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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Running of the Elk wrap up and Acupuncture

Last Wednesday I went to my Team Mermaid workout and did a total of four miles. The next three days I paid for it dearly. The plantar fasciitis in my left foot was making itself known and I was getting very concerned about my half marathon the following Sunday. I had decided that I would take it easy and even walk the 13.1 miles if I needed to.

I had been excited for this race but dreading it at the same time. Excited because it would be my first event in my new shoes and I had about three weeks to recover from my last half. Dreading because over those three weeks I had been ill and got almost no training done. If you have been following this blog then you know all about my training troubles.

On race day my foot was bothering me during the drive from my home in the Arden area all the way to Elk Grove. I took that as a reminder to just enjoy the day and not worry about anything else. I spend the 45 minutes before the race walking loops around the expo. At first it was to see what venders where out but then it was just to keep warm and loose. Walking expo loops can get boring. But the Nissan booth and a Quest (Nissan's minivan) out there. I have been wanting one for a long time and I really like their new body style so it was pretty awesome to get an up close look at it.

Side note: We are a Nissan family. Over the course of our relationship Jeremy and I have owned five Nissan's. When I first met Jeremy (I was in high school) he had a Frontier. After Samantha was born we got a Sentra (in heat wave), after Nevyn was born we got another Sentra. Not long after that Jeremy got a Maxima and he now has a 370 Z.

Back to race day. I remembered my watch this time so I was better able to run/walk my 30 second splits. This was great I finished the first 5K in 37 minutes, a really good time for me. Unfortunately, because I wasn't as conditioned as I would have liked to be I wasn't able to keep up that pace for the entire race. As the miles went on I got more and more tired and had to take more walking breaks but that's okay. I finished the race in 3:18:12, not bad considering I hadn't been training. Even better, the next day my foot had not hurt as bad as I thought it would. In fact, I was able to walk almost normally on it.

On Monday I had my first acupuncture appointment. I was amazed by the initial results. After he placed five needles in my hand he had me walk around. My foot felt instantly better. I could still feel the stretching of the plantar fascia but it didn't cause pain in my heal. It's been two days since my treatment. Some pain did come back later that day and the next morning but I have been walking better. I'm interested to see how I'll feel after my Mermaid workout this evening. He's not sure yet how many treatments it will take to heal my condition. When I tell him how long the initial treatment lasted he'll have a better idea on the whole picture. I'm optimistic! I just wish insurance covered more of the treatment. They will only cover 80% or $25 (so, $20) and the treatment are about $105 so it's actually more cost effective to pay out of pocket. They charge $65 of you have insurance but pay on your own.

My next event is the Zoo Zoom this up coming Sunday. I'm doing the 5K and I'm super excited about it! I'm treating it like a fun run. I'm going to go all out, give it everything i have and have fun! It'll be a no stress run :)











Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Shamrock'n wrap up

Okay, I know this is very late but I just haven't been in the blogging mood. I've been a little stressed out. I seem to have a new ailment every week and every weekend I've been stuck in bed so my training is suffering and as a result, so are my race times. I know I said from the beginning of this crazy 13 in '13 goal that I wasn't going to stress on times this year since I have so many half of marathons on my race schedule but three hours is ridicules! So my little illness depression has made it harder for me to get on here and blog.

The day of the Shamrock'n half was a great day for or a run. The sun was shinning, it was a little cold at the start but not bad. The volunteers where great, the crowds or people cheering us on where great but I did not have a great race. Let me rewind to the weekend before this event. It was the Lucky Run half and around mile 9 my feet were killing me. That familiar feeling you get when you have exceeded the amount of miles your shoes where intended for. If you're not runner you may never experience this feeling so I'll explain what it feels like for me. My feet start to feel achy and sore at the same time and usually start to rub raw in places they have never rubbed raw in before. So the last four miles of that event where not good. I actually had to walk most of it. It was pretty obviously I needed new shoes. However, I had this event the next weekend and I didn't think I would have enough time to break in a new pair of shoes. This whole situation is every familiar to me. I ran the Shamrock'n in bran new shoes last year for the same reason and I was miserable for the entire race. I chose to wear the old shoes this year. It was painful but looking back I would have made the same choice. The next day I went down to Fleet Feet and got some new kicks and I am so excited to run my next event in them!


If I choose to run this again next year I need to remember to get new shoes in late January or early February. It would be awesome to come running around the warning track at Raley Field not feeling like I just shot myself in both feet.

Now for the medical crap. The week before the Shamrock'n half I was diagnosed with MRSA. If you don't know what that is don't feel bad, I didn't know either. This is what WebMD said:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body. It's tougher to treat than most strains of staphylococcus aureus -- or staph -- because it's resistant to some commonly used antibiotics.

The symptoms of MRSA depend on where you're infected. Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, like sores or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract.

Though most MRSA infections aren't serious, some can be life-threatening. Many public health experts are alarmed by the spread of tough strains of MRSA. Because it's hard to treat, MRSA is sometimes called a "super bug."

I was on a round of two antibiotics, eye drops and ointment. It sucked! And it sucked all my energy. Like it's not hard enough to get moving after a twelve hour workday and chores and feeding the family. But it's all gone now.

Now I'm getting ready for the Running of the Elk half. It'll be this Sunday and yesterday I had a root canal. Over the weekend and half of last week I missed all my workouts because of an infection in a broken molar. I'll be finishing up yet another round of antibiotics tomorrow. I really hope this is it for a while. It would be nice to get some training in and have a respectable race time. Is that asking for too much? I don't think so.