new track
Looked like rain all day today. The weather channel even showed showers for the whole day. I wrote down a zero for the day. This sucks. Went to visit April's grandpa and have lunch. We talked for a while and got back a little after 3. It still hadn't rained. It was cloudy and not too cold, so I started getting ready to go out. As soon as I looked out the door I saw the drops start to appear on my car and the pavement. Grrreat, couldn't have waited a few hours could you. Nope. So I once again wrote it off. I checked some stuff and was totally bored. I kept walking to the door and looking out and pacing around randomly. The rain only had sprinkled. After checking 5 or 6 times I decided forget this junk, I'm running.
So I got changed said bye to April and out the door. I thought I'd try a new track today. It is the opposite direction from the complex, but about the same distance. I saw a soccer game going on there when were coming home. It was still going when I arrived. The course is basically like a track. Two soccer fields are in the middle of the track, and then the course kind of goes all over with crazy tiny little loops up and down and around. It is a thin little paved course, that looks a lot like the kind people use in their driveways. Yes, all cracked and falling apart from not using enough base of small stone underneath. It was scary at times because the cracks were so high I had to be careful not to trip on them. The second bad thing is that the track isn't level. The right side is about a foot lower than the left, causing my ankle to be at an angle the entire time. This especially wasn't good because that just happens to be the ankle that hurts, and it just happens that turning it toward the inside causes the pain.
I started off pretty fast. At least it felt fast cuz my legs were burning a little. I had on my newer moire's and that could have had something to do with it. I had to stop at 1 mile and tighten the laces. After that it was an uphill battle the entire time. I ran a lap around the course, and then started off into the figure 8 madness. There were 3 switchbacks about 20 yards, up the side of hill, with about a 70% incline. NOT fun. I just kept thinking ankle, ankle, ankle. I didn't go up that little trail of love again. I sticked to the open stretches. The course said 1.5 miles, but I think it was possibly a mile even with all the tiny little maze of switchbacks. Legs turned over well, but there were a lot of turns even on the regular part course. I'm used to flat pavement, with some relatively straight stretches, with at least 5 or 6 feet wide pavement. This was totally different and much harder to run on.
I think the course is why I ran so fast. I wanted to get out of there the day before yesterday. That and at one point it started misting. I just said, Lord please let me get this run over and I'll be happy, and he did. I stayed on and got in the next 3.5 miles. Those first miles really pushed the pace, and I kept it. I was actually breathing a little hard today, which was nice. Just trudging along that course with my ankle was horrid. Probably the worst run I've experienced so far, much worse than the dehydration incident, at least that was deserved.
I hate having the ankle hurting, but it's only when I push off at certain angles. If I am running straight, it doesn't hurt at all. The twisting motion hurts it (like a sprained ankle) so it must be some tendon in there. At least it's not some ghost pain that I have no idea where it's coming from. I know exactly where this is- just below the outside of the ankle- and I'll be able to ice it and feel it out for the next few days. Since today was faster, I'm going to try and see if I can keep my pace at 7:40 or above for the next few runs. If the ankle feels better these times should be fine though.
7:24, :06, :12, :23, :27, :25, :27, :23, :24, :07
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