Achilles

Yes, that Achilles. As the story goes Achilles the mighty warrior was dipped into the river Styx when he was a baby in order to make him immortal. However he was held by his heel and that part of his body was not dipped into the river. During the Trojan war after Achilles killed Hector and dragged his body from behind his chariot, Paris, Hector's brother who was quite cowardly shot an arrow into Achilles' heel and killed him. I love Greek mythology, although Brad Pitt as Achilles in "Troy" was not to my liking. Nor did I enjoy seeing Orlando Bloom as Paris killing the greatest fighter of all time. Oh well, what do I know?
Fast forward to now and reality. Today was  my "short run" to Griffy, which is now a dust bowl if you haven't driven by there recently. We need rain! I did a 2 mile warm up and then decided to do a few miles at half marathon pace. Mission accomplished (sort of): 3 @ 17:16. Now for the return trip back up Griffy hill. I wanted it to be slow but come on! I swore I saw a caterpillar pass me on the way up. By the time I got to mile 7 my plans had changed. I wanted to throw in another 3 @ faster than 18:00 but my achilles had other ideas. Yes my achilles once again, worse than usual, started to throb. I don't think you are supposed to feel your heartbeat in your heel are you? (A positive note: 10 miles seems like around the block now.) Thanks Andrea. I hobbled the last 3 miles to home disgusted and angry. 4 weeks and counting. Not worried about the pace. Got that covered. Endurance good and will be better by then. But this damn achilles problem has to get better. Ice not working. I am stretching more, maybe that will help. I am rotating shoes to see what happens too. I think my conditioning is there, has been. I always need more hill work for strength. That is a given and everyone who has ever run with me can attest to that. But my one weakness since I have started running again is my Achilles. Let me state the obvious: my Achilles heel is my Achilles heel. I know. But I wrote this whole thing just so I could use that line.
By the way Bloomingfoods 5k Saturday was interesting. The rain was crazy and ran through some nice puddles. Enjoyed the first mile with the big group, although the first mile was so slow that I am not sure how any of us ended up running as fast as we did. Congrats to Scott Breeden once again for making the win look so easy. Tim Ryder passed me, I passed him, then he passed again on the hill moments before he charged threw the finishing chute to get 3rd! Good job Tim. I ended up 5th. Not happy but the time was okay considering the weather and turns. And another teammate Emily Weisbard got 4th and a PR before she and Scott did their workout for the day. Team INRunCo did well and can't wait until the next time.