Off to a Rotten Start

August 1st marked the beginning of Philly marathon training and - well, it didn't start well:

• My daughter has something like swimmers ear and didn't sleep well Sunday night - thus neither did myself or my wife.
• I ended up taking Advil PM to get back to sleep and had my 'benadryl hangover' the next morning.
• I also started the week with a monday morning dentist appointment. So feeling hungover and with my teeth scrapped - I headed into work.
• As I got ready for my lunch run, I realized I had forgotten my socks - so I went out without them. After 2 miles I realized I'd scrapped off enough skin on the heel to stop.
• I removed my shoes and walked back - the pads on the feet were sore after walking back.
• If that wasn't enough - I stepped on a small piece of glass left from a demo job in my house Tuesday morning. I think my feet have about had it...

I decided to bag the biking and not run today - just a 50 minutes strenght workout. I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow and bike home. Then take Thursday off and do another bike-run on Friday. A bit scaled back - but I should be able to hit the remaining workouts after the disastrous start.

3M Beach Run

Last night was the Misquamicut 3M Beach Run put on by the Westerly Track & Athletic club. I took the wife and kids over early (~4:30) to play in the sand and surf - then decided to run the race barefoot - a first for me. I started fast and kept up a pretty good pace - finishing the 3 miles in 20:18 - a 6:46 pace. Not my fastest - but adequate considering the lack of any speed training. Also notable was that I ran slightly negative splits - and didn't get passed by anyone during the last half - which is always a good thing.

I enjoyed running barefoot - although 3 miles of running in the sand rubbed my toes pretty raw, and the run itself really tightened up my calf muscles (both legs) - so I'm not sure if I'll get out today. In itself, that's not a big deal - but I'll be down a little this week in total mileage.