This
has been a tough year for my running habit. Soon after Barkley I realized that
I’d come down with Plantar Fasciitis. I’d had soreness in my feet for a while,
especially in my left heel while running downhill, but I didn’t relate that to
what I’d heard about PF. Then one day I woke up with pain in the center of my
heels that was serious enough to make me realize the connection. Luckily, this
was well after Barkley, and its subsequent bookmobiles, so I had a lull in my
schedule coming up. I started to do the stretching, icing, etc. that Leonard
and other friends had recommended. The pain didn’t go away, but at least it
didn’t get any worse.
Passing the Grist Mill (photo from KTC).
Before
our May trip to the Black Hills, (Black Elk Pk)
I took about two weeks off from running hoping for a cure, but early on in the
trip I found that any hike over 6-8 miles would aggravate the PF. After I got
back, I made a quick trip to my doctor who sent me to physical therapy. At PT
we tried most everything in the book. I got 2 sessions of dry needling, the
first helped a lot, the second didn’t. Each session he did some soft tissue
massage, scraping, cupping, and a taping job that would last 2-3 days. I got a Superfeet
insole and a regime of stretching and strengthening. I also cut back on my
running distance and frequency. I got better up to the point that I could run
normally, but I still had the pain and couldn’t increase my running. For the
next step I added the “night split”, in this case a Strasburg sock, went on
Meloxicam (NSAID) daily, and added more stretching and strengthening. Things
were looking good when I got released from PT, but I still had the PF.
Next
up I was scheduled to sweep the Barkley Fall Classic in late September.
Sweeping is a bit of crap shoot, but I figured I needed to go as far as 18
miles. My longest training trip was ~14.4 miles on FHSP’s North Boundary Trail,
out and back to Bald Knob. My heel hurt badly after that run, but it was OK the
following day. At BFC I did 18 slow miles and didn’t have much PF Pain.
My
PF stayed about the same through our ND Badlands hiking trip in early October (Achenbach
Hike). I was still able to run my usual 8 mile greenway runs. Then it was
just month to the Knoxville Track Club’s Norris Dam Hard Trail Race. The last
two years I’d run the 50K at Norris, but I’d put in lots of training. I knew
the 25K would be tough on the PF, but made it my goal just to finish. I did
several 10-12 mile training runs at the Townsend Y in the Smokies, South
Knoxville, and at Norris, along with a couple sets of hill repeats from Armes Gap
at Frozen Head. My fitness was good going in, but I knew from my final training
run at Norris that the PF would be the toughest challenge.
Race
morning was cold with the start near freezing, but warmer temperatures
forecasted by noon. The race this year was on the clockwise loop, which meant
we would do the flatter Lakeview section first, and would have the hills toward
the end of the loop. From the start the runners got bunched up descending the
stairs below the Tea House. The second set of stairs on Kerry’s Revenge had
been bypassed by a new trail relocation, so we had a much gentler descent to
Lakeview Trail. I soon ended up at the head of one of a small group. I asked a
couple of times if people wanted to pass, and since there were no takers I just
kept to the front and tried to run a decent pace.
Early
on I could tell I would be able to run well. Maybe not fast, but I could go
steadily, and could climb the short rollers on Lakeview when I wanted to. Not
too far into the run I realized Kathy Smith was in the group, so that confirmed
that I had to be running well. The Lakeview section of the course is long and
rolling, so it seems to take much longer than it should. Most of the runners
ahead of us were walking the “steeper” climbs so our group did the same. Much
of the trail at the start in the State Park had been blown clear of leaves, and
this was a great help. We all could run faster with less worries about rocks
and roots, and I could do more even foot plants which would delay the flare up
of the pain from my plantar fasciitis. The group stayed together through High
Point Trail and began to split up along Arnie’s/Benny’s trails, just before the
Clear Creek Road section.
Our group on the Lakeview Trail (Photo from KTC).
Kathy
and I stuck together to the first aid station at the base of Eli Nine, coming
in around 1:27, which was about 10 minutes ahead of what I hoped was a 4 hour
pace. We continued a walk/run up Eli Nine, but maybe cut back more than I
should have. But it was all running down Red Hill and on the more technical
trail on White Oak Spring Trail. After Red Hill we would see no other runners
until the top of Ridgeline. There were no leaf blown sections in the watershed.
Somewhere on Clear Creek Trail I went knee deep into hole just about a foot
wide. Luckily I just took a tumble without hurting anything. We went back and
cleared away the leaves around the hole for other runners to see, and then
headed for the water tank.
Kathy and I running near Lower Clear Creek (photo from KTC).
Kathy
called the aid crew at the water tank aid station (~2:15) the dream team (Brian
W, Tim H, and Alondra M.) and I commented that the race had more talent at the
aid stations than on the course. We cruised down Lower Clear Creek and then to
the Grist Mill, still moving well. But I chose to walk almost all of Cliff
Trail. The trail is uphill, but not all the way, and is narrow with a drop off,
but not dangerously so. My caution here might have cost me the few minutes I
needed to have broken 4 hours.
Kathy
and Leah have a ritual of sipping of Fireball at Observation Point when they run
this race together, and Kathy asked me to join her in Leah’s place this year. A
lone hiker at the gazebo got a laugh at our “Shot and Selfie.”
Celebrating at Observation Point.
We
ran steadily, if not so fast, down from Reservoir Hill to the dream team at
around 3:20, too slow I thought to break 4 hours. But Kathy and I still could
climb, and we hustled up Ridgeline though not quite at the ”back in the day”
pace. Near the top we caught one runner worn out by the climbing. My foot was
too sore by now to run fast, but I could still sort of pussy foot along. The
new single track to Camp Sam was great to run, not so much so for the paved
road through the cabin area to the finish. We swung into the finish just over
four hours, but had more than enough fun to make up for the slower time.
