October 2018 Monthly Running Challenge

w6d3 of c25k done! Took a break because I had a small stomach bug. I also stretched post run, like one should. I'm %100 certain I'll be able to make my run goals for the month.

5 miles in 50 degrees, high wind and rain. The sad part is I still hate running in the rain. But the good news I'm learning to cope with it, plus I got to test drive my new Decathlon rain jacket and it is THE BOMB.

My most serious problem with rain runs is that I have sad diabetic feet and they are soft and get blistered instantly when they get wet, and then they don't heal very quickly. Since I would rather not end up an amputee I try to look after my feet, but that's hard when they can go from fine to shredded in about half a mile. If it's a shorter run I wear gore-tex trail shoes, but gore-Tex is stiff and heavy, and I would rather not wear it for a half marathon (and it looks like it might rain on race day) so I wanted to find a workable solution for my road shoes. Things I have tried that did not work: I tried double layered wicking non-blister guaranteed socks - well, they gave me blisters anyway. Tried plastering my feet with bandaids, the bandaids got wet, came off, and gave me blisters. Tried taping over bandaids with kt tape and they rubbed together and gave me blisters. Kt tape by itself, got blisters through the tape.

So, today's attempt - massive hydrocolloidal bandages over the entire inner side of my foot, silicone toe caps on my middle toes, feet thoroughly coated in body glide, the whole business encased in double layered socks. And it seems to have worked, mostly. One of the bandages partly detached, wrinkled and tried to cut into the already blistered part of my foot, but mostly it worked, with not very wet shoes over five miles. Whether it would work with sopping wet shoes for 13.1 remains to be seen.

The jacket is cool and makes me feel like a transformer. Not only is safety green my favorite color so that the accent color matches my shirt and headband, it has light reflecting strips, mesh zipper vents on the arms and waist, a backwards facing zippered pocket, overlapping vents all down the back, a watch window on the sleeve (conveniently labeled 'watch window'), soft sleeve liners with thumb holes, flippy bits to go over your fingers (which are absorbent so you can wipe your nose), and a detachable hood and buff. My previous rain jacket was advertised as "breathable" but after any distance it had as much moisture inside as out due to sweat, felt stiff and clammy, and was difficult to take off and deal with when it got too hot. This one started out nicely zipped when I was cold, I unzipped the arms and front vents after a couple of miles, and opened the front a little bit later. It never felt bulky or too hot or clammy, and it kept the water properly out even without using the hood - I hate the feeling of limited perception from a hood, so I wore a hat with a visor instead. It's supposed to be in the 40s on race day and the jacket should work nicely if it's raining. I know some of the folks here think 40 degree rain is t-shirt weather, but I haven't had time to get adjusted to this - a week ago it was in the high 90s here!

Also, the server at the restaurant where we stopped after running complimented my jacket. She said, "Wow, you look so sporty!" My husband says it makes me look like some sort of coach, maybe. I'll take that. So a win on the sartorial front as well.

Other than the rain and wind it was a great run. We are getting used to the "hill of doom" at the new park. It's no picnic but no longer does it feel like Heartbreak Hill. 10:30 pace which is about thirty seconds faster than we usually go for an easy pace, with negative splits. So feeling pretty good.

There was a cross country track meet, which mostly paralleled the paved trail with a few detours, and we saw one unfortunate young man who was searching for the sign for the turn-off, and waved and hollered until he got going in the right direction again. For reasons known only to him and his coach he was barefoot and wearing only shorts. Since we also saw a juvenile cottonmouth spank in the middle of the trail today this is not too cool of an idea. My husband got a stick and tried to encourage the snake to leave but he coiled up and stayed right where he was, sluggishly due to the cold. Hopefully he won't get flattened by a bicycle and/or stepped on. There are also tons of blackberries back there, as well as an abundance of poison ivy. Not the best place to run barefoot!

We also saw a herd of deer down by the creek. The buck stomped at us. I think he was about done with trail runners after the cross country race went by.