Beauty and The Feet

Eighteen more sleeps until the marathon on May 25th. Well, 19 if you count the night before, but I expect to spend most of that evening tossing and turning (how’s that for a self-fulfilling prophecy?).

Last Sunday was the final 32K run in our training schedule. The Running Room organized a big training run for all its marathon clinic participants across the city. Over 200 of us met in mid-town Ottawa and took a bus out to the west-end suburb of Kanata. We then ran from the west end back to the mid-town neighbourhood called The Glebe.

If you have to run 20 miles on a Sunday morning, this incredible route certainly makes it more bearable. My beautiful adopted city (I am originally from Toronto) has a largely-unbroken ribbon of green space winding through and around it. We followed the “green belt” from the west end, along the Ottawa River, behind Parliament Hill, beside the intriguing lock system which skirts the gorgeous Chateau Laurier Hotel, and along the Ottawa Canal system to Lansdowne Park, our football stadium.

Here’s some of what I saw (these are images I … um … borrowed from others’ websites):

 

And here’s how my left foot looked afterwards. Not quite as pretty:

It didn’t actually hurt much, but it looked gruesome. By adding a slight limp and a few strategic moans, I was able to garner a lot of sympathy.

And the run itself? Well, I can’t bring myself to say it was fun but it was … not excruciating. Or only intermittently excruciating. I’m saving the unbroken agony for race day. Kidding. Really. Let’s just hope that’s not self-fulfilling prophecy number two.

Comments

[Kelly]

ow.

I'm counting down the days with you and sharing it with the family.
K

[Donna]

Intermittenly excruciating??? But your shoe is bloody (not to mention your feet)! Were you looking down and saw the blood on your shoe and freaking out a little? But you kept going?

Your scenery was gorgeous. I can see how that distracted you a little.

How amazing do you feel now that you've run 20 miles and bloodied your shoe?

[Reluctant Runner]

Donna: it's a little embarrassing how proud I was of my bloody shoe. And Kelly ... you summed it up perfectly: ow.

[Run For Life]

Welcome to the Ugly Feet Club!!! Slathering BodyGlide all over my toes (and other blister prone areas) really helped. As did making sure my nails were cut down to the nailbed. As for the scenery, that sounds like a fantastic route!

[Tiger]

Oh, I get SO Excited when I have bloody feet like tha.
Its a rite of passage.
Congratulations!

[MissAllycat]

The bloody shoe picture made me gasp out loud. OUCH!!

Whenever my shoes get bloody or my toenails turn purple...it makes me feel like a Real Runner. :)