Believe to Achieve

okay....I think I am getting old.  My perception is going batty.    Well first I went to seven peaks yesterday and endured the crowds for 3 hours in barefeet.  I need to invest in swim shoes so I don't risk further left foot PF damage.  A kid in the pool however whacked my right foot big toe joint.  Then last night I completely walked right into a CLOSED screen door.  It was dark but visible to everyone else.  My neck and head bounced back along with my right big toe.   I awoke like I had been in a car wreck with whip lash and a sore toe thinking "am I really running with Kim and Jane this morning?"   They were doing their last long run down AF canyon.   Pace goal-- 6:45.  Yikes.  I just told them I would just hang back but as I drove up with them revisiting our training of last year as we drove up  I felt I should just hang with them for as long as  I could despite my foot and lack of any speed in 11 plus weeks except 10 min on/offs and a little tempo with Rachelle and a nice 7:17 AP 8 miler two days ago.     Well SURPRISINGLY it went WAY better than planned.  I chose NOT to wear my garmin so I couldn't stare at it and ran by feel hanging with Kim and Jane all the way until just before mile 9 when I was only 5 seconds behind.   At the finish I was total time behind 21 seconds.  Yee Haw!!!   The only reason I could not keep with them was my foot was SCREAMING out loud for attention.  Burning pulling taring feeling dead center in my fascia.  I lost mobility of my foot and I just had to slow down and mentally hang in there.   We stopped very briefly for four water stops and two other times to adjust shoes etc..    WAIT to you hear my splits which  I am pretty happy with considering my lack of training hard and PF.   Here they are (I had my stop watch and when I heard Kim's watch I would hit my lap button I would see the mile but not care about overall or current AP which is the problem for me with the garmin.  I was able to focus on staying with them rather than thinking we were running too fast etc... VERY LIBERATING!!) :  First three miles in 19:51 (6:45, 6:44,  6:22 -- I got these from Kim's watch), miles 4 and 5 in 12:41 (so 6:20 and a 6:21 mile I guess),  mile 6-- 6:05  (oops :D),  mile 7-- 6:39 we slowed after seeing the last mile.  We didn't realize we were going that fast!!   mile 8 coming out of canyon and onto golf course rollers-- 6:16  (wow!!) but foot hurting.  Actually it is my middle toe on my left foot.  A toe nail I haven't clipped in a while was digging into another toe and was bleeding.  I think that is why my entire foot acted up more as I tried to avoid the rubbing of the toe nail!!  We stopped briefly (I am fast at removing socks from my feet remember?!!) for me to check it out.  I thought  my old "need to fall off" nail was falling off but really I was just being punctured with a sharp edge of a nail.  I just said "let's just get it done I don't have time to bite off the edge :D and I am not that flexible anyway".  mile 9--6:41,   here comes the lack of focus as my foot starts to really fall apart-- mile 10 (steep UP hill out of park)  6:53   that took the wind out of me and my enthusiasm!!   Mile 11-- 6:59  flat mile on Alpine Highway.      After stretching just before mile 11,   I regained some speed as the first half of  this mile I was almost pain free until the PF just tightened up again.  Mile 12--- 6:52.   Gave up on the push  with rollers to the finish and just ran easy in. We also added a hairpin turn at the end to head back to our cars.  I was only 8 seconds behind Kim and Jane.   Mile 13-- 7:18 (them7:10)  Thought I wouldn't be walking right now but so far so good.  We iced in the river for 5 minutes (lack of time Kim and I both left our car keys in Jane's car at the top of AF canyon : D what losers!! so we got a nice guy to help us out and drive us to my house to pick up an extra key then drive us back to AF high school.   I was also out of gas and coasted down the canyon!!  Luckily Jane had $5 cash on her.  I never put my purse in the car when I go running.   Fun times!! Comedy of errors galore.  I currently have a head and neck ache because I also got into the helpful citizen's car and misjudged the doorway whacking my head so hard as  I was climbing in!!  Seriously I need a new brain!!   AP for entire run (at mile 10 we were at 6:31 avg.)  =  6:38 for 13 miles.   Total time 1:26:21.  Hello!!! :D.