My Foot Hurts Like a Mother

     My foot hurts like a mother and I'm glad.  

     I'm glad.  

     I'm not really glad that it hurts.  I'm just glad it hasn't hurt until now.  

     I started running lightly in 2010 as part of my diet and weight loss regimen and to support a local 10K founded and directed by one of my high school classmates. After a couple of years of that I decided to bump up to a local half marathon in 2012.  At that point running a marathon wasn't even on my radar but in the summer of 2013 I decided to give it a go.  I ramped up my training and immediately was sidelined with intense knee pain.  Ostensibly it was ITBS but maybe not.  I took one month off and then resumed running.  Since then, July of 2013, I have run 22 marathons total, including 6 ultra marathons, with no break in training and no running injuries. 

     My first marathon was local to me in Hartford, Connecticut and as soon as I finished I wanted to run another but only faster.  I "got the bug," and running, training, and marathoning became a way of life for me.  At first I swore I would't travel for a race but if you want to run you need to go where the races are.       

     My up-to-date roster of races is as follows: 

• Disney Marathon x 5
• Hartford Marathon x 4
• Marine Corps Marathon x 3
• Marine Corps 50K x 2
• Vermont City Marathon x 2
• Vegan Power 50K x 2
• Traprock 50K
• Las Vegas Marathon
• Memphis Marathon
• Nipmuck Trail Ultra Marathon

     Had you asked me prior to my first marathon how many I expected to complete in my life I would have answered "one" or "none."  But here I am.  

     So here are a few highlights:

• Personal best:  Hartford, 2017, 3:47:12.
• Favorite:  By far, Marine Corps Marathon.  You can't touch this.  "The People's Marathon" can't be beat.  The spectator support, starting and finishing at Arlington National Cemetery, passing all the monuments in D.C. and running with The Marines is all electrifying.
• Least Favorite:  Also by far, Las Vegas.  While "running The Strip at night" was a lot of fun, more than half of the course is off of The Strip, in the dark, and mostly in a ridiculously convoluted zig-zag pattern.  Compounding this particular race for me, I went hypoglycemic at the 22 and walked the final 4.2 in the desert cold.  I crossed the finish line upright but quickly went horizontal and ended up in the medical tent with hypothermia. Realistically, I should have DNF'ed and been hospitalized but I was stubborn and faked my way out of medical.
• Toughest:  Traprock 50K here in central Connecticut.  The course itself is extremely technical (for me) with similarly extreme elevation gain.  On this particular day it was also unseasonably hot and humid.  It was the most physically and mentally demanding experience of my life.  Prior to the race I scoffed at the posted nine hour cut off but needed almost all of it, crossing the finish line with just 19 minutes to spare.  
• Easiest:  Oddly, my virtual Marine Corps 50K. What with the COVID, most running events went virtual this year so I ran this race in my home town of Cheshire, Connecticut.  I was on vacation from work this particular day.  Started out early, took a leisurely pace, and finished without event. It was a breeze.  Following this race, I somehow did not have the usual post-race soreness.  Odd.    

     And when I say no break in training, that's true. When I first started marathoning, I would need about a week off post-race, before resuming but I don't consider that a break in training.  Now, after a race, I take only a day or two off and get right back to it.  During my first Vegan Power 50K I crashed hard at the 18, injuring my ribs and shoulder.  I finished that race injured (do the math) and took just a few days to recuperate.  This year, in June, I had the COVID.  I was quite ill for a few days but got back to running within the week and plowed through a 50K less than 3 weeks later. I was still experiencing some lingering effects of the virus and monitored my health throughout so don't worry, I was never in any danger. 

     So I'm glad the foot hurts now instead of sometime in the last 7+ years.  I've finally shut it down for the rest of 2020.  Hopefully that will fix my foot and I can get back to it.  I hope so.  I've got the Frozen Folly 50K coming up in January with the Berkshire Ultra Running Club for Service (BURCS) and the Desert Storm 218, a challenge put on by the Marine Corps Marathon organization commemorating the 30-year anniversary of Operation Desert Storm.  That's the distance, 218 miles, The Marines advanced from Saudi Arabia to downtown Kuwait City in 45 days.  Runners in the challenge will run the same distance in the same time period. Hope I can make it. A few pics from my journey:

Disney, 2016, running through Wide World of Sports baseball stadium.

Hartford 2017 finish line, PR

Hartford, not sure what year

This is pretty funny.  Marine Corps Marathon, 2014.  This is my high school classmate, David A.  We knew we were both running MCM this year but had no contact at the race.  That's me in the blue shirt by his ear!

Disney, post-race, prob 2018

MCM 2015

Disney, running through Snow White's castle

Marine Corps inaugural 50K, 2019 post race.  25 of my miles were in torrential rain then the sun came out and the temp shot up into the 80's.

Traprock 50K, somewhere out on the mountain

Disney, 2019.  I ran the Dopey Challenge this year.  Just a joke shot with Maryann, me, and flat me the night before for the Instagram and the FB.

Vegas, baby!  before I got sick.  This race took place about a month after the Mandalay Bay shooting.  Race was almost cancelled but ultimately ran under extremely tight security.

Finish line, I forget where.  Just kidding.  Disney.  2017.  Freak cold front moved into the deep south.  At race start temp was 34 with 14 degree wind chill.  That's why I'm bundled up.

As part of the Dopey Challenge, Nattie May ran the Disney 10K with me.