The cold mornings are here again. Yuck.

So all this month I've been wearing some kind of shoe; either the huaraches or the Zems. The Zems I did once with socks when it as in the upper 30s. That was a tight fit but it might've stretched out the bands a enough to keep them from pushing forward so much. They had felt like my heel was slipping off the back all the time and now that only happens on the up hills. Looking at the soles, though, it doesn't look like they'll last all that long. Maybe that means I have to run with absolutley perfect form. My feet soles seem to have toughened enough to withstand some slight shifting and the skin regrows continually; I guess I can't expect that from the Zems, therefore, perfect form is needed if I want them to last.

The huaraches are doing okay. I wear them with socks to keep my toesies from getting all Reynaud-ic. I think I prefer this to the Zems which make my toes feel a bit cramped, though in both I tend to land a little heavily, I think. My feet seem to be handling that for the most part as long as I give them 1 1/2 to 2 days rest.

Runs haven't been longer than 3.8 miles, mostly because of time. With daylight savings not ending until November 6th this year, the sunrise is not until 7:26 on the 5th. I suppose I could wear something more reflective and just run pre-dawn, but it's hard to get out of bed in the dark. I know, what a whiner; but I'm usually awake--I just use light as the cue to get up. Today I intend to run before dinner and it might get to 60 today. That'll be nice to be bare again.

Tooling Around

Last night's run was pretty good--3.8 miles before sushi dinner. My left calf soreness was totally gone and for a moment I thought my right calf was going start acting up but that passed too. Not much wildlife to see at that time of day. It's not a high traffic area by any measure but it was steady enough to keep the road clear.
I did encounter two cyclists going in the opposite direction and my first negative-ish comment. I gave a little wave as they passed and the second one barked out, "Put some shoes on!" Took me by surprise and I could only manage a, "Hey," in return. I've been trying to remember all the comebacks posted on BRS. I might be able to remember to yell back, "I don't need no stinkin' shoes!" next time, but I'll be wearing shoes or huaraches soon because of the cold. I'll probably most likely just ignore negative comments, but it is tempting to say something really snarky in return. It would have to be short and easily shouted like, "Tool!" I know, not very friendly, and could get me into trouble if the person is bigger than me. It is tempting, though.

Calving the Monkey

Last Tuesday's run was a good 3.8 miles until near the end when my left calf cramped up, about halfway up the leg, where the calf bulges. I had to stop and massage a bit but continued running very slowly the rest of the way. Did more massaging the next few days and by Friday it seemed all better but started acting up again as soon as I set out. I finished the run, about 2 miles, but had to do it with slower, shorter steps, and with more stopping to massage. All I could figure is that I must have not been relaxing my foot enough. Over the weekend I mostly just relaxed it and massaged a little. Any time I tried to work it though would be painful and pressing and rubbing, like with trigger point, just seemed to make it worse.

Finally on Sunday I did some slow stretches and that seemed to help a lot and really quickly, too. It makes me wonder--I've been reading a lot how on the BRS site that stretches are bad and so I've eased off doing them as much before running--could that be part of the problem? Do I need to stretch to loosen up and be relaxed?

So I did my usual stretching this morning and tried a very short run, about 1000 feet, just to see how thing were. It was still a little tight, but getting better. I might have been able to run a few miles with no problem but didn't want to overdo it. I'll try in the morning again if it's not too wet and rainy. Right now the calf feels totally better. Moo-oo.

According to Wikipedia, it is well known that monkeys have no calves and that that was once considered a sign of their inferiority. I'll try to remember my superiority the next time I overdo things.