Yesterday I braved roads overrun with an obscene number of last-minute shoppers and headed to my gym which happens to be in close proximity to a huge, fabulous (and obviously popular) grocery store and a large shopping mall. I jumped on a treadmill at said gym with all the best intentions: At the very least, I would do another 5k as on Sunday; at best I’d break my distance record of 6.2 miles.
After finishing 3.1 miles, I was feeling strong and was interested to see what would happen when I hit the 60-minute mark on the treadmill – the treadmill at Rachel’s gym caps at an hour (ridiculous) so I was curious about mine… It shut off at 42 minutes! Insanity.
I gritted my teeth, restarted my treadmill and kept running. Not long into my fourth mile, I started feeling some discomfort on the instep of my right foot. There was some significant rubbing, and I was afraid the friction was bound to result in a nasty blister. I ran through it a bit, but after a while, it became so uncomfortable that I decided not to keep pushing – if I got that blister, that would cause painful running all week.
So I ran until I got to 5.1 miles and called it a day. That’s 2 miles more than my Sunday run, so I’m pleased with that.
This morning my husband and I exchanged Christmas gifts (a little early, I know!). One of his gifts to me was a pair of athletic socks with a ‘double-layer, anti-blister system’ to prevent the exact problem I had on the treadmill yesterday! And he bought them before I told him about this particular issue – he’s magic :)
I’m really looking forward to hitting a new distance PR, and with my new socks, nothing’s holding me back! I think I’ll do it before week’s end. I declare it to be so – it’ll be a great gift to myself!
On that note, I hope you all treat yourselves to something that will make you feel good this holiday – just not food-related! Take some time out for yourself to read a good book or pamper yourself with a pedicure. After all, ’tis the season for giving!
