Ice is not my homeboy.

Last Saturday I ran the Snapple High Cloud Half Marathon. The course is usually a nice soft and flat gravel trail in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Park.  However, due to several days of "wintery mix" prior to the race, instead of a comfortable gravel trail, we ran the race on about 2-4 inches of snow, ice and slush.  The snow and slush, while obviously wet and difficult to run in wasn't that bad, but the ice was really terrible.  Alternating between sheets of slick surfaces and jagged crags, it forced you to constantly keep your eyes glued to the ground at all times.  Around the last quarter of the race, when I could feel myself getting tired, I accidentally slammed my left foot down--hard--on a frozen jagged ice mound.  My foot landed at a funny angle and, because I was tired, I was probably landing harder than usual.  I felt a sharp pain on the outer top of my foot.  It hurt a lot, but it was one of those race-day things that you just accept and keep moving. 

Conveniently, for the next 48-72 hours following the race, I got really sick.  I slept for almost two days straight and barely put any weight on my foot at all.  But Wednesday, feeling much better and anxious to get moving, I tried to go for a run on the treadmill.  It seemed fine until about 3 miles in, and then it started to hurt more and more.  It's not swollen, but since then, the spot has been increasingly painful.  Also, since I was 1-2 miles a day to & form my office, and the icy crags on the ground haven't gone anywhere (if anything, they've gotten worse with the melting and re-freezing) I keep misstepping in the same way.  I probably usually land that way but never with enough force to cause pain or damage--until last weekend.  

 Hopefully this is not a severe or a prolonged injury.  The National Marathon is in under two months, and a training sabbatical would just not do.  Also, I need to try on and purchase new running shoes--a feat which is difficult when one foot is in pain regardless of the shoe you're running in.  Hopefully this weekend I can either rest & heal it, or miraculously feel better and have a nice long pre-superbowl run. (I'm crossing my fingers for the latter!)

Me on the Treacherous Ice

In the meantime, Ab Month is progressing. Day Two.

AB Month:
Morning Ab Workout
Plank: 1:08:55 (I've never actually timed a plank before.  I only really do them in classes at the gym & I just hold it as long as I can or until the instructor tells me I can stop. Everyday of Ab-Month, I'll try to do it for longer than the day before. 3min plank at the end of Ab-Month? Let's see!)