Elliott Walks, Daddy Runs

Elliott has been flirting with walking and we marked Sunday as his first day of walking. Several times he covered about three or four feet quite confidently. He would give a smile and say "heeeey" with an I did it tone. Yesterday he walked from a standstill about three feet and then turned and walked about three more before reaching Valerie. He's even managed to walk on our not-all-that-firm bed. On another occasion he seemed to actually run about five steps and then dove on top of me where I was lying on the floor. I hope I'm still running when he's old enough to distance running; of course, that could be when he's in his twenties. Who in their twenties wants to run with a seventy-something geezer?

This geezer has his right foot in an ice bath at the moment. I ran two miles on the asphalt track at lunch today and the almost six this evening after work. All of the miles were in Asics running shoes. Things felt good at the time, but after running all kinds of errands in the car my plantar faciitis began to hurt. Holding ones foot down on the accelerator is a bad position for these particular inflamed tendons.

Beginning tomorrow and running for six weeks at the school any student or teacher who wants a pedometer to keep track of miles covered is welcome to have one. There will be some friendly competition to have the most miles. I can't imagine anyone doing more than me, but we'll see. I'm at 375 so far this year, 1225 since June 20th of last year. About a thousand of those miles have been with heel pain; I'm hoping it will go away soon.

Jinxing the Body of the Rational Mind

In my blog yesterday I spoke of plans to do two or maybe even three runs during the course of the day. I should know better. I don't like to talk about, or write about what I'm going to do. It jinxes the outcome for me. I work with a math teacher who is coaching his daughter to run in the next olympic marathon. He has every day planned out until the olympic trials. Aside from favorable genes, undying determination, and twenty-five years maybe that's why she's has a chance and not me. A list can be a useful tool and I may make one if I have some bills I mustn't forget to pay, or there are some things I better not forget at the grocery store but I don't like my running to be like chore to be checked off on a list. I want it to remain in the category of whims to which I may succumb.

Yesterday morning I succumbed to the whim of running 5.4 miles on trails in the Vibram Five Fingers; what a pleasure! Something less than five miles seems like the barefoot limit for me right now; my calves begin to fatigue and steps become an effort. Clearly I am still building muscles that are needed for natural running. I recently read someone's guide for transitioning to barefoot running. She felt that the runner should count each barefoot mile as three miles. So if you run two barefoot and four shod in a day you should think of it as ten and to do this for the first few months. Then change the ratio to 1 to 2 and after the first year you can begin to count barefoot miles 1 to 1.

I came home to Ruth working in the yard and I joined her. I ended up turning over a fair portion of the garden with a shovel. My plantar faciitis eventually became more and more painful everytime I stepped down on the shovel. I eventually had to switch to pressing down with my left foot. I found myself hobbling around the rest of the day instead of going out for more runs, obviously jinxed I took 220 mgs of naproxen and submerged the offending extremity in an ice bath for 15 minutes, and I took 440 more millgrams of naproxen before going to bed. It seems to have help somewhat; aside from the first few painful steps upon arising I am able to ambulate normally. I am anxious to see what my whims have me do today.

Young Elliott has joined me at the table and is enjoying a whole wheat bagel topped with a slathering of organic almond butter. He has applied some to his face; I don't know if it is to enjoy later or he has heard that almond oil is good for the skin. Actually almond oil was probably the first non-breast milk food product he consume because Ruth applied it to those tender areas of early nursing.

Pre-run Talk

The next five days promise sun and temperatures around 70 degrees which is ideal running weather for me since I prefer things on the warmer side. The weather is favorable ad my schedule is favorable; I have the next three days off from work and for the two days that follow I don't have students; they are on what we call Intersession, a time between grading periods when they could come in and finish work if they so desired.

I am concerned about the foot factor; I've been running with plantar faciitis for about nine months. It doesn't seem like a full blown case whereby there is pain from the heel all the way out through the arch but rather just localized on the bottom of the heel. I stretch it throughout the day. Driving makes it worse; it is the gas pedal foot and extending the toes seems to allow the tendons to tighten up. I haven't been so diligent about doing what I know to make it bearable such as ice baths and the anti-inflamatant Naproxen. I have been cross-training; I've decided to count barefoot running as cross-training. Rest is always recommended; I haven't run for the past five days. I know that hardly counts as rest when speaking of tendons healing but time's up!

I am fueling up with some pinole with added chai seeds, cinnamon and blue agave nectar; it is only appropriate that the first run of the day be barefoot or in this case in the Vibram Five Fingers because I am heading to terrain where I picked up goatheads and thorns the last time. I haven't done a morning run in a while. Bye.

Elliott Entering Toddlerhood

Elliott is about to walk. He can stand without holding on to something and take about four or five steps if there is a secure destination. He is also using lots of utterances that we recognize for specific things although no one outside the family would. He certainly seems like a little person now. Here are a few recent photos.

Elliott and Plastic Eggs from China

Valerie wears this hat that she and Ruth made all the time. It finally seemed more appropriate, being Easter and all.

Long Thorns, Goatheads, and Vibram FFs

I had planned on a long run in running shoes and a short run in Vibram Five Fingers. Instead I took a long nap with Elliott and did a medium length run in the VFF. If the coffee wasn't enough to wake me up I discovered that thorns from goatheads can penetrate the soles of the VFF. It wasn't enough to stick into my foot but enough so that I knew it was there. If this had been a true barefoot run I would have been quite distressed because when I sat to pull it out I discovered eight of them in the sole of one shoe. I continued to run on trails in fields but when I came to a big square field that only had a trail that crossed it I ran the edges to get more distance. Unfortunately bushes with very long spikey thorns grow along hedgerows and break off and are camoflauged where there aren't trails. I stepped on a branch I didn't see and one of these thorns went right through the rubber and rather deep into the ball of my foot. (No significance that this happened on Easter, I hope) I sat down and had to pull rather firmly to remove it. It hurt for a a few minutes; I'm just glad my tetanus shot is up to date.

The outing was 5.5 miles. Barefoot seems so the right way to run. My calves are sore, which I take as a good thing. I took Elliott for a walk in the running stroller today wearing the VFFs as well and it occurred to me that it is even a bit jarring to walk with a heel strike without shoes. How much have shoes changed how we walk even?

Wind, Running Gods, and Doble Desayuno

Yesterday was windy here in Boulder County. I can handle sub-zero, snow, rain, 95 degrees, but just plain wind rattles me. I managed to force myself out the door around 4PM. For the first mile I kept thinking about just going back, but I adjusted and the headwind became a non-issue.

I ran in the Frees so I was going slow and striding as if barefoot. It is definitely important to run barefoot before using these to run in; it would be too easy to run normal and hurt you feet otherwise. I had decided to only go five miles but after being out for a while I wanted to stay out and probably would have gone more than the 7.3 that I did if I were in different footwear. My week ended with just 22 miles (my sister did 24 yesterday alone) but I'm OK with it after doing 50 miles last week.

My motivation drops sometimes but I just read a blog post of a Boulder runner who did four negative split of a 5.5 mile loop with a 2500 ascent into the same wind. He's already done the loop over 100 times this year. He calls it his mistress; I say he's married to it! He's won a lot of ultras; I'll be content to finish one someday.

I definitely will get out for a run or two today. I have to; I just ate a bowl of blueberries, raspberries, yogurt, cream, and Grapenuts cereal and when I was putting the last spoonful in my mouth I noticed the empty bowl from the oatmeal I had just eaten a half an hour earlier. I have forgotten to eat in my life, but forget that I just ate half an hour earlier? That hasn't happened. Well, I am getting old. At least I am fueled.

I anticipate a longer run today and a shorter barefoot or VFFered run as well. There is a breeze but it seems less assaulting than yesterday.