One of my nightmares came true :-(

So since my last post we had a 26.2 training run.  We dropped the kids at my parents and headed to the Delaware Canal towpath.  It's awesome for long runs although more flat than I would like.  We always park in New Hope and hop on it there.  I find the scenery awesome and also the fact that we get to run over a couple bridges into Jersey and back again.  The towpath runs along the Delaware river on both the PA and NJ sides.  And it's sandwiched between the Delaware River and the canal.  Anyway everything was going great.  The weather was amazing!  It was probably around 60, sunny.  I actually ended up taking off my shirt and running in my tank since I got so hot.  It was pretty interesting because the day before there was prob about an inch of snow so parts of the trail were muddy, other parts that didn't get much sun yet were snow covered or icy.  Anyway we crossed back into PA at Washington Crossing.  This was around mile 18-19.  Up til this point, we were at 945 pace overall and it was good.  Then all the sudden somewhere between 19-20, my legs felt like lead.  I was also SUPER thirsty.  I had my hydration pack filled to the brim with tailwind however I was craving plain water, which of course I didn't have.  I also began having a nagging pain on the inside of my left foot.  I'm pretty sure I strained a ligament in there when we were skiing as the day after skiing I had experienced the same pain.  I SUFFERED the rest of the way, it was not pretty!!! I had told Emir to go ahead because I didn't want to ruin his run.  In the end I ended up finishing with a time of 4:30 which isn't awful but overall was so disappointed because it was such a terrible run.  I guess I should also mention that earlier in the week I did my sunday 10 miler on Monday because I was exhausted due to Una having me up all night.  Pretty sure that didn't help my case as I ended up with a 60 mile instead of 50 mile week.  Ohhh well.  So I learned my lesson that maybe 60 mile weeks are a little above me right now and also for runs more than 18 runs I need plain water in addition to my tailwind ;-)

The rest of the week I could still feel that nagging in my foot but it was pretty dull and didn't stop my runs from being overall pretty good.  I've also been sticking too my better eating habits and have dropped a couple more pounds (yay!) aside from a st patty's day outing with friends the other night ;-) 

Then came Sunday, the run from hell!!  I have NEVER not been able to finish a run before until Sunday's 14 miler.  I ran 10 on Saturday no problem, felt great.  Then on Sunday I was chugging along fine for 6.5 made my turn and headed up to the upper trails.  It's been a few weeks since I've been up there so I wanted to log some miles on the trails.  After about a half mile, my foot had shooting pains through it.  It was intense.  I've pushed through my really bad shin splint pain before but this was excruciating.  I knew I had to get off of the trail.  It took another half mile or so to get back down to the main flat trail.  I stopped down there, stretched my foot out a bit and gathered myself.  I started running again and the pain started again.  AHHH I couldn't take it.  I called my husband.  He encouraged me to do some walking and try running every so often and see how it goes.  The point where I was, was about 2.5 miles from a place he could pick me up and 5 miles from my car.  So I walked a while.  I was sweaty so of course I started to get freezing since it was probably around 40, cloudy and a stiff breeze.  I would start running every so often.  My foot would seem ok for a couple minutes then the pain would return.  When I was 1 mile away from the place he could pick me up, I called him back.  I knew it would be bad for my foot and I might turn into a popsicle if I tried to make it all the way to my car.  He said no problem (love him!) Once I got off the phone I started running again.  This time I made it probably a good .75-1 mile.  The foot was only a bit naggy but much better compared to what it was.  In the end I made it 10.5 miles out of my 14 mile run.  I am disappointed but in reality was I really never going to miss a run or have to shorten a run in my whole life?!?!  I don't think so.  So time to get over it and get my foot ready for Sunday which is the Ocean Drive Marathon down the shore.  I'm pretty sure doing the very uneven terrain on the upper trail is what set my foot off.  I think I'll be ok for now on road but our 50 K is only a month and a half away and that is ALL trail.  So for now I am rolling, icing and stretching the crap out of my foot!!!!!