Stretches

Still having sore heels first thing in the morning, so I got some advice from my fave advisor at my fave running store about some stretches that will help with plantar's.  He said I could use the step stretch device, but that it was easier and maybe better (and certainly cheaper) to stretch using exercises that don't need any equipment other than a wall and a chair or other seat.  I am going to try to get religious about doing them daily -- he said even on non-run days -- and see if it helps.  He also reinforced that I need to be icing, which I haven't done in a while. 

We had 6 miles this morning with 6 fartleks, most of which were pretty short.  Joy joined us again and it made me sad to realize her training group will be starting up in about 2 weeks, so she'll have her own weekday schedule instead of coming with us.  Anyway, according to David, our overall running pace was about 10 seconds too fast, which I felt, but with the speed bursts included, it seemed logical.   

The big news here though is that we bought plane tickets yesterday and I'm hoping hubby will do his race registration today.  We're flying up on Thurs afternoon, which is great since it will only be 2 days of vacation and will give me 2 full days in the city to see what the weather is like, to drive the course, to get to the expo, to make final outfit decisions, etc.  And the AC has never been to MN, so this will be a new state for him.  Since I lived there when I was little, I'd like to at least drive by my old house with him and maybe show him the scene of my brother's big bike accident.  And I've never been to the Mall of America, so that might be a fun Friday activity. 

The only sucky part of our trip is the fact that we fly back on Sunday night.  I've never flown the same day as a marathon and every fiber of my being tells me that it's a mistake.  Last year we drove to Vegas after St. George, about 2 hours in the car, and that was horrible even with one stop for leg stretching.  I was so tight when we got there.  But due to the whole concept of limited vacation days, and the fact that my sweet husband already has to take 1.5 days for the trip and would have to take 1.5 more if we flew home Monday (and I want to save any newly accrued days for us to go home at Xmas (we blew the wad of vacay days on adding Russia a couple months ago)), it seemed Sunday night made a lot more sense.  Our flight isn't until 6ish, so even if it took me 6 hours to finish the race and then another 1-2 hours to deal with post-race fluids/chaos/crowds/transit, I should still have time to shower and eat before we'd have to go to the airport (just would need a late check-out, which we'll probably need even if I finish with a PR).  Our hotel is only a short walk from the finish line.  And my goal will be to be all packed the night before except what I'll need race morning and race afternoon, just in case the unexpected happens and he or we have to grab and go.  That happened to me in DC -- finished within 15 minutes of plan but it took forever to link up after the race, pick up my gear-check bag (which I hopefully won't need at MTCM b/c of family), and walk the couple blocks to the hotel; there was still enough time for a quick ice bath at the hotel, but if I hadn't been packed and prepared, it would have been tough. 

Maybe I can walk the aisles a couple times on the flight... or maybe I'll just be temporarily partially paralyzed for the first few days back.  I want to be careful about following a recovery schedule this year, especially if I consider doing another fall marathon.  Hopefully my walking buddy will be in town and we can log some miles together especially that week.