A Mile or More in My [Running] Shoes

Central Park was packed tonight! There were huge running groups everywhere. It was awesome to see so many people out enjoying the weather and moving their bodies.

Sunday was a rest day and I didn’t run last night for no real reason in particular, so after two days without running I was really happy to put my shoes on and head downtown to Columbus Circle. I did my usual 3 clockwise laps of the lower loop with a pretty quick pace.

The run was great, but I’m realizing that the blisters I’ve been plagued with are more of a problem than I originally thought. As long as I’ve been running I’ve gotten blisters on my right arch. I have double layer socks that work wonders, but I’m still susceptible to blisters on long runs. I currently have 3 blisters of various “ages” on my foot. One is currently a callus, but after my long run this weekend, a new blister has formed underneath it. (I’m holding out hope that the rest of them just callus over as well…)

I was fine for the first 3-3.5 miles, but it became a bit of a nagging pain as I continued. Now, I know my feet will never be pretty, but I would like to have healthy feet and I would like to be able to run without having to worry about hobbling as I near the end. Does anybody have thoughts or recommendations? Has anybody else had problems with blisters?

…make sure to take your twice daily snort of Nasonex. As a severe seasonal allergy sufferer, you don’t have the luxury of just being able to forget things like that from the months of March-November.

Central Park was beautiful tonight. I didn’t even mind that I had to break out the long sleeves and cropped running tights again. So lovely.

Given how congested I was and how tight my chest felt, this run didn’t feel like a great run until I hit mile 4. And then I finished the run and looked at my watch. I did it again…

Tonight’s run was inexplicably fast. I really need to rein it in a bit. While I like seeing such low numbers when I plug my Garmin in, I know it’s not necessarily a good thing to run fast all the time. I think later this week I’ll run some hill repeats. (Can’t run too fast on hills.) The only thing I can point to that may have had something to do with my running like a mad woman was my afternoon spent perusing marathon training plans. I’ve got the NYC Marathon on my mind and I don’t care who knows it! 

So this morning I failed to wake up to run my 4-5 miles… BUT I promised myself a good ass kicking once work was over. 

I strapped on my shoes and hopped on the train to Columbus Circle. Once I got there, I ran. According to my Garmin, my first mile was done in 7:54. (Whoa Nelly!* Pull it back…) I slowed to an 8:20 pace and then realized that that was still a little too fast and then I settled in to a pace around 9:00. Three sweaty laps of the Lower Loop (5.01 miles and 43:58) later, I realized that I had completed one of my best runs to date. 

My running has been inconsistent, and I have been, well, there’s really no other word for it, lazy. If I’m going to do as well as I would like to do in my 25k, I really need to buckle down and get serious about my training. A little over 100 days to go until the Fifth Third River Bank Run and I am going to work my ass off to get a PR. (I know, I know… It’s my first 25k, automatically a PR, but I would love to break my half marathon PR time in the process.)

I’ve also upped the ante when it comes to strength training. I’ve added the Insanity workout and while I find myself wanting to switch kick Shaun T. in the balls most of the time, I’m liking the way I feel when it’s done. (Even if it means I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning.) 

So that’s where I am with my running and everything. A bit of a bummer that I couldn’t get my run in this morning, but it seems like the extra sleep came in handy and I totally redeemed myself with tonight’s run. 

*”Whoa Nelly”??? Really? Am I 80?