The Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon could not have asked for a more beautiful day yesterday. A gorgeous late summer day with temps in the 60's and low humidity - very sweet!.
My finish time of 1:57:42 was a PR for this course (this was my 3rd year running this half marathon) but not an overall PR.
I have to say that I was well on my way to achieving a new PR and was on target to finish around 1:52. However, at or around mile 8, I started to feel pain on the bottom of my left foot. I did my best to focus my thoughts and energy on my form and my time but by mile 11 the pain was all I could think about. In all honesty, I am really not sure how I crossed that finish line.
At the time, I was convinced that I developed plantar fasciitis. However, when I changed out of my running shoes into my sandals after the race, I noticed a small piece of gravel was in my left shoe - Aha!! How could I have not noticed? I didn't even feel it but it was big enough to cause a point of irritation for each foot strike.
Several hours later after I started to ice my foot, it became clear that the tiny piece of gravel was indeed the culprit. I noticed 3 distinct reddish areas on the bottom of my foot that represented strike points. That little bugger was moving around and causing so much grief for my foot. By last night, the bottom of my foot looked bruised and this morning it looks cherry red and it is still very sore. I think it will be several days before I lace up again for running. Today is my rest day so I am thinking that I will resort to bicycling when I head back to the gym tomorrow.
Lesson learned - when pain begins at a strike point - consider stopping to see if there is anything in your shoe. No kidding. That could have been gotten me a new PR and saved me a lot of grief!
Marching forward with my training (although this week may have some modifications) for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28!
Happy Trails Folks!
John
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