With a little help from my friends......

This has been a hard week. I haven't been feeling really good all week- some foot pain and some stomach issues. I had been feeling nauseous and had stomach pain off and on all week. I was feeling stress about getting all my workouts in, and I think that just made me feel worse.
I ran 2 hours in Crawford on Monday, and did a light workout on the greenway on Wednesday, then decided to skip my Thursday and Friday runs to rest my foot, and try to fight off whatever was calling my name....
On Saturday, I convinced Jason to go for a run with me.....he had just gotten new Brooks Cascadia's (his first trail shoes), and was wanted to try them out.
Jason runs the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon every year, and takes up running only 12 weeks before and always kills it!!! His last run was last Dec 7th last year, the actual race was his last run!!!
So off we go, heading to the new section of greenway.....he was aiming for 30 minutes, then he would come back and pick me up after 2 hours.
I was also running in new shoes- the La Sportiva Wildcats, and trying out a new hydration pack for Europe- the Nathan Endurance pack.

So after 7km, Jason realized that he forgot to turn around as we were having a riveting conversation about where to stay for the marathon in Las Vegas this year......that and he thought I would tell him when to turn around. (I must admit to being a horrible person, and knew full well that he had already run past his 30 minute goal of the day. Frankly,  I just wanted company!!)
He decided to run the whole way with me, and he did great.....UNTIL the 3/4 mark, then he did NOT feel very good and was looking for a cab at the turnaround........

Do I feel bad about Jason quadrupling his anticipated run time, just to have someone to run with? Yes, yes I do. But we did have fun, and he has two thirds of the half marathon distance now under his belt......

On this note, it brings me to today's run. Greg texted me last night to see if I was running this morning, and said he would be up for an hour to maybe 2 hours.
Greg had just gotten off a plane from France where he was the Physiotherapist working with the Canadian Canoe and Kayak Teams. Greg has also been doing a ton of cycling, just having killed the Axel Merckx Gran Fondo, and has only run a handful of times in the last few months.
Greg and I met at the Crawford Parking lot, where he was wearing road shoes......

We had a lovely overcast morning to run.....ran to Fairlane loop-up to lost lake, then to the KVR (decapitated bunnies were gone, thank god!!), then made our way down on a few new trails to me, and some fun singletrack. By the time I asked Greg our running time (my GPS was dead), he told me we'd been out for 2:45hours!!! Greg was right there with me, running strong and no complaints about being out so long, and severely jet-lagged I may add!!!  We made it down to the parking lot with 3:30 hours of running time!! That would be 1:30-2 hours longer than he had wanted to do!!!!

I think at one point, I shamelessly even joked I would buy him breakfast if he did the whole run with me.......something I forgot all about until I got a text from him a half hour after the run......I owe Greg the BIGGEST breakfast!!!
Once again, I was so happy to have great company and conversation out on the trail that I "sacrificed" another friend (2 days in a row!!!)......I hope both Jason and Greg will speak to me this week!!!
Thanks again guys!!!
I loved my new La Sportiva Wildcats!! They have the same amazing grip that the Raptors have but are lighter, and a bit less support for less technical terrain.
After today's run, it  marks the start of the taper for the race, Sept 3rd.......wow only 3 weeks away now!!!........

ABOVE AND BEYOND!!!

Ok, I am so floored and excited right now!!! After a VERY long road to trying to diagnose and manage my Right Foot, I had a fabulous experience today!!!
I have been having issues with my right foot since February of this year. I have been experiencing instability/jamming of my ankle, and a lot of swelling on the inside of my foot. After seeing my sports med doctor, I was advised to stop running due to the possibility of a stress fracture. After an X- RAY(thank you Aaron!!!) and a sped up Bone Scan (thanks again Aaron!!)....the stress fracture was ruled out. After this, I started running with my ankle taped. This really helped, and I have been managing it with regular physio and massage. I ended up having an MRI a few weeks ago, and got the results last week.
I have a tear in my tibialis posterior (calf muscle) tendon, and a tendinosis in my flexor hallucis longus (calf muscle) tendon. This kind of hit me hard, as I have been managing it for so long, that I had now convinced myself it was nothing!! My physiotherapist and good friend, Martha laughed when I told her this, but it was true!!! (she was obviously living in the real world)
So almost as soon as I got the results, my foot had more pain and was more instable!! Was this all in my head? No, I think it just coincided with our big mileage weeks, and the hard terrain we have been running.
I gave a call yesterday to my pedorthist, Sean McMillan to talk about more ankle bracing options and to see if my orthotics could be altered to help take the pressure off these tendons. He called me back right away and I missed him yesterday. Today, when I was at work he came in and left a message for me that he could see me tonight at his house to talk and alter my orthotics!! I ended up going over to his house after work and we talked about options, he watched me run and then he altered my orthotics as we visited and caught up!!! Can you believe this?!! Talk about going above and beyond!!!

(Sean and Lise with my newest best friend, and the BIGGEST softie- Millie!!!)

Sean and his wife, Lise are both pedorthists and absolutely lovely people!!! They love what they do, and are dedicated to helping people. I have known Sean for years and he has kept me running pain free for years!! I would never even change running shoes before asking Sean's opinion first! He knows my feet, and my running gait so well that I don't even ask questions when he makes a recommendation- I just try it!!
It has been such a long road finding answers and solutions to my foot trouble, and with me leaving in only a week, I REALLY appreciate Sean giving up his Wednesday night to help me!!! As soon as I put my altered orthotic in my shoe, I was pain-free immediately!!!
Thank you Sean:)!

Sean MacMillan & Lise Dallien MacMillan
Orthoquest Pedorthics
Administration Office
665 Cook Road #359
Kelowna BC V1W 4T4
250-448-5908 phone
250-860-2856 fax

Another good running week

 I gotta say, I just finished one of my favorite runs of the year tonight. Not because it was so exciting, or that I felt super-human, but because it was peaceful. I had a 10 hour work day today on 3 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Waking up this morning, I thought I would need a caffeine IV drip just to get through the day, let alone my 2 hour run planned for the end of it. The day ended up being great, and going by quickly. I saw Martha for physio on my foot, and she worked wonders so I could run relatively pain-free today!!
Pulling into the crawford parking lot, it was 33 degrees. There were only 4 other cars in the lot! What a refreshing change.....the evenings are usually packed, but the heat dissuades people from recreating at night.
I saw 7 deer (3 fawns with white spots on their backs- sooo cute:) ), marmots, chipmunks, and 3 snakes......all surprised to see someone on their trails...... it was hot, but there was such a nice breeze- what a great way to end the day!!!
On Saturday, Rene, Tammy, and I ran up to the KVR twice- first with Kevin,on the scenic crawford trail with beautiful canyon views, then after going back to the cars to refuel, drop off Kevin and pick up Martin, we climbed Lost Lake (my fave moose-sighting trail) back up to the KVR.

This time, we found more disturbing animal sightings....first a squirrel's tail, then at the top of the KVR, Rene and I found 2 decapitated rabbits. A really good wake up call and reminder that not everyone who uses trails and the backcountry are good people, and there for the same reason!!!
On a funnier note, you can definitely tell that Rene and I have been spending A LOT of time together, because now we show up to runs wearing the exact same outfits!! LOL! Getting practice looking like a "TEAM":) Saturday's run was one of our longest- getting in somewhere between 40-45km. It really kicked me in the ass- I had to skip a bathroom break at the end of the trail because I couldn't squat, my knees were so sore!!! I went home and iced my knees and ankles and stained the fence before heading out for a girl's dinner! What a day!!

(ok, now this wasn't a pick from our girls dinner, but it is the girls!!)

It's been a really great week of running, using lots of the trail systems in Kelowna. Last Weekend, we ran in Smith Creek....going up to the top twice, then I ran to Divide Lake by myself on Monday in OK mtn park. Wednesday, Rene and I met at Knox to do some speed work, then Friday I ran the new section of Greenway. What a well-rounded trail week:) I still managed to get in over 100kms of running this week, and can feel how close the race is getting!!!