6km, Foot Doctors, and Ultramarathonman

After a most frustrating day at the computer, where I was forced to miss both my regular swim at lunchtime, and my weights, I am back and ready to go for the week and a half heading into my cherry popping race. On top of the above, I seem to have had a recurrence of the cold that jumped me two weekends ago, and then kind of hit me again over the Thanksgiving weekend. I wanted to go swim in the evening, but crashed hard and just couldn't manage the energy to bike downtown.

My foot, as I mentioned before, is tight on the bottom and it sure feels like something that only major rest will solve. Therefore, I decided to see what an expert can do for me and will be seeing a foot specialist tomorrow morning. I hope that this Doctor can get me through the race and onto a recovery plan. I dread him telling me to stop running all together and miss the race!

Also, I finished Dean Karnazes Ultramarathon Man in about a day, and haven't talked about my impressions yet. This book, ironically, is more of a sprint than a marathon, isn't it? I am a sllllooooowwww reader, but I had this thing done by Saturday evening, having picked it up Friday after work and only reading a couple of pages once I arrived in Ottawa after midnight. In any case, I very much enjoyed this book. It did not preach to me to choose a more endurance oriented lifestyle, which I kind of expected. Instead, it was a great confession on Dean's part and definitely served to motivate me to keep running, no matter what. I know all the others who've read this have recommended it on their blogs, but I will do the same here. If you already haven't, READ IT!!! And try eating a pizza and a whole cheesecake while running - add that to my bucket list. Well, at least the cheesecake part...

Tonight I continued to deal with Microsoft issues, but have now entered that state of resignation that I figure a condemned man must experience on his way to the gallows. I simply don't care anymore and don't have the energy to care. I got home at 5:30 and started in on the project, neglecting my kids and wife terribly. Then, just as I came to some sort of compromise, I realized it was almost 8pm and I still hadn't eaten anything, and I hadn't gotten my run in.

So I headed out the door for a scheduled 5k. It had rained in the meantime, and the streets were nicely cleaned, the air was clean, everything seemed clean. I started off and quickly realized I'd forgotten my heart rate monitor strap. I said to hell with it and went on feel. This was definitely the right move. Sometimes running just seems like the most perfect thing one can do, and tonight, foot pain and all, it was one of those magnificent times. I loved running! I had so much fun just... running! A cyclist even shouted out to me at one point, asking me how far I was running, and I responded with a smile rather than the usual suspicious stare/glare that I am accustomed to as an urban dweller. The urge to say, "None of your business, shitbox!" didn't even surface! Amazing...

I ended up running 6k because it was so nice, and my pace was a decent 5:16/km. The foot may feel it tomorrow, but I figure the doctor wants to see me in pain and not miraculously healed overnight. (I think this was a topic of one of my other posts back in the month of knee issues...)

Garmin don't lie.

The google image of my run.