Monday, Monday...

Woke up early this morning. Went out for a light breakfast, and by 7:30 I was parking over at Harpers Ferry, getting set for a run on the C&O Canal towpath.

I decided yesterday to try for six miles today, and I figured that if I got out while it was still cool, I could make it. I also chose an "Out and back" route that gave me no real chance to quit. Once I started, the only way back to the endpoint and my vehicle was to finish.

Now I haven't run six miles in one shot since my last police academy some years back, and I had both feet back then. But I've been working back up, and today felt right, so I gave it a shot, focusing on distance, not speed this morning. Slow but steady and all that. I also figured that the dirt path of the towpath would make for a good running surface. On that I erred a bit. My running foot needs a smooth, level surface, and the rocks and ruts on the towpath forced me to watch every step, and they ultimately resulted in enough jarring missteps to turn on the "pain" lights in my knees, hips and ankle before it was over. But the one light that I wasn't going to accept was the "FAIL" light, so I kept on.

I won't lie--it was hard going towards the end. As I tired, I had more mis-steps and stumbles in the last mile than I did in the five before, but I kept the pace up and finally finished strong.

The downside was that the rocks and gravel of the towpath destroyed what little tread and lining was left on the bottom of my running foot, so I have to run it into the shop for repairs. Fortunately I have a good prosthetist and he's going to fix it tomorrow. When he heard that I just did six miles on it, he expressed some surprise, but I told him that he'll believe it when he sees the damage to the bottom of the foot. Then I had to tell him that I'd incurred some minor damage on the swim leg too, and I haven't had that for a week yet. I could hear him sigh. No wonder he loves my business so much. But then again, his average patient just wants to be able to walk around the house. I'm gearing up for an eventual triathalon and trying to snag another law enforcement job. I can do both eventually. I've just got to work a little harder to beat out all the mere mortals who, for some reason or another, still have two feet.