13 weeks to Grand Rapids Marathon and Plantar Fasciitis

13 weeks to go to the Grand Rapids Marathon.  And a new injury of sorts to slow me down.  I've developed plantar fasciitis on/in my left foot.  Plantar fasciitis is a fairly uncomfortable inflammation of the connective tissue on the bottom of the foot and is apparently more common than I realized.  There is no real fix for it; I'm told that not running would really help it get better faster, but that's not going to happen.  Aside from that, the fix is a lot of stretching.

But I've got 13 weeks to go, I need to amp up my miles, and once again I am behind.  I'm behind because I've been baby'ing my foot a bit.  I had a good 11 mile'r last week, and I need to get a 16'er in this week.  I'm in FL right now and it is hot and very, very humid. I did 3.5m last night and then 8m this morning (it was so humid that by the time I was done I was absolutely and totally soaking wet with sweat).  My foot is sore as hell now, but I know that it will pass. 

I'm in FL because my Dad passed - and the runs seem to be very therapeutic. I've had long conversations with myself about my dad, conversations with my dad, or sometimes just I just ran mindlessly.  The last two runs, the 3 and the 8 miler seemed to go by so fast...  At one point on one of my runs I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I missed a turn and wound up confused about where the hell I was.  Once I realized that I had missed a turn I backtracked my route and obviously made it home.

13 weeks to go... I haven't signed up for the marathon yet.  Am somewhat worried about being able to go the distance.  We'll see.  I'm not sure when I'll sign up (or not), but we'll see.  I hate not being 100% healthy.  it sucks.  But maybe that's part of the test.