Sidelined

I can't run!!! Actually, I can, but I'm afraid hurting myself more. I'm fine when I run, but then the next day my foot hurts.

In the previous post, I mentioned that I thought I hurt my sciatic nerve--I had pain from my butt to under my big toe. That was about 3 weeks ago. After the 10 mile run in Minneapolis, I took a week off. I woke up on Sunday with not even a twinge and the next day ran 3.5 miles with my running group. After that run, I may have had a smidgeon of an ache in my arch. The next day (Tuesday) I ran/walked 3:2 for 20 minutes. That was my last run, because my foot hurt and my calf felt tight. My running coach advised me to take two weeks off; I'm in my second week.

This is making me very nervous for Big Sur! I have not run any further than 10 miles and although I gave up any delusions of running for time, I would like to finish and get a medal. Big Sur is 8 weeks away and Rock N Roll is 13. Yikes!

My shoes are new, so I don't think they're the problem. Although maybe they are. I actually have two pair--Asics Gel 3000, which are stabiity shoes that I wear on the road and longer runs, and Adidas Supernova Cushion. The Adidas don't offer any support and I was wearing them on that ill-fated treadmill run. I also wore them yesterday as I used the elliptical for an hour. I noticed that my foot starting hurting on the elliptical, even though there is no impact. I guess I'll just run in the Asics, when I start running again. I've been lucky in not getting injured and I hope this is a passing phase.

It was great to see AmyBee and go to Spirit of the Marathon with her. And it was cool to be in a theater full of runners! I loved that movie and got a kick out of how much of the lingo I got. I was amused how even Deanna Kastor got excited over a new pair of running shoes. And of course, I related to the back of the packers. But mostly I just related to the runners, regardless of their talent, and that was a good feeling.

In other news, Spring is coming to the Central Coast. The fruit trees are flowering; they smell great and look so pretty! And wildflowers are blooming on my property. Mostly lupine, but some California poppies. We haven't done any landscaping yet, and the weeds are coming up as well. I don't want to cut anything down, though, until I know what it is.

I spent the weekend taking care of two dogs for my friend. She had to leave for the weekend and I offered to feed them. They are not well-behaved so for the first couple of days I wouldn't put them in my truck, I just fed them at their house and walked them around their yard. But on Sunday I loaded them into the back of the truck and tied their leashes so they couldn't jump around. I let them run loose on my land, since it's all fenced. They loved it and never seemed to tire of running around. It's been 28 years since I've had a dog and I'm ready for one, but SD wants to wait a couple of years. He wants to be able to travel when he retires and doesn't want to have to find a caregiver for the pets whenever we want to go somewhere. And putting them in a kennel will be too expensive. Anyway, it was fun to have some canine company and to see how happy they were to run around. They're only a year old, so have lots of energy!

I allowed myself to go look at bikes the other day. I've been avoiding them, since we didn't have the money to buy one, but now we're getting close to having the money. I found a couple of Felt bikes that I'm considering. One is a women's specific bike, and has good componenets. I like the idea of women's geometry, especially since I'm under 5'4", but this bike has pink trim and I've never been a fan of pink and black. Pink and white, maybe. The other bike is an affordable all-carbon, but it's more unisex. I'm leaning towards that one, even though the WSD comes with slightly better components. I guess I'll just have to go for a test ride and see how they feel.