Short silly runs, big hills, sad dog

It's been 2 weeks since the Friehofer's and I have barely run. I took the week after off so I could rest my foot. It feels much better now, although it's not completely pain free. But now it's more that I am just aware of it, rather than out and out pain. When I stretch it in certain directions in hurts more. I'm pretty sure it's muscle and not a fracture. I don't think fractures go away on their own.

After the week off I started transitioning to my new Merrell Pace Gloves. It is a brutally slow process. It's pretty much like learning to run all over again. I can only run 1/4 mile or 2 minutes for the first 2 weeks. I'm in the second week of that. Last week I ran on both the treadmill and the driveway. After I got back from my Friday evening run I switched to the Pace Gloves and ran my 2 minutes on the treadmill. On Sunday when I came back I went back out with the Pace Gloves. I want to make sure that I test them on the road, but it's such a pain in the neck being limited to 2 minutes. This week I've decided to alternate runs instead of switching shoes. I did my "regular" run yesterday and then today did my Pace Glove run. But I didn't actually run in the Pace Gloves... it's recommended that you throw in some barefoot running in the first couple of weeks, regardless of whether you are transitioning to minimalist shoes or going all barefoot. Since I was doing it on the treadmill today I wore my injinji socks, no cushioning but I didn't have to worry about the 'mill getting too hot (although with only 2 minutes I don't know how much of a worry that is anyway.)

What I'm coming from

What I'm going to

My "regular" runs have been less regular too... I'm not training for anything, I don't need to get a certain number of miles or hit a particular pace, so I've done a lot of running with the Princess in the driveway, and yesterday I put Haze on the leash (and harness) and we ran around the yard. It was the most fun I've had running, but at the same time it was sad. She's not the puppy she used to be. I remember her pulling me around on the leash, but for most of the run she was doing a 12 minute pace. I told her she was slow and she did speed up to an 8:45 but she couldn't keep it up. We didn't even do a whole mile, but it was actually pretty taxing than just a mile on my own would have been. When we were done she immediately took a nap. We never really took the dogs on the leash because we have the fenced yard for them to pee in and they always ran around with each other. But without Isaac, all Haze does is lay around. She's lost weight from not eating as much. I thought she was only eating once a day, but Vader said it's been less. But after running with me yesterday, she ate her dinner last night AND ate her breakfast this morning. So I might have to do this more often with her. It's worth it to give up my regular mileage.

This sums up her activity on most days now.

Last Friday I ran the Big Hill on my road again and it just kills me. I had thought about riding Bridget's coattails and doing hill repeats, but quickly said Uh-uh. I was curious about the elevation so I uploaded my garmin data and compared the elevation graph from my road and the Freihofer's. There's a pretty big difference in the hills. See for yourself:

Elevation from the Freihofer's. There are hills but it doesn't look like any of them are more than a 40 foot difference.

My road. I did the hill twice during this run. I must have run a little bit further down the second time. In any event, there is a difference of roughly 150 feet for the first time and 180 for the second. 

I guess now I know why I kept waiting for the "big hills" at the race. Maybe if I did those hill repeats I could break 27 next year...

Hills

I've mentioned the big hill before. I worked very hard at coming up with a 3.1 mile route that avoided the hills on my road. As it is my road is very wavy (I thought those were hills before. They're not. But it is wavy.), so I really didn't want to run those hills. But now that I'm not training for anything in particular and my friends are all doing super long distances so nobody can really run with me anymore, I've decided to tackle the hill. In addition to that, I've added a 1/4 mile in the other direction each week.

By the time I got to the hill today I had already run 3.5 miles. Without stopping. That alone is big for me on my road. I have always had a really hard time not stopping. I think it was more of a mental block than anything else--I just had myself convinced that I couldn't run the entire thing. But now that I've added the hill I just can't walk before I even get there! So, anyway, by the time I get to the hill I've already run what I used to do TOTAL. The last couple of times I've wound up having to walk part of the hill and I was okay with that because doing any of it was progress. I've wanted to take some pictures of the hill, so today when I got to the bottom I stopped, stopped the watch, didn't move, and took a picture with my cell phone. Then I started the watch again, ran up the first leg of the hill, stopped again, took another picture, and then ran up the second part of the hill and kept going until I had done my 4.5 miles. Technically I didn't run it all in one bunch, but it took maybe 30 seconds, a minute, for me to snap a pic and get the phone back in my pocket. But because I had that tiny break I had the confidence that I could actually run up the whole thing. It surely wasn't fast, but I didn't walk it.

Unfortunately the pictures I took look like a nice flat road! I think next week I'll see if I can take a picture looking downhill, because really this is a HILL. And I want proof!

I don't know why I want proof. Other than the fact that this hill has grown to be so symbolic. I thought it was once insurmountable, but now I'm seeking it out. I'm running it. This hill represents all the worry about Vader's job, the worry that Shinesalot won't find a job out here, the worry that the Princess will need her tonsils out too, all of those worries that I have no control over, and I'm climbing it and leaving it behind.