Last Race of the Year

The last month has not been one my best for running.  My times have gotten slower and running and become less and less enjoyable.  My plantar fasciitis in my foot has been screaming.  I took some time off since my last half marathon and did a Thanksgiving 5K and ended up walking most of it.  At that point, I decided I needed to be super aggressive with my treatment.  I got some super heavy-duty arch supports and was wearing my shoes almost 24/7.  I slept in a splint but the moment I got out of bed it was into supportive shoes.  I also tried to do a lot of stretching my calves as well.  That has been going on for the last two weeks with absolutely no exercise what so ever.  


Today was my last race of the year.  I couldn't resist doing it since it was happening in my neighborhood and I could walk to the starting line.  I mean even I can't come up with an excuse to get out of that one.  Because of my injury though I signed up for the 1.2 miler.  I have never done a 1.2 mile race before so that's a race I can check off my race list.  I managed to do 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking.  I avoided looking at my watch for my pace and just listened to my body.  I was very pleased to finish the race in 14 minutes without any pain in my foot.  The great thing about this race, besides being outside my front door, is that the 5K, 10K, and 1.2 miler started all at the same time.  This meant my finish time allowed me to finish BEFORE all the speedy 5K people.  So I got a chance to watch them finish when usually I see those people walking to their cars while I am still on the course.  That was a nice change of pace.


Now with the last race race of the year under my belt, it's time to reflect on my accomplishments and set a vision for my running future in 2011.  Stay tuned...