Rest week/PT; RAGNAR 2013: GANGNAM STYLE!!

Rest week/PT:

I've had an "evolving" "niggle" (a term for a pain/irritation not keeping you from completing a workout/race) with my right foot since June....

In changing my running stride (from extreme heel strike to midfoot) I started having some posterior tibialis tendonitis/blisters. I tried using my custom orthotic again, bought new shoes, KT taping, stopped using my orthotic, had an insole made by RoadRunner....then gave up and just kept running....

fast forward 6 months to PF Chang's. The blisters and pain had pretty much subsided. Next was numbness; of my ENTIRE foot....so I finally went to a physical therapist. He told me to stop running for a month.....

Two days later I was planning to run 18 miles over 24hours..... so the "no running for a month" thing went right out the window!! More on how PT ends up later. I did do my 30 min aerobic run workout Wed in the pool , trying to be obedient and practice what I preach!

Overall, pretty mild workouts for rest week:
Mon: 1000m swim easy
Tues: 1hr aerobic bike level 1
Wed: 30min aerobic run (bought an aqua jogger to use in the pool....but forgot it in the car :( Oops!)
Thurs: 1000m swim easy

The fun part: RAGNAR RELAY 2013- GANGNAM STYLE (our team name)

Well, that was a CRAZY 32 hours!!!

202 miles split up between 12 people in two vans.

Casey arrived from the ATL Thursday morning and we had a delish pre-race meal from Oregano's around 7pm then EARLY TO BED!.

Our start time was 7am Friday.......in WICKENBURG, AZ (approx 1hr 15min from Phoenix). Which means alarms went off at 3:45 so we could meet up with our van members and get to the start by 6am.

Casey was our amazing photographer for the race. I surprisingly did not take very many pics with my phone so there are very few for this blog. Once Casey sends out the nice ones, I may do another blog dedicated to those.

I was runner #1 in Van #1. The leg was 8.78 miles....3/4+ UPHILL.....and it was approximately 32 degrees, in the sun!

I felt pretty dang good! I put some KT tape on my foot (which helped, a little). My foot did go numb, I only ALMOST fell twice (once uphill and once on the downhill within a quarter mile of the exchange) but, I finished in approx 1hr 20min ish (forgot to stop my watch right away). Not super fast but not super slow.

Casey was runner #2; Simon #3; Mike #4; Whitney #5 and Misty #6.

Weather was gorgeous!!

Here's Casey applying sunscreen during leg 4 or 5..... LOOKING EXCITED!!!

Once our van finished the first 6 legs (totaling 40ish miles) we met up with Van#2 around 1pm then had a nice 7 hour break. Chile's for lunch; Michael's for van decorating; Target for chapstick, iceyhot patches and other misc items; resting at the exchange area-which consisted of trying to sleep (Simon and Mike), lots of foam rolling action and an impromptu to yoga session taught by Misty!

Next up....NIGHT RUNS!!
Mine was a little over 6miles and started at 7:45. Was in the zone, felt great, did well.
We saw Whit (runner #5) off around midnight and we just HAPPENED to be heading right by In N' Out on Carefree Hwy and the I17 to meet her and get Misty started. So, we had a delicious meal at In N' Out right before they closed.

That's Misty in her NEON gear for the second leg. It was 1am......

We only had about 2.5hrs in between our second and third legs.....

We were EXHAUSTED!

Thanks to the most AMAZING mom in the world (mine, Barb Campbell), we got to take showers and lay down on beds/couches for a little while.

Another alarm at 4am!!! Time to head out to Cave Creek Rd north of Carefree Hwy!

I started my last leg (3.4mi) at approx 5:30. Thankfully Casey met runner #12 to get the slap bracelet while I had an EMERGENCY port-a-potty session.......

Off and Running for my last leg!!!!!!

IT WAS FREEZING, PITCH BLACK AND UPHILL.

I ran up Cave Creek Rd to where Scottsdale Rd dead ends into it...No wonder they make us wear headlamps....I did not see a runner between 1/2mi in until the "One Mile Left" sign....I totally thought I got lost.

When I got to the exchange area, I yelled out my number "83"!!!!! and Casey just happened to have walked RIGHT INTO ME! Apparently I was a little quicker than they planned ;) I felt great!

No one else was there so I wandered around looking for the van...

That's when a "jumping Cholla cactus" found me. Yup! Right into my BUM! After extracting the barbs from that, THANKS WHIT!, the rest of Van #1 ran their final legs, bringing us to Fountain Hills.

We again met up with Van#2 to hand off the "slap bracelet" and off we went for showers and some rest at Whitney's parent's house in Mesa.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, it was so nice to stretch out on the couch.

Around 2pm we packed up the van and met Van #2 at Tempe Center for the Arts to bring home runner #12!

It was super amazing.

I had no idea what to expect and it was SUCH AN AWESOME thing.

Next up, "Du in the Desert". Duathalon in the McDowell's.... this coming weekend....need some rested legs!!

So, this is what our day consisted of today (after our goodbyes to Casey):

 A lot of laying around......