It's Flipping Cold! and VFF short retirement?? :(

You know what's not good for a tight ankle? The cold! I waited until about noon to go on my long run for the week, in hopes that it would warm up. It got sunny, but the windchill was brutal. It was SO cold! How cold was it?....

Top 5 it was so cold...
5) It was so cold I had to keep and eye on my feet to be sure they were hitting the pavement-- I couldn't feel them. I also couldn't feel my butt for hours after. Seriously, you could have full on Turkey-ed me and I wouldn't have felt it.
4) It was so cold, that in the middle of the day people were running with full ski masks
3) It was so cold, I thought about all your Southern/warm state runners in your 40 and 50 degree temps wearing cold weather gear and complaining. Then I thought about how much I wanted to drive to your 40-50 degree temps, put you in my car then bring you to the death loop I was currently on and make you sit there until I could Turkey you and you wouldn't feel it! *Don't worry, I'm feeling better now. You may continue to follow my blog without fear*
2) It was so cold, that when I stopped in the grocery store after (still wearing my full gear- gloves, hat, etc) the pharmacist laughed at me when I tried to chatter out what I needed. I can't blame him, I was sort of standing/walking in a "my knees are so tight and my body won't uncoil until I get warm" half-squat
1) I stopped in a frozen, yet clean, port a potty for 5 minutes and contemplated staying there until spring to avoid the cold. This is one of the many reasons I thank god for port-o-potties... Love me some port-o-potty!

Saturday was unbelievable, but I knew I would be going out Saturday night and Sunday wouldn't be a long run option day-- yeah, I have my priorities straight! So I threw on  many layers and headed out to the local airport for a 5-mile loop on repeat. Half of the time I felt ok (the half that you weren't facing into the wind), the other half I was thinking about continuing to run in the non-windy direction, all the way home and having somebody bring me back to my car later. Unfortunately my car had my keys and cell phone in it. Damn! Oh well...

I completed the loop twice then added on another 2 miles before I couldn't take it anymore. My knees had gotten so tight, and no matter how fast I ran, I was not getting any warmer. My ankle started hurting a lot as well.

Ankle = VFF marathon ready??
I'm getting a little worried about my ankle holding up for the next 2 marathons (in 2 weeks and 3 weeks). I've only gone 12 on it, and it hurts-- but that may be more because of the cold and everything tightening. I've continued to ice after my runs and I've been doing the exercises the PT gave me and most importantly, I've been listening to my body when it says it's done. ie. stopping at 12 when I wanted to do 15.

I may actually be switching back to shoes this week to get ready for Myrtle Beach. I'm not sure if my feet are ready to take the VFFs on a full marathon. Kyle, kindly pointed out that I had a blood blister on the bottom of my feet this weekend. Ew! On top of that, the pads of my feet are getting worn from the treadmill-- The way my feet strike, with the deathmill going in the other direction, it causes a very hot friction and my feet sometimes feel like they're burning. Damn deathmill. Anyways-- I've sort of peeled off a couple of layers on skin. Which... I think is a consideral improvement from the constant hard callus I had before from running in sneaks! At least they look better!! It's like a VFF foot peel/scrub. Who needs a spa?

Warning: If you're nausiated easily do NOT, I repeat do NOT look at the picture below. Bloggy world, It's time to meet... my feet! Feet, bloggy world, bloggy world meet feet! They're actually looking quite dapper today, if I do say so myself. Oh ps. This doesn't include the tops where the toe-nails are mostly disconnected from the toes because they've fallen off too many times. Doesn't EVERYBODY want to be a marathon runner??

Mind you, my feet are normally nasty gross and have always been. I've run long distance for 14+ years plus rugby, Lacrosse, Field Hockey... basically any sport you can find. I've torn them up, so don't take this description as the fault of the VFF's entirely. But, even so, I don't want to risk it with 2 marathons, 2 weeks in a row. I'll be taking the Vibrams on their last run tonight, then retire them until after the race in Albany (btw-- what will hopefully be my 25th state!!! Halfway there!!!). I'll keep you'll posted.

Happy (and hopefully warm) Running,
Stephanie

Oh PS. BIG weekend surprise!! I received my first bloggy-friend package from Shelly!!! She saw that I noticed another blogger talking about "Shred"-- a Jillian Michaels workout DVD and she sent me a copy!!! So sweet! Definitely made my weekend. I can't wait to test it out and report back. Thanks Shelly!!!!