Day 2: Feets Don't Fail Me Now

As my odyssey towards the Inaugural Half Marathon Presented by the Alton Telegraph continues (73 days to go), I'm discovering all kinds of things. For example, when you don't make ANY effort to exercise for ten years or so, your body tends to shut down in ways you don't think of.

Today's little bump in the road was severe pain in the arch of my left foot. I was giving yoga a try (the DVD is aimed at beginners, but the woman in the video had no bones. I have bones and they don't move like that. At least not without the need for a Vicodin/Jager cocktail afterwards) when I felt the pain. I always knew I had arch issues, but now that I'm actually putting serious effort into working out, it was excruciating.

Here's where my new friend Jason from Fleet Feet enters the picture.

I peeled myself off my yoga mat (what's the damned point in using a mat? Knees were still killing me...) and headed for the St. Charles outlet of Fleet Feet to look at getting some arch supports. Jason was awesome. Not at all condescending and understood where I'm coming from. When he went to college, he put on a lot of weight and then had to lose it to join the military. After a tour of Iraq, he started running seriously. So he understands what I'm going through i.e. being a big'un and needing some help.

He did a full workup of my feet and provided me with a ton of great advice on what I need to do to get ready. At his recommendation, I picked up some arch supports and a pair of Brooks Beast running shoes. The difference was immediate. My foot still had some pain, but re-learning to run and continuing with my stretching should help tremendously.

Afterwards, did a ten-minute run which was about a 50/50 split between slow painful lumbering and sad-looking limping. After slinking away to my car while all the cool kids at the gym pointed at me and laughed (okay, they didn't, but they should have. I would've.) I came home and did a decent Kinect workout, sucked down some water, and then had a nice bowl of beans. Yes, they're the musical fruit and I ate a lot. Grow up.

I'm finding that I SERIOUSLY underestimated what it would take to run this half-marathon. With little more than two months before the race, I should be at the point where I can run three miles or so. I'm not even close. A more realistic goal would have been a 5K. Or a third-grade track meet. Whatever. I like to aim high. That way if you succeed, you're awesome and if you fail, the crash and burn is equally awesome.

Well anycrap, that's Day 2. I probably won't chronicle every single day unless you want to know how my body is reacting to all the fiber in my diet or if you want pictures of seeing a fat man sweat. So again, not every day but this will be a regular deal. I find it therapeutic to write this all down and it keeps me motivated. Thanks for all your support and advice. Much appreciated folks.

TTFN.