This past Sunday I ran the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in Taipei, which was a 21K race (about 13 miles). This was the third time I've run a half-marathon, the first two times both being in Saitama, Japan. I think my best performance has still been my first run, because that's the one I trained the longest for. I would run 3-4 times every week for about 3 months with my friend Noah (who used to play football professionally, but is not really a fan of long-distance running). The second time I ran in Japan, I barely trained for it and made the mistake of not eating enough in the morning so by 5K my stomach was already grumbling and I barely had enough energy to finish the race. That was probably my worst performance out of all the races I've done. So if you're going to run 21K, please make sure you eat more than just a banana before the race!
This time the gap between the recent 10K race I did and the 21K I was going to do was only about 5 weeks, so I didn't have much time to train, especially since I spent a week in Thailand the week before the race. The only running I did while in Thailand was sprinting from one terminal in Taoyuan to the next because we were cutting it close for our flight from Taipei to Bangkok. I think that was one of the few times I was legitimately a little worried that we might miss our flight, but luckily everything worked out. Thailand is actually hotter than Taiwan, but there's no humidity, so if I covered myself in sunblock I could probably run without collapsing. On the contrary, I pretty much just ate and got massages while in Thailand (though there were 2 days involving outdoor activities - hiking, rafting, and the like - but pretty minimal considering the circumstances).
Anyway, once I got back from Thailand my friend and I at most ran 10K in one go a few days before the race. So I was a little worried I might be able to finish the race in time (I think we had 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete it. Or maybe it was 2 hours and a half?).
Taiwan's summer weather is the worst. If it's not raining, then it's freaking humid, and sometimes it'll seem perfectly sunny and then start raining hours on end with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel. This is pretty much what happened the day before the race. Because the race started at 5 a.m. and we had to arrive at the starting point by 4:30 am (ridiculous right? I thought so too), my two friends and I planned to sleepover at one friend's place and cab it to the start location early in the morning (since no public transportation would be open at that time). I stupidly wore my running shoes to go to to my friend's place that night because I didn't want to carry an extra pair of shoes to the race. Unfortunately, they got pretty wet and were definitely not dry the next morning. So I ran the entire race wearing my friend's socks and semi-soaked shoes. As a result: I got one big giant blister on the bottom of my left foot. A whole patch of skin got rubbed off around 10K, and for awhile I thought I had a rock in my shoe because every time my left foot would touch down, there would be a sting of pain at the center of my foot. But when I took off my shoe to investigate, there was nothing. So I ran the remaining 10K with my foot throbbing. It was after the race that I discovered the quarter-sized blister - no blood, just a bright pink area where you can start to see the insides of my foot.
I've kind of been limping everywhere since then, which has prompted questions from my friends and stares from strangers. That was fine. But then yesterday my index (?) toe on my left foot start hurting like mad. It's not broken, but it was a little swollen and totally tender to the touch the whole day. It was more of a dull pain than the sharp kind resulting from walking around on my blister. But then, around the time I was planning to go to sleep, the pain suddenly magnified. I can't really describe what this kind of pain felt like, but I basically couldn't even touch the toe without waves of pain instantly shooting to the corners of my skull. When I propped my leg up on some cushions, the pain lessened a little bit. But only for a few minutes before it would come back. So I spent the entire night changing positions trying to fall asleep while ignoring the pain in my toe. Around 5 a.m. I eventually drifted off and when I woke up the piercing pain was gone but it still throbs a bit whenever I touch my toe. And of course there is still the blister.
Probably my worst post-race experience to date, as I pride myself on being able to recover quickly. A couple days after my last half-marathon, I could go running again, 3-4 miles at a time, no problem. But this time I can barely walk without wincing. I'm planning to see a doctor if the pain in my toe returns again tonight. I really don't know what that was about. (My right foot is completely fine so if I hop around on one leg, I feel no pain at all!)
