Saturday, October 31, 2009

'I gotta beat the bananas!'

Its been almost a week since I've posted anything, but that's because nothing exiting has happened. I have noticed that my left forefoot between the third and fourth metatarsals start getting numb as early as 20 minutes but as late as 35 minutes into my run. I can still run on them, but it eventually feels like I'm running on my ankles. I've never tried running any longer than 1:10:00 like that, but it isn't painful, although sometimes it stings pain. I looked on the internet and they said it could be one of five things: (1) due to new shoes, (2) due to old shoes, (3) Morton's Neuroma, (4) a prerequisite to Type II diabetes and death is immanent, (5) a prerequisite to a stroke and death is immanent. I ruled out 2, 4, and 5 right away. I bought some forefoot gel cushions, but ran without them yesterday. I only went 20 minutes, but left them out for the race today because I had no ill effects yesterday.

Today I ran the Monster Dash 10 miler, my second in October. It was cold, like low 30's at the start. I was one of the few people who wore shorts for the race, but it turned out to be a good choice. In fact, I was thinking that I should have wore a singlet the first five miles of the race. It was a loop course, which I was not too fond of on a windy day like this morning was. Going back was just brutal. I did my first 6 in 45- 50ish, but fell apart from there. Maybe it was the hills, maybe it was the wind, or the fact that I had not taken any water until 4 and a half miles, but I was set up for an epic collapse. So, the title. I ran my first mile in 9:45 because I was stuck behind a good 100 people slower than me. My dad saw me at the 1st mile mark, and at that point there was a bunch of bananas in front of me by about 200 meters. I shouted ' I'VE GOT TO CATCH THOSE BANANAS' at the top of my lungs and then proceeded to pass them (I ended up beating them by a good 15 minutes) and then ripping off several 8 minute miles.

The turnaround point was just brutal too. You went up a hill for about 300 meters, took a right, went up another hill for another 300 meters, and then dropped that distance over a course of 400 meters or so. That was the beginning of the end. I mostly just walked the water stops, but when I started walking, its tough to get back running. No foot problems though, which was an absolute godsend. The crowd support was sparse, it was like there was a mile where there was nobody, then there was a ton of people for a half mile, and so on. Plus, I ran 1:26:13, which is almost a four minute PR! plus, I won the 15-19 age group! I'm excited!!

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