I have a confession to make. There is a pile of sandals in my closet that is going unworn. My feet have only seen the light of day in sandals once so far this summer. Normally, I am a lover of bare feet and cutesy sandals. Since I started logging more miles, however, being a runner and sandals have not gone hand in hand. About a year and a half ago, I struggled with Plantar Fasciitis. I had a little flare up this winter, but for the most part I have been able to keep it under control by changing my shoe wearing habits. Wearing running shoes with orthotics all of the time, in my mind, is a big reason why I have been able to stay pain free. I’m not about to risk foot pain again for the sake of cute shoes.

All this running shoe wearing has left me with Runner’s Feet. It’s not that they are all gnarly or anything, but they are Minnesota Winter White while my legs are Summer Runner Tan. Not a good look. On the plus side, the toe nail that fell off this Spring is fully regrown so all my nails are present and accounted for. With no marathon training this summer, I don’t even have any black nails or blisters. Hopefully my feet aren’t a total lost cause.

This weekend I’m going to have to expose my feet to non-family members, so I’m going to have to take some corrective action. We have an event on Saturday night that is going to require me to wear something other than shorts or jeans. I’ll be donning a casual dress and, even though it is casual, I don’t think that running shoes would be appreciated by the host. It’s time to prepare for sandals. I’ll be spending the next hour or so exfoliating and applying self tanner. Tomorrow will bring another round of self tanner and then some nail polish. Orange feet with tan legs will be an improvement over blindingly white feet with tan legs, but I’m guessing not a lot. As long as it just draws less attention to my feet until I can get some sun on them.

Why does running confidence seem to fade so fast? It takes such a long time to develop, and then it can disappear in no time.

Only 21 days ago, I ran 26.2 miles. That’s a pretty long run, I did it in okay time, and I felt fine shortly after. That all adds up to running confidence. Now, just three weeks later, I’m somehow doubting I can run 6 miles. Why? Well, for starters, I haven’t run more than 5 miles since the race. I had the lower mileage planned to give my legs a chance to recover and to be able to pick up the cross-training that I need for my triathlon season. Still, my sureness in my running ability has started to fritter away.

Another reason that I am doubting myself is that the little mileage that I am doing seems a lot harder. I’ve decided to blame the bike for this. On the bike, my heart rate stays low and I get to go fast. I’m just not good enough on the bike yet to really push myself to the max. Running is the exact opposite. It just seems a lot harder and I feel like I’m going so slow. The leg fatigue from the new bike training is playing a role, too. Since I’m a shuffler, I use my hip flexors a lot when I run. The hip flexors are getting quite a workout on the bike. Now when I run, my legs are feeling heavy.

Whine, whine, whine. The dumb thing is that my pace is actually okay. I’m running the pace that I should be and my heart rate is fine. It just seems so hard! I was going to do a brick workout tomorrow which would be 20+ miles on the bike and then just a 2 mile run. I think instead that I’ll go out and conquer that 6 miles on a hilly course. I need to get my running chops back! Even though this triathlon stuff is fun, I still feel like I’m a runner first and foremost, so I want to make sure that doesn’t slip away.

On Sunday I’ll be volunteering at the finish line of the new Minneapolis Marathon and Half Marathon. Good luck to everyone running! I’ll either be doing back-up timing or giving out medals. Hmm… which one sounds like more fun? Good luck to everyone that is racing this weekend!