Excuse Me, Does This Boot Come in Black?

Well, my big race for the year has come and gone--longest distance for the year, that is. We had our 25K Riverbank Run here in Grand Rapids on May 10. If ever you've wanted to travel for a race--this one is worth it. It's reportedly the largest 25K race in the U.S.--drawing elite athletes from all over the world. This year 2008 Olympian and fellow Michigander Brian Sell ran the race and took 1st place. Pretty cool. www.53riverbankrun.com

The day was beautiful--no winds, blue skies, great crowds. Temperature-wise, it was about 10 degrees warmer at the start than they'd predicted (it was 46 degrees), but we were still dressed fine. Jeanine, Annie, and I all ran the 25K, Chris ran the 5K, Andrea cheered us all on (she's 9 months pregnant--she deserves a break!). They added a 10K race on, as well, so we did have a few friends who were running that.

My left heel had been bothering me since our March 5K--the Irish Jig. I taped it up as always, laced up my shoes, and tried to tell myself it was fine. The tape didn't feel as supportive as usual, but I thought I was just second-guessing myself with race day nerves.

The race started--I couldn't find Jeanine or Annie, so I ran with two Riverbank Road Warriors (a program I trained with this year). We made sure to pace ourselves early so we didn't go out too fast--a problem I used to have on race day. Our first mile--9:53. Beautiful. I was hoping to average 10:30 minute miles overall. We brought it down a notch, but not too much, keeping up our conversation and just enjoying the run. It worked well for the first 7 miles. My 7 mile average -- 10:20 per mile. I have been able to negative split on longer runs, so I was pretty excited at that point. I told the gal I was running with to go on and I'd catch up--I wanted to slow a bit at that point to prepare for the hilly portion of the race and ease up on my foot.

Big mistake. When I slowed down, my arch seized up. My heel felt like someone shot a bullet through it. My achilles started pulling. I could barely put weight on it. I kept going, knowing I had no desire to be walking through the split mat at mile 7.87. But it was hard. I could see on my Garmin that my 1 mile lap time was starting to wane. Significantly. I kept trying to hobble between running and walking.

I got to The Hill and forced myself to run up it--I was trained to run the hills--no way was I walking it. So I pushed up it trying to focus my mind on the music I could hear from the crowd and not on the pain in my foot. I got to the top and started whispering a mantra of less-than-ladylike words. Another Road Warrior came up behind me and asked if I was ok. "Fine," I said, "keep going--you're doing great!" He walked with me for a bit--he was having a tough run himself. I'm sure he was surprised by my quiet cursing, as usually I'm the enthusiastic rah-rah runner of the bunch.

I started seeking out any grass or gravel I could find. One word of wisdom--do not run on bigger pepples and rocks if the bottom of your foot is in agony. Makes it worse.

Long story somewhat shortened--I ended up walking the majority of the last 6 miles of the race. I still ended up crossing the finish line with time to spare for a medal, which considering the 6 mile walk, was impressive, I suppose, but I was pretty depressed for the rest of the weekend. I had trained so well and so hard for this race. My time sucked-- 3:05:07 for 15.5 miles. EGADS! It was not the finish line experience I needed back (I raced this one in 2003 and got injured the past two years trying again for it). But I did get my finish medal (which, oddly, is much lighter weight than my 2003 medal, even though the design is still the same!)

I saw my orthopaedic doctor four days later--that actually made me feel somewhat better about my lousy time. When the P.A. showed me the x-ray--I saw a very nasty heel spur and a bone chip--yes, somewhere along the line bone had chipped off from a tug-of-war match with a tight tendon. Plantar fasciitis is bad enough, but add those other two to the mix, along with bursitis to give the spur something to dig into...OUCH. The P.A. had also run the race--she was surprised I made it to the finish line considering the foot. There is still a chance there is a stress fracture, so for the next month I am in a giant steel-gray aircast--aka The Storm Trooper Boot. Why can't they make these in black or brown? Or lighter weight? This thing weighs in at 3 pounds!

One positive thing? I have a good shot at getting that "most improved" award, presuming this heals up ok for me to do a half-marathon in the fall.