Updates, taper, leaves, and leaving

So, for some updates...

Those of you that follow me on twitter or facebook will know that I've had some foot pain since my concluding 20 mile training run on Saturday, 9/19. I stayed off it for a few days, went for a bike ride, and it was feeling good, so on Thursday the 24th I took it out for another spin. Yeah, didn't go so well. So I gave a call to a relatively famous sports doc here in the SLC area by the name of Dr. Toronto, and I got in to see him on Monday the 28th. After a couple of x-rays and some poking ad prodding, he determined it was likely caused by my shoes and that it was an inflamed peroneal tendon with an accessory occicle. Basically that means I have an extra little bone embedded in a tendon on the outside of my foot, which isn't a problem, but can be irritated in the wrong shoes or running on the wrong surfaces, or a combination of all of the above. So, the idea is to reduce the inflammation and the resultant pain so I can run the marathon, and to that end I'm on prednisone for 5 days (Monday-Friday, and probably Saturday too). So far, knock on wood, 3 doses in and no real side effects.

So, I will be running the marathon (that was in doubt for a couple of days there as I was nursing an owie foot). And with any luck, I'll be gunning for something in the 4:40's, but again, anything under 5 hours will be success for me. My taper has been all of non-existent with the foot injury, consisting so far of a couple of bike rides, a few minutes of soccer, and one failed run. That's okay though, it's all good.

One of the bike rides was yesterday, when I headed up the road in City Creek Canyon at lunch. The Autumn colors are in full swing, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see the hues of some of the leaves up there. Some trees looked like they were on fire, so vibrant were the reds and yellows. Today, however, it's raining or snowing in the mountains, and I'm sure the leaves are going to take a big hit. Oh well, at least I got to see them once before the storm.

Tonight we leave for St. George, giving us a couple of days to rest and relax and recreate before the big event on Saturday. My next post will likely be my race report. Here goes!

1000 words.

Click to enlarge.