Last Run of the (choir) Season.

Last night was the end of choir season.  At  the end of the season, the Maryland State Boy choir hosts a festival that draws kids from all over!  Members of the  Newark Boy Choir,  the Ann Arbor Boy choir and many others have come to Baltimore for this year's fun.  While this is an awesome thing, it means that the usual waiting room is unavailable for the parents.  No biggie for the beginning of the evening, as I had plans to go running, despite my ongoing foot pain.  You heard me right.. Foot pain.  My plantar fasciitis has been quite bad lately.  Bad enough that I even tried wearing the odd boot in bed to see if it would help!

[caption id="attachment_2684" align="aligncenter" width="490"] I needed a picture here. I liked this one.[/caption]

Despite that, I was all set to run and had plans to meet up with my running partner!  Well, something came up and she couldn't make it (our plans  had been made as a maybe, so this wasn't anything shocking,)  but this put me in a quandary as I sat there on the steps of the church.  Do I and my only-thirty-five-percent-charged phone go running?  Or do I give my grumbling plantar fascia another day to rest?  I mean, I felt pretty generous giving it Thursday off, did it really need Friday too?  How generous did I have to be?  This PF is becoming as involved as a marriage!  (Though, if it were like a marriage I would totally be divorced and be on my rebound Plantar Fascia!  A nice young flexible plantar fascia.)

Well, I can't speak for the rest of you, but if I am sitting around in my running clothes, running IS going to happen.  Consequently I finished my whining to my wife via text (I may want to divorce and replace my plantar fascia, but my wife? She is a keeper!) and started my runtastic.  Now to interrupt this thought with a brief side note.

[caption id="attachment_2685" align="aligncenter" width="490"] I needed another picture here...
Now to go find my wind turbine generator for my next run.[/caption]

I love daily mile.  It allows me to save my running info in a social environment of like-minded people.  It gives me a "check" to compare the mileage that runtastic gives (or doesn't when I screw it up.). BUT (you knew there was a but....) There is one thing I dislike.  Using daily mile on a tablet or phone STINKS.  Trying to map out the route you ran is terribly frustrating.  Now, if you have a predefined route it is easy enough to put in.  (End of side note)  With that in mind, I decided to run the route I had put into daily mile for Wednesday's run (which wasn't correct for THAT day, but that is an entirely different story.  Based on daily mile, I knew that was a 4 mile loop (plus or minus a bit) with plenty of opportunities to take a side path and cut the loop short if my feet seemed to need it.  So with runtastic running, off I went!

Lake Montebello was empty compared to my last visit, so no dodging of others was needed.  I kept to the grass here, so my feet had a softer landing and everything seemed to be going well. I noticed as I ran that the looks/responses I got as a male running (compared to a man and a woman running, like on Weds.) were much less friendly.  Gwen and I got cheerful hellos and smiles.  Alone I got slightly intimidating (OK, one guy wasn't just intimidating, he was quite scary) or flat-out ignoring my existence.  I was out to run, not to socialize, so no biggie - but I found it interesting none the less.



From the lake I followed that same route through Herring Run park (port a potty was tipped over) and then back to the church.  The run felt really nice, but I have to admit I did not remember running through the lake.. So either I have developed the ability to walk on water (seem the map above), or I'm not Jesus, and my GPS didn't quite get it right.



Whether I am miraculous or not, I have to admit that that I am pleased with the pace I am keeping.  I was even more happy to see that from 5 minutes, to 15 minutes I was very consistent.  I would like to see my pace become more even, rather than having more hills and valleys than my elevation chart..

I felt good after the run, and did my stretching routine outside of the church. (Watched the Newark Boys Choir bus show up.. Their driver was from Florida.. driving from Newark, NJ to Baltimore, MD.  Took them 2.5 hours out of the way!)  and then used one of those shake up and squeeze Ice packs on my feet.  Not the best, but I figured it was better than nothing!

Today, my feet were sore.  I'm not sure that my left foot (the worse of the two) was as bad as yesterday, so I'm pretty pleased.    I have iced both feet, and with some liberal use of my footlog, they are both feeling pretty good.   I will repeat a couple of times today - and see how they feel tomorrow!  I am planning on NOT running today, and putting in my long run tomorrow.  Is there a better way to celebrate a birthday then running?