all do when we sit on the floor) when I felt a mysterious stickiness on my toes. What the ...?
As I yelped into the phone when I called my BFF Jeff (a seasoned dancer and therefore feet-issues-quasi-expert), "MY TOENAILS ARE LEAKING!"
Oh yes, that's right ... leaking toenails.
I'm sorry, did you just eat dinner? Oops ...
I don't know if I figured it out Tuesday night or Wednesday, but I deduced that I had big fat blisters under my big-toe nails. Really? Blisters under my toenails? Talk about a new experience. Not on my heel, not on the bottom of my foot, not on the side of my toe. No. Under the toenails. The leaking and discomfort has continued through until today. After trimming my nails last night (while trying to NOT cut the blister skin), the pain has decreased greatly. And I only leaked once today that I know of. Blech.
Wednesday:
I had plans to work from home Wednesday because of a mid-day appointment, so I didn't have to endure another wobbly day in the office, but I did do something pretty impressive Wednesday evening. I ran! Yay!
I knew that my body was ready. And I knew that some marathon recovery plans included a light run on the third day. So I hit the pavement. I planned to meet my cousin, Autumn, at Veterans. She wanted to get started on Couch to 5K and I knew that I could handle those intervals. Well, I got to the park about 10 minutes early and decided I'd take a few laps around the small loop (about a quarter-mile loop). I most definitely ran at a good, quick clip around that little loop. Twice. And it felt good. I felt my knee tweak at first (something that is still plaguing me and terrifying me), and my stride was a little wonky for the first lap, but I eventually found my legs and pounded the laps out. I also did the 2-mile (30-minute) workout with Autumn, who did a great job, with no problem. Yay!
Thursday:
Got better. Toenail pain increased. Nothing spectacular.
Friday:
Only sporadic wobbling, back/shoulder pain gone, toenails hurt worse and still oozing. So, I decided to head to The Little Clinic to rule out/determine infection and to find out how to treat the bad boys. An antibiotic prescription, 3 packs of bandages, and a monster bag of Epsom salt later, I walked out of TLC in the Kroger store and went about my business.
Saturday:
All other race-related pains are gone by this point. I soaked my feet a few times and put my running shoes on and hit the pavement again. I set out to do two miles of "speed work." I only did one. But that one mile was FAST! I so wish I would have timed it.
Sunday:
Soaked the feet some more. The toenails were still oozing. I headed out for a day with Mom on Mother's Day and finished the day with a 3-mile run at my pre-race pace/effort. I was a little bummed at my finishing time (41 minutes), but then my mom reminded me that it was my first run like that since well before the Pig. In that case, I'm totally happy with the time.
And more importantly, I'm so ready to run some more.
Future:
I feel like I'm on the cusp of some kind of breakthrough here. Now that I know I'm happy with 5K races and maybe the occasional 10K, I want to focus on improving my times and effort at those distances. I want to do hills and speed work and focus on my form (which, according to an article in this month's Runner's World, isn't so bad). I'm excited about what's ahead of me.
After that heinous half-marathon experience, my biggest victory at this point is that I still want to run. FOR THE WIN!
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