Day 66: I have no goal or purpose, but I can still stand up

If I officially skip my last running day (Day 64), today would be a Run 27 minutes. My plan was to go for it. If I only made 25, that would be ok, too.

I woke up at 7 because it IS trash day and was surprised to see it overcast and foggy. Surprised, really, only because I wasn't fully awake yet - I knew rain was in the forecast but mornings have become especially confusing for me lately. This was either going to become an excuse for me not to run, or was going to be great running weather FINALLY.

Surprise! While gathering the trash, I realized my left Achilles is super, super tight. I don't know a lot, but I do know you don't mess with the Achilles, as it is a major player in keeping you upright when you are attempting to stand. I did very little research, because I knew it was all going to say the same thing: REST. I did read that restricted ankle movements, which I've been experiencing for awhile, could actually be a SYMPTOM of a tightened Achilles. It mentioned also that tight calf muscles could be a cause -- my muscles usually are tight when I start to stretch, but they usually feel pretty good by the time I'm done stretching. It could also be the shoes. Most likely, it can be caused from hills. Oh, good gravy, you know it had to be the hills. I hate them and now they have immobilized me.

So..I had been thinking about taking the rest of the week (at least) off to see if the weather becomes more cooperative (doubtful), and I can get my sleep straightened out, and this pretty well confirms that I will be doing just that. If there is damage to my Achilles, I should probably take longer than a week off, but I'll decide that later. I'm going to rest until at least Monday, 8-9-10 (sigh, my planned conclusion date).

Meanwhile, I have learned a few things about upcoming races. First of all, I will not be running in the RNBNBBQ10K. I had assumed this would be coming off the agenda, and yesterday the announcement of the free entries was made and I was not one of them, so that's that. It made the decision to not risk further damage to my Achilles easier. They also announced the finisher prize for the half marathon which is being run at the same time. It's a belt buckle. OK, I get it, it's the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival. Hillbillies, belt buckle, I get it. I think. But most runners don't need belts much less big ol' rodeo style belt buckles. Offensive. Even though I was never aiming for the half marathon, that made it easier to accept that I wasn't going to be running in the Hillbilly 10K.

I had also mentioned previously that the same company was going to be putting on a Thanksgiving race to benefit local charities. It is going to be a 5K and the lamest name ever that they held a contest for before naming it is.....Turkey Trax. That is so dumb that I refuse to participate. I assume it's because the company is Ultramax and someone thinks that's cute. That someone is not me.

All of this leaves me with some blog rehabbing to do.

My Goal is no longer the Roots N Blues N BBQ 10K. I actually don't have a goal, which is par for the course for me. I think my new goal will have something more to do with time/distance, unless a particularly interesting (and magically, free) race comes up on my radar. Of course, a LONG-term goal is the Los Angeles Marathon. That would be dreamy, but I need more baby goals to keep me satisfied. Since I don't have a particular race in mind, I probably will start my own made-up 5K to 10K Plan when I finish the Couch to 5K.

My "mission statement," or blog definition, needs to be changed from, "If I'm going to be at home all day, I've got to find something to focus on. And that thing is going to be running past jazz musicians in October. And since that only takes up a few minutes every other day, I have to blog, too," to something more like:

"I run and I hate it. This is where I complain about it."

"I run so that I have a reason to get dressed and leave the house. I blog so that you know I survived it."

"Running has taught me to appreciate the important things in life: like being able to breathe."

"Too competitive for team sports."

"I like jazz. I like writing. I like running, sometimes. I hate technology."

"Until I find work, running gets me out of the house regularly. Otherwise, I'm going to run out of movies to watch in my pajamas."

"Running hurts everything except my soul. That gets saved in a very special place until I go back to work, where it can be crushed like a grape."

"Yoga helps me reach that piece of cheesecake. Running tells me it's okay."

"This would be a lot easier if I were in New Orleans."

"I started running because I wanted to run past jazz musicians. I kept running because now I want to run past you."

"I'm too old for this."

Ah well, I have a few days to think about it and make some changes. Feel free to post your own ideas, for goals, or mission statements, or movies that I should watch...