I'm Icing My Foot

[I started writing this post two months ago am only finishing it now. My foot still hurts a little, but I'm still running.] 

Greetings from the couch, dear reader. I have a sore throat, and I am a little worried that I have a stress fracture in my foot. I am icing it and wearing a boot, and I made an appointment with the podiatrist (but that's two months out, so I expect the situation will have changed by then.) How did this happen? 

The short version is: I ran a lot. 

The long version is: I ran Hashawha Hills 50K Feb 28 (see my previous blog entry), Elizabeth Furnace 50K March 14, Hone Quarry 40-miler March 28, and Gorge Waterfalls 100K April 11.

The full-length version is:

Elizabeth Furnace 50K was a nice VHTRC fatass. I got a ride out there with H & N. I started out at the very front--the instant I pulled up my shorts from a poop in the woods that happened to be in the direction of the course, people ran by me--I guess we're going! Obviously that didn't last long. I ran a decent amount of the race with H. She's faster than me on flats and moderate climbs, but slower than me on descents. The race finishes with a long rocky descent, so I finished ahead of her by a few minutes. I finished 13 minutes faster than last year. 


Everyone else in VHTRC could tell you where this race is (Bird Knob? "Elizabeth Furnace," probably) but to me it's all just "the Massanuttens." Dumb and rocky, but it's a national forest not a national park, so that's where the events are. A nice day with friends.

Recovery was no big deal. I did 296 miles in February, and 366 in March (a bit of that was biking, so it's not a crazy jump.) 

Amy came to town and we went to Harrisonburg for the weekend. We got an AirBnB right on the course of Hone Quarry 40-miler. The weather was absolutely perfect for running hard: 40's and sunny. I switched from pants to shorts around halfway. The course was gorgeous. Aside from there being literally no food at the finish line, it was really an excellent race. The trails there are very nice, especially compared to the "dumb and rocky" Massanuttens. With about four miles left, somebody caught up to me. Or rather, he tried to, and I said no. I started running sub 7-minute pace, my marathon PR pace. As we passed the AirBnB I yelled "hey Amy there's two miles left come pick me up!" and kept the pedal pinned to the floor. She drove past me and honked right as I cut through the final cow pasture to the church rec center field and finish line in 8:05, about 40 seconds in front of the next guy. 




We drove home, I dropped off the rental car, and ran home. I ran a 99-mile training week. My left foot started hurting. Makes sense, given how I ran so hard at the end of the race on pavement, but not too concerning. It was time to taper for my big April race, Gorge Waterfalls 100K, anyway. I probably wouldn't have tapered much if I'd been feeling good, but it made sense to dial it back. 

I ran 40 in the week after Hone Quarry, and then 17 in the week leading up to Gorge. I was really regretting my decision to fly to Portland the night before the race. I had a headache before I even headed to the airport. The flight was tiresome, but I slept a bit, and felt better by the time I got to my friend's house. I slept for maybe four hours, 10:30-3am, but to my pleasant surprise, I didn't feel terrible.

The race started smoothly. I took a wrong turn with some friends, but quickly resolved it. I got dropped by those friends. I fueled consistently, had a nice chat with a guy from Washington state, and finished just over 14 hours, which is my normal decent 100K time. So that's nice.

The trail goes behind waterfalls

 

I spent the next day walking around Portland. I got lunch with an old hiker friend and his partner. I did a sweat test at a bike shop which revealed that I am a salty sweater--the result was that I am a very salty sweater, so I should probably be taking in far more sodium when I'm running long races. 


 

I got a little sick after the race, but not terribly so. It's now months later, I'm sorry, I don't remember much else. I think Gorge is an OK race. It's pretty, but it's not the prettiest thing in the Columbia River Gorge, and you run parallel to I-84 for the first 2/3 of the race, so it is way, way too loud for too long. It was a lot of fun to do it with several DC friends, and I got to see two Portland friends--that, and not the course--is was made it worth it to run. 

Old PCT friend, Bridge of the Gods



  

 

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