April 2018 Monthly Running Challenge

I had a great run to start the month. 20 miles of hilly, snowy, muddy trails.

It was a pretty interesting run. Just before I left the parking lot, a young guy pulled up next to me. He got out loudly singing a song in a language I didn't recognize. I saw he was a trail runner and we briefly spoke. I thought about asking him if he wanted to run with me, but with his youth and my ITB, I figured the paces wouldn't match so I wished him a great run and went on my way. Less than a mile in he caught up to me. I expected him to pass but we ended up running 15 miles together. It was fun to watch him run. On the downhills he's push his chest out and extend his arms like he was a little kid running for the joy of it. We didn't talk much, but we talked enough. It turned out he's a resident physician from the disputed region of the Himalayas. He made it sound like you could choose your nationality if you were born there, and his family was Pakistani. He went to med school in Pakistan and now lives in Minneapolis. When I found out he was from Pakistan I told him of my appreciation for the music of Nusrat Fatah Ali Kahn (any other Qawwali music fans here?) and he was surprised I even knew who he was. We had a great run together and traded phone numbers at the end.

After that I still had another 5 miles to go but went to my truck to get dry socks and shoes. It was then I noticed my right foot was completely wet and numb. I spent the next 45 minutes with the truck running to heat up my foot. It took a LONG time to get feeling back in it and for a time it was an ugly mottled white and dark red. I almost bailed out on the rest of my run but I really needed one more 20 mile run before my taper.

It took all the will power I had to get out of that nice, warm truck and back on the trail. All I wanted to do was go home and eat. I did get out, and it felt great having warm feet again, but that sitting in the truck must have tightened up my ITB and it was really acting up on my last loop. Again, I thought about bailing out but decided I'd likely face this same pain at Zumbro so it'd be good for me to power walk through it and see how it went. So, I power hiked for most of the last 5 miles to get my 20 in for the day.

April Progress: 20/150 miles.

I'd like to join! I'm training for a 10k in May right now. I have a 5k in 2 weeks. So my training plan gets me to 28 miles for the month of April. I'll shoot for that

Going for 100 km this month!

Welcome to all new members!

@katharmonic Thank you, and good luck with your taper and race!
@eponine1984 Oh no, I'm so sorry that you had to go through with that experience; it's beyond words.
@JessicaMcB Congrats on an excellent result at JaJa, and great pics!!!
@7lenny7 That took quite a bit of will power and true strength to get back out there after warming up; I most certainly would have caved and called it a day, lol!

---

Sunday, I stepped out of the shower and looked down to see a little swelling. Around my ankle. Not sure what I did, or when it happened, but this morning's run wasn't the hard run as planned (just to be safe) as I have less than two weeks before my race. I have a feeling it's a reaction from an insect bite, but I'm wearing a compression sock anyway to try and help things out.

02 - 15.39

Total: 15.39 / 280 miles

I'm so angry I don't even know where to begin. I should have known from the first word out of the orthopedist's mouth that he was a bad fit - my husband was wearing a 5k shirt and the doctor's first words were, "You're not a RUNNER?" We thought he was joking but he wasn't joking - he said he believed in treating conservatively which means I'm not supposed to to anything for the foreseeable future and likewise he will do nothing. I explained wanting to get better so I could run and he said he didn't recommend running at any time for anyone and that I should get my exercise from swimming or cycling instead. Too angry to communicate with him in a very helpful fashion, but I did eventually get him to recommend me to a sports doctor who might actually someday help me, who can't give me an appointment for another TWO WEEKS. I explained that I literally can't go without exercise because I'm not on medication and I control my diabetes through exercise, and he said "Two weeks of high blood sugar won't kill you."

4/1: 2.5 miles
4/2: 3.1 miles

My scheduled run for today was a 3 mile tempo, but of course, I let my watch go over to 3.01, and I couldn’t handle the unevenness; I was “that person” running in circles in front of my house until I hit 3.1.


Upcoming Races:
Wineglass Marathon 9/30