Cigarettes, The Titanic, and The Shape of The Earth

There have been a few major mistakes throughout history.  I’m talking MAJOR.  Like when the controllers of White Star Line said, “We are perfectly satisfied that the Titanic is unsinkable”, or physicians of the 1930s who tested and approved of cigarettes.  And let’s not forget the Middle Ages when everyone thought the world was flat.  Everyone thought it.  They were all wrong.  Then there is one more serious mistake made of late; I thought my foot was fully healed.  Wrong.  Completely wrong.

In a recent blog, I declared my foot completely healed.  Well, while I was busy telling that to all of you, I apparently forgot to tell my own foot.  It had felt fine for a few weeks, and I even managed to complete every run on my training plan – for maybe 2 weeks.  But last week I had to bail on my long run entirely, and this week I was facing a 20 mile run with a sore foot and no idea if I could complete it.

For those who haven’t trained for marathons, let me give a quick explanation.  The 20 mile run is the most important long run of a training plan.  It’s the furthest you run before the marathon (yes; during the actual marathon at mile 20 you suddenly have to pull another 6.2 miles out of your ass).  Some training plans have two or three 20 milers in them, mostly because if you’re injured for one of them you have a chance to try again.  Often, the last 20 mile run is 2 or 3 weeks before your race, and after it you start tapering so your legs are healthy, rested and ready to be punished severely on race day.

Two weeks ago I completed my first of the two 20 mile runs I have in this training plan.  At about mile 14, my foot started to hurt and it hasn’t stopped.  Last week I did 2 of my 3 other runs on land, and that’s when I realized that I’m really in trouble.  My foot was killing me.  I did my third run last week in the water, and even that hurt.  All day Friday I limped around, trying to figure out if I could pull off the 20 miler I had on the docket for the next day.  Finally I decided that if my race to the race was going to end 3 weeks before I got to Staten Island, then I at least wanted to go down trying.

When I did my 20 miler a couple of weeks ago, I did it as an “out and back”, so that I couldn’t quit if I wanted to.  This time, though, I decided to do it as 4 loops of 5 miles each, so that I could quit if I needed to.  This way, I was never more than 2.5 miles from home.

I set off on my first loop, and things were fine – for 2 miles. Then I landed on my left foot and a shot of pain ran into my toes and up into my ankle.  Damn it.  I knew that my foot was going to hurt.  I just didn’t think it was going to happen so soon.  I wasn’t at my turn around yet, so for the next ½ mile I analyzed every single step until it was time to limp back home.  Dejected, I headed back home and prepared myself to give up on my quest for the 2013 NYC Marathon.

But, there was one thing I hadn’t considered.  Me.  I was far too determined (read: stubborn) to give up a mere 3 weeks before the marathon.  If we want to get technical, I’ve been training for 2 years to do this.  I just wasn’t going to let myself give up now.

On my way back to my house, I noticed that my foot didn’t hurt during my walk intervals.  I also realized that it didn’t hurt if I ran on the outside of my foot.  Now, there is no coach on this planet who would recommend a person change their gait so severely and improperly.  But I don’t have a coach.  So I listened to nobody, ran on the outside of my foot, and it hurt a lot less.

When I got home, I ate a gel, drank some water, and went right back out for loop number 2.  I ignored my foot, listened to my music, and just tried to enjoy myself.  On my way back home, I noticed that other than my foot, I felt great.  My legs weren’t tired, my breathing was steady.  I praised myself for training so well that the first 10 miles of my run were unremarkable – except for the steady beat of pain in my left foot.

When I got home from loop 2, I tried to just fuel up and run back out again.  But, I caught myself thinking.  Was it better to stop at 10 and have a seriously truncated run but be nicer to my injury, or at this point was the damage to my foot done and I might as well just finish the mileage?  Should I listen to my body, or listen to my heart?  Basically, should I go big, or go home?

OK, anyone who knows me knows how I answered those questions: finish the mileage, listen to my heart, go big.  I’m not saying I was right.  I’m saying that for a moment I believed that the world was flat and the Titanic was unsinkable.

I have to be honest.  I was happy with my decision.  Because I run 4 minutes and walk for 2, my pace is somewhere between an 11 and 12 minute mile.  At mile 17 I ran a 12:30 mile, and I couldn’t believe that it took me that long before I needed to slow down.  In my marathon 2 years ago, I averaged a 12:30 mile (and no making fun of the pace unless you’ve ever run 26.2 miles yourself, thanks very much).  This time I was going faster, and I was run/walking and injured.  Considering I could barely train on land, I was quite well trained.

At mile 18.5, my foot hurt enough that I started making some concessions.  I switched my intervals from 4 running/2 walking to 3/2.  Frankly, it didn’t help much.  I was going to walk the last mile, but at mile 19 I again got stubborn/stupid, and kept up my run/walking.

As I got to the corner of my street to end the run, I planned to stop and walk the last 50 yards or so.  So, of course, I sprinted.  I hit the 20 mile mark, stopped short and looked at my watch: 4 hours, 9 minutes, 29 seconds.   That works out to a 12:25 pace, a full 22 seconds per mile faster than the 20 miler I did just 2 weeks ago when my foot didn’t hurt as much.  Doing this run may have been the wrong decision, but I have to be honest: I’m glad I did it.

I have spent the rest of the weekend wearing the boot I was trapped in when my foot was officially broken.  My foot feels fine when I wear it, and hurts like hell when I don’t.  I make bad decisions, but I’m not an idiot.  I know my foot is injured again.  I know that this 20 mile training run just may be as close as I’m going to get to doing a marathon this year.  I know that the last 13 weeks of training may all have been for nothing.

As I said before, I’m not going down without a fight.  My plan is to do my last 3 weeks of training runs all in the water.  My hope is that 3 weeks is enough time to heal my foot, and that it’s physically possible to run 26.2 miles without running one step on land for the 21 days prior to it.  I can’t help but feel, though, that I’m puffing a cigarette on the bow of the Titanic as it sails towards the edge of the earth.