A ridiculous catch-up post

Well... it's August. That means it's time for ENDURrun. This also means it's time to write a catch up post since I've neglected this blog once again. This time, since last year's ENDURrun!! Whoops. So, this will just be a down and dirty quick update.

Fall 2018
The main focus for the fall was JFK 50.
Leading up to that, I also ran:

• Run for the Toad 50K (2nd female, 4:36ish). Was running this one as a training run, so leaving with a prize was a bonus. 
• Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (3:19:20-something, felt "off" for the last 5ishK, then felt quite unwell for the last 800m or so and for a half hour or so after finishing. The week after this race, I ended up with very messed up back/SI joint where I couldn't walk and was bedridden for a day. It took a while to recover from that and it continued to act up a bit for weeks. 

JFK

My title and description on Strava:

JFK - holy snow on the AT and mud on the towpath!

Personal worst 50 mile finish time. But... finished well.

I finished JFK in 8:44:49. A lot slower than what I wanted to run, but the conditions were a lot worse than expected. And... the back/hip acted up a bit on the long flat (and muddy) section. It felt WAY better once we got onto the rolling roads for the last section of the race. I finished in around the same place as the year before. I was 17th female in 2017 with a finish time of 8:09:10, this year, I was 18th female. Turns out, I was top Canadian female, not that that means a ton in a race that's not in Canada. ;)

January-February 2019
I did more snowshoe racing this winter, participating in the DION Ontario Snowshoe Series and also the Canadian Snowshoe Championships. I placed well in the races and it was fun to actually do more of the series this year vs only one race each of the previous two years.

• DION Ignite the Night 10K: 5th female in a time of 60:51
• DION Winter Goose Chase 6.5K: 1st female in a time of 40:21
• Canadian Snowshoe Championships at Craigleith Ski Club, 5K: 4th female, 2nd in the "open" race, 32:39
• DION Howlin' Husky 6.5K: 3rd female in a time of 35:33

Non-snowshoe racing: I did the 8 mile Re-Fridgee-Eighter at the tail end of being sick with bronchitis for a few weeks. It didn't feel great, but I did ok. I finished 9th female in 57:46. 

Spring 2019
I'm going to be lazy and just throw my strava descriptions in here.

Chilly Half Marathon (1:31:57): Not quite what I was wanting, but slightly faster than 2017, which turned into my best running year, so... I'll take it.

Boston Marathon (3:41:07... ugh):

ow! Heel pain I've never had before... from mile 10 on. Finishing the race was NOT smart.

I tripped (someone's foot got tangled around my right foot), almost face-planted, but got my feet under me, landing on the left (likely not in a normal position and likely hard)... a little later, I noticed pain. It never let up. It later became the worst pain I've ever felt (when attempting to walk that night and the next morning... bought crutches in the morning so I could stay off the foot). Luckily, it was my left foot, and also there hadn't been any pain at all unless weight bearing.

* turns out, I had a mid-foot sprain from the landing after being tripped, then, from running on that... Achilles insertional tendinopathy.

Mile 21 was super ridiculously slow because I stopped to have beer and a pretzel. That was my smart decision of the day. ;)

Since Boston, I've been trying to heal, trying to not lose fitness, and then finally trying to get a bit of running training again. I was in a boot and on crutches for a couple weeks and was out from running for a while. I was on the bike, in the pool, and at the gym, but it's not the same as running.

I've been actually training for the last 5 or 6 weeks, but at a much reduced mileage from my normal training, so we'll see how ENDURrun goes. My expectations have obviously been significantly lowered from pre-Boston.