Saturday in the Park -- when it was 50 degrees

Today, MacTroll and I did the Twincity Twosome at Crystal Lake Park. This marks the first 5k MacTroll has run in a decade. He was nervous, and he was male about it. He started yammering as soon as he woke up. Words like: "What if I beat you?" "What if we take first place in our age division?" "Mmm, maybe I should have carb loaded last night..." came out of his mouth (I reminded him that he had garlic veggie ravioli as his carbs.  :-) But I know he was looking for pizza...

Anyway, the twosome works by teammate 1 running his 5k and handing a large popsicle stick baton to runner two to do her 5k. It works for us because the transition is right next to a playground. Sure, it was kind of wet and soggy after all the rain last night, but X-man didn't seem to care.

My body, however, did. I don't usually run when it's wet and cold. I also don't usually run when it's over 80 degrees. And although, I wouldn't really call 50 degrees cold, it felt cold after waiting around for MacTroll this a.m.

I think he understood at line up, however, that all of his worries about competition were out the window when the pace group signs started at 18 and ended at 28 minutes. "There was no 34!" he said later. I smiled and then told him about how when I lined up for the half the last pace group was 3 hours and under... and then a big yellow piece of tape with a sign over it that said "Walkers."

He was concerned that he was losing his amateur runner status. I explained that he was entering a recreational runner status... but he was leaving behind his non-athlete status.

Anyway, by the time MacTroll got to me, my teeth were chattering. I hugged him, kissed him, and took off. I was so proud of him for all of his hard work. I ran the whole 5k without any problems, but I wasn't fast, and, of course, even though my foot was a tad sore at the beginning, by mile 1.5 it felt pretty okay, but when I was done -- it was angry with me. I stretched pretty well when I got home, but it's pissed.

So several times today I put a tennis ball under it to stretch it out. I rolled a frozen water bottle under it. I elevated it. I massaged it. It's sitting in my overnight splint right now.

Let's hope it's back to normal tomorrow. My third PT appointment is on Monday afternoon. I get to tell him that my short run didn't do so well in the long run, but it was feeling oh so better after the last two appointments.

When I finished, MacTroll was worried because my lips were blue. I felt like I couldn't really get a good breath the entire race (I guess that's what happens when you don't run in two weeks). But my hands were stiff, too. I made the guy at the end tear off my bib thing because I didn't have the dexterity.