Sunday, June 17, 2007

A Run with Forrest

First off I want to thank everyone for the good thoughts and suggestions on the foot and ankle pain. I really want to thank David and Ryan for their suggestions. I've stretched this week like I've never stretched before and the frozen bottle of water has gotten a lot of use on the soles of my feet. I've even sat on the floor, rested my calf and achilles tendon on the bottle and rolled back and forth on that. Things have not worsened for sure and even seem to be getting a little bit better. Kim, if you're reading, check out their comments on the last couple of posts, hopefully it will help you too.

My mileage is still on the low side with only 16.5 miles on the legs this week in three runs. I did take the (mountain) bike out on the roads Monday evening for 11 miles in 55 minutes or 12 mph. Not exactly burning up the rubber, but it was good to be out there. Tuesday and Wednesday were exactly like last week, 3 miles each day mostly on dirt in 8:40-ish pace.

Saturday was another excellent running day with the CA Cruisers. We ran the loop around the Newport Back Bay. I'd last run this route with Jeff back in August of 2006, my how time flies. I had decided to wear some newer Trance 6, from Brooks. I'd bought these back in March and had only worn them about 20 miles so far. I really wasn't fond of the styling and even though I've always worn a size 10 in Trances from NXR, NXS, and NXT, these seemed big and clunky. I was hoping that their "stability plus" rating would be beneficial to my PF symptoms of last week. The Back Bay loop is a good 10 miles and because it's a loop around a body of water there is no short cutting the thing no matter how bad you feel. If the feet started hurting at 5 like they did last week, those last 5 wouldn't be pleasant.

We had a pretty decent showing this morning with plenty of people for me to run with. Jay was there, as was Jim and so were Julie and Gary who I hadn't seen in months. We all ran loosely together in various groups. Along with us regulars was a new guy, Forrest (I'll resist the obvious one liner). Forrest is the 16 year old son of another member of the group. Jay teased him about being able to run much faster than us "old" guys, but Forrest knew what he was in for. Since his Mom and grandfather were both runners he knew that slow and steady was the way to treat the long run. Between the five of us in the lead pack we all took turns kind of looking after Forrest.

Forrest is in training for the Disneyland Half Marathon in September, his first. He's a member of the marching band at his high school and works out with weights. Couple that with youth and he was in decent shape. He had recently gotten fitted for running shoes at the local Snail's Pace store.

By the time we had hit 6 miles we had already tackled the hills of the run. Forrest was with Jay at that point and was beginning to tire. Jay pointed out a small shortcut through a parking area that saved him about 1/2 a mile. When Julie, Gary and I caught him next he had run out of fluid. Julie and I ran with him and found out that except for one 8K race he had never run more than 3 miles; no wonder he was tired. We were both a little surprised that his Mom hadn't eased him into this a little more.

He was still in good spirits. We suggested that maybe a walking break was in order. He plugged along for a while and then finally decided to take us up on the offer. I walked with him. After 2 minutes I suggested that it was time to get going again. We ran together for 8 minutes when he asked for another walk break. Somehow Julie was right there with us so the three of us walked up Back Bay Drive together. I watched the clock and suggested we only walk for a minute. I also convinved Forrest to drink from one of my as yet untouched Fuel Belt bottles. Between miles 7 and 9 we took 3 maybe 4 walk breaks. At that point Forrest was pretty much done. I debated with myself whether I should push him to keep going or suggest that he take it easy. I ultimately let him decide how and when we was going to finish the run. He told me that the soles of his feet hurt and that maybe he would just walk the last mile or so in. The others in the lead pack had all gone ahead, as did I at that point. I stopped periodically to make sure that Forrest was still coming. I even caught him running a couple of times.

It was good to see the smile on his face when he was done. All the others made a huge fuss over him for completing his longest run ever. He took off his shoes and had a nice blister on the arch of each foot. His final pace for the 10 miles was somewhere around 10:15. Not too bad, considering he'd never covered that distance before. I was pretty proud of him for running with us when he could have run with the middle or back of the pack. It was a good run, seeing everyone encouraging Forrest and getting to know him along the way.

The good news for me is that my feet felt pretty good the whole way. There was very little hint of the pain in the arches that plagued me the previous week. There is still the weird roving pain in the ankle of my right foot. I think the stretching and icing worked their tricks. Later in the afternoon on Saturday my feet felt more achy than normal, but were tolerable.

Father's Day, the whole family went for a short hike on the Lower Monroe Trail in the foothills above Glendora. I had originally invited Lisa for a walk in Bonelli, but Tyler (home for a 3 week summer break) suggest the other trail. The boys spontaneously ran parts of the trail today. Wouldn't it be cool if I could get them out for a trail run. We only went in about a mile and back out, but I definitely viewed it as a possible running route some day. Earlier in the day we went out for Mexican food. It's a tradition we started back in 1987 when Lisa was pregnant with Tyler. We haven't always visited the same restaurant over the 20 years but we've always managed to have our fill of chips and salsa, and a lot of other good stuff, on Father's Day.

I hope all you fathers out there were able to spend some meaningful time with your kids.

14 comments:

Wes said...

Happy Father's Day Darrell! That's pretty cool of you to take the young guy under your wing like that. I'm sure it helped ease your feet back into some long mileage.

Donald said...

Sounds like a great Father's Day. Good luck with the ankle situation.

Anonymous said...

Father's day was fun! But don't skimp on my mileage!!! You said it was about 2-1/2 miles, and I want credit for every last bit of it :)

Unknown said...

sweet! man, time DOES fly. just like you to keep an eye on forrest. i bet he'll remember that.

SoberMommie said...

Thanks Darrell! I did read their comments and will try the stretches. I have been doing some already and feel a bit better but have not run yet. Tomorrow is the day....

Hope you had a great Father's Day!!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great run and glad to hear it was pain free, or mostly at least.

Joe said...

Not surprised in the least that you paid attention to Forrest. What an amazing feat to run that far, that much farther than your previous ever-best! Hope he comes back for more.

Salsa sounds good...I love that tradition!!

Glad the feet are making progress...wonder if the motion control shoes might be part of the help, styling or not??

Ryan said...

Happy to hear the water bottle tip is helping! Great weekend running, that sounds like a nice fathers day and cool tradition! What a trooper that guy is for winging 10 miles...it was nice of you to help him along, good team spirit.

Anonymous said...

happy father's day!

runliarun said...

Running with Forrest? It's endearing you all took care of the kid. I am curious what his report of the day would be. Sounds like a great Father's Day, oh, the Mexican food included. Nothing like it. I can start with green chile first thing in the morning.

Mike said...

Darrell...sheez, good luck with your feet, I feel your pain!! Keep up with the aggressive therapy..sounds like you have that dialed in so hopefully you'll continue to see improvement.
So frustrating eh!? Seems like a long time since the both of us could just go out for a run and not deal with these darn injuries!

Read your report on Peters Cyn..I used to run there all the time..that one hill that parallels the main road is one steep mother! A lot of loose gravel, rocks there...i always used to think i was taking a chance running there...one slip and ouch!!

Randy - Maniac #788 said...

Hi Darrell and thanks for stopping by. Sounds like you had a good run and it was great of you to watch out for Forrest, that is what a team is all about. I hope you work through your PF soon. I agree that the frozen water bottle does alot of good. I had to change shoes to New Balance 1060's or 1061's can't ever remember the numbers of them but I've not had the PF issues since about a week after getting them.

Anonymous said...

i am also glad to hear it is mostly pain free, darrell. i will be keeping up the healing thoughts, buddy.

i love your father's day tradition with the mexican food. you are one cool cat, darrell!

what a great day you had :)

iJuls said...

I like your final wish to the Dad's out in the blogosphere. I hope your aches and pains mend soon.