Ugly Toes

Just when I thought I might be able to see my driveway again, it started to snow today. We've had at least 5 inches come down, and I think it's still going. My snow tires worked really well, so my drive home wasn't too bad. I'm kind of disappointed in the weather, even though it's not really a surprise. This weekend is my last long run and I was holding out a small grain of hope that I'd be able to run it outside. I doubted it would happen, since the sidewalks and bike paths are still icy, but there was a chance. Now I know it won't happen since it's the weekend and I'm thinking that bike path snow removal is very low priority.

I had a dream about the marathon last night. In my dream, we got all the way to Texas when I realized I didn't have my shoes. Obviously I was freaked out. I tried to come up with a way I could get my shoes, but nothing was going to work. I tried to console myself with the thought of being able to check out Run-Tex, but was still pissed at myself for not bringing my shoes and having to run a marathon in shoes that weren't broken in. I'm not sure what the dream means, but I'm not worried about it becoming reality. Whenever I travel and am going to run on my trip, I always make sure I have my shoes. And whenever I've flown for a race, I make sure to pack my running clothes and shoes in my carry-on. That way if the airline loses my luggage, at least I'm not totally screwed.

I keep saying I'm going to wait until after my 20 on Sunday to make up my mind as to if I'm actually running the marathon. But I'm not really sure if it's going to tell me anything, unless it goes really bad or something. Because even if it does go well, there is no guarantee that the marathon will, too - I got through Med-City training without any problems, only to have ITB issues during the race day. I don't know. I'm probably always going to have that kind of haunting me (the fear of an unknown injury popping up during the race). Knowing me, I'm probably going to go for it unless Sunday is a disaster. I'm still holding off on registering, though.

Even though I haven't looked up actual instructions, I think my foam roller is helping. My ITB didn't bother me that much during yesterday's run. It did get a little tight after the run, which was annoying when I was trying to sleep. So I got up and used the roller. It felt better afterwards, so at the very least it's helping psychologically. It was also okay today. I think the stretching I've been doing before running (as well as during the day and after running), and the icing 20-30 minutes a day is also helping

Actually, I had a thought about my dream. I bet some of it comes from my having just bought new shoes to break in for the marathon. I wore them today, but they kind of annoyed me. It felt like they were �slapping� the treadmill belt, and they felt a little stiff. I ended up stopping halfway through my run to change back to the old ones, which felt a lot better. It looks like my break-in period might take longer than I expected; I think I'm going to wear only my older shoes on Sunday, to hopefully avoid issues. My feet also felt really hot, which probably added to my annoyance. I was wearing my new Wigwam Triathlete socks, and I'm not sure I liked them. I don't usually have such sweaty feet from a 5 mile run.

treadmill | 5 miles | 46:06 | 9:13/mi.