Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Mis'ry

I'd hate to jinx myself, but my ankles are awesome. I was tearing down the Memorial Parkway hill at an 8:15 clip, spinning my feet, when my left foot landed on a rock or in a hole or something that caused it to roll and me to almost French kiss the glass strewn curb.

For a moment, I must have looked like one of those collapsing toy figurines, as I stumbled and recovered -- ungracefully but effectively -- and continued onward. There was a twinge in my ankle, but everything seemed fine after a few tentative steps. There is no hint of a strain or sprain today.

My only theory for why my ankles are super rad is running barefoot or in minimalist shoes. My feet and supporting muscles and ligaments have gotten stronger and more resilient, and I've started to figure out how to react when I land on things that hurt.

My 4.5-mile hill interval was completed at 9:09 mile pace, an improvement of 2:23 over last week's total time.

They're Cheats
You are letting the cheaters get away with it if you don't go change your vote to "Viper." I'm the only person who competed in the Last Mile Brewing Virtual Halfathon who wrote a race report that takes as long to read as running a half marathon. The other contenders? Look how short those performances are! That can't be legal. Do the right thing: Vote for Viper.

6 comments:

misszippy said...

I'm sure you're right about your ankles holding up like that. Glad you got away unscathed.

Ok, I need to go back and reread the reports--I somehow missed yours!

Junk Miler said...

I voted for you.

Have you noticed when putting on your pants standing up you don't fall down as much? That's a little extra unsung advantage of barefooting: it's easier to put your pants on standing up.

Al's CL Reviews said...

I voted for you yesterday.

Nitmos said...

It could be that you just had a good recovery on a stumble but if you want to attribute it to the hippie shoes, fine by me.

I've been noticing that its been getting warm out right around the same time you started wearing the shoes. Correlation?

Funnyrunner said...

I voted so stop whining. Good workout - sounds like you've recovered from your lethargy pretty well.

I hate to burst your bubble, but my ankles rock, too, and I don't run barefoot (tried it once to the tune of 3 blisters from running in the sand) or in minimalist shoes.

drdave said...

The barefoot running will reduce your reaction time to those nasty little road hurdles. Kinda cool eh?