I need a challenge...

And I need it now. My foot feels great today after yesterday's run. There's not nearly as much pain as there was yesterday. This is something that I noticed as my foot was getting better late in the winter. I might feel pain during the day and while running, but the day after the pain would be a lot less. I also noticed that if I ran hard there wasn't as much pain either.

So, if my foot feels good on Saturday, I am going to "run" 20 miles on Sunday. I say "run" because I plan on walking when I need to. Even if I don't feel like it, I am going to walk for about 1/4 to 1/2 mile for every 4-5 miles I run (depending on how I feel) and also avoid running up steeper hills (this aggravates my foot). I know this won't be as hard as running the full 20 but I really want to do this. So, I guess I'm going for a hiking run or a running hike. I figure in terms of cardio and muscle endurance I can do it. Before I started my diet almost 3 years ago, I did a 15 mile hike with a full pack of food, water and a lot of camera gear. With my gear and my weight I probably hauled about 240 pounds through the 90+ degree heat and humidity. Dean Karnazes called these "runabouts" in his 50/50 book (yeah, I just read that part of his book).

To see where I was and where I am, here are a couple before and after shots...
The photo on the left was taken in August of 2008 and the one on the right was taken last month at the end of a grueling half marathon.


Sorry about the Moby Dick whiteness of the first, but it feels good to see how far I have come in three years.