I've been trying to keep up with my exercise regiment despite some of my abdominal and foot issues. The abdominal issues have been well documented in previous posts, but my feet may warrant some detail here. I have flat feet. When I say flat, I mean flat! There is really no visible arch plus they are some what deformed with this odd curly toe formation which virtually tucks my pinkie toe out of sight. I've only come across one other person with such funky feet, and that was my poor mother; God rest her soul. If you look at our feet you probably couldn't tell us apart. I've always had a lot of trouble with them as they would cause me lots of pain and fatigue with just a little activity. I saw a podiatrist as a teenager who said I had the feet of a 40 year old. Now that I'm over 40 he would probably say I have the feet of a blistered corpse! If they weren't bad enough when I was younger, they certainly got worse as an adult, especially as the weight I carried increased. During a particularly active time years ago, I aggravated them to the point of injury. I ended up with Plantar Fascitis, which is a particularly debilitating malady where the tendon across the bottom of your foot begins to swell and get damaged. There is no real cure. The treatment consisted of ice, stretches, anti-inflammatories, sleeping in a boot brace, using a custom made orthotic to try and give me a simulated arch as well as several cortizone shots in the heel. Probably took over a year to get past it, during which I couldn't exercise much as I had to stay off of them, so of course that just helped my BMI climb the mountain of obesity!
Thankfully with the blessing of my Lap Band surgery, I was able to start my way back down that mountain. It seemed that my plantar fascitis was gone and I just had some of my normal foot soreness for quite some time. Well unfortunately that didn't last. As I've increased my work out regiments to include more walking and running to prepare for my goal to complete a 5K, my feet couldn't take it. The last straw was when I played tennis with my friend Mo and I didn't use my orthotic. The orthotic can make me feel like I have a little elevation where the side to side nature of tennis makes me feel like I'm going to turn my ankle. I pushed the feet too far and the plantar fascitis is back. Apparently it is very common for it to recur once you've had it and will make exercise on my feet tough. From now on I can't be without my orthotic for virtually any walking. I've learned my lesson. This happened about three weeks before my planned 5K Gasparilla race. My training had to stop in hopes of still completing the race. Luckily, I had already completed a number of weeks of training and the Lap Band was not allowing me to put my weight back on while I was grounded, like I had in the past. Thanks to the Palms of Pasadena and the wonderful team at Suncoast Bariatrics, I wasn't going to let my feet sabotage me this time.
I had a lot of support for doing this race, which made things a lot easier having you all in my corner. In fact several people even went as far as being there and doing it with me. Thanks to my old friend Ilene, who was the original person who got me into doing these races. Thanks to my dear friend Paul, who has been an inspiration through my weight loss journey for taking the time to be there. Thanks to my family Jen, Dewey, and Ma for doing a 5K for the first time just to show their support. Thanks to my incredible wife who did the race very pregnant to be there with me. God bless you all!
For those who don't know, the Gasparilla Distance Challenge takes place in Tampa and is considered one of the largest in the Southeast United States. The total number of participants was in the tens of thousands. This year it was on February 22nd. It was a cloudy day with a high threat of rain. Most of us car pooled down and parking was challenging, but we were able to find some not too far from the starting line. The night before we had stopped at the convention center to pick up our race packets including our numbered bibs, so we didn't have to pick them up the morning of. Plus we got to get ready at home pinning our bibs equipped with timing chips to our shirts with safety pins. It was a good thing because people were like ants. The turnout was phenomenal. We were early enough to go and see Ilene and her husband Chip, who were doing the 15K and would be about finishing when we got there. Amazingly we were able to find them in the crowd. We spent a few minutes with them and then it was time for us to get into position. We needed to find our waiting area for our waves. Yes, this race is so large that they need to have several different waves to accommodate everyone. Most of us were in the blue wave, while my wife and Ma were in the red wave as they were designated walkers. There was no way my wife could finish in the time limit for our wave as pregnant as she was and Ma was nice enough to walk with her to keep her company. Thanks Ma! The rest of us got into position. We tried and stayed to the middle of the pack as we didn't want to get trampled by the real runners up front, but didn't want to have to dodge too many of the fast walkers or real casual participants either. We got our various listening devices and head phones ready and listened to the national anthem. Bang! goes the starting gun.
We just stood there. There were so many people it took several seconds before we even started moving towards the starting line and the mats that we would walk on to activate the timing chips on our bibs. As we worked our way there over to our left we spotted my wife with her camera taking pictures and video of us starting as she waited for her wave, which started after ours. She is so amazing. I'm so very lucky to have her and all of her love and support. Thanks babe! In the end I think it took us nearly two minutes to reach the starting line. I started walking and was going to try and do the race with a combination of walk/run in intervals of 30/45 seconds. It wasn't easy as my feet were already aching from the plantar fascitis. I decided to just bare it as I wasn't going to let it keep me from my goal. The running was difficult and slow going as the crowd was massive. I often found myself blocked by strings of side by side walkers, clumps of slow joggers, or any number of configurations of humanity along the route. I would do my best to duck and weave on the runs, at times even having to run in the median or on grass embankments to get around the masses. I was very pleased with my plan and stamina despite the foot issues. There's no way I would be able to compete at this level if it wasn't for my Lap Band surgery. It certainly is a gift and makes a real difference. The race starts in downtown Tampa and makes it's way down scenic Bayshore Blvd and back. The view of the water and opulent homes along the way is very nice.
Along the way, you find water stations where volunteers will hand you cups of water, so you can stay hydrated. There was also entertainment with some people playing music as well as yelling encouragement. It's a big help. Once I could see the finish line, I started telling myself that it was within reach, even if my feet were telling me otherwise. By mile two I was walking with a discernible limp and doing my best to trudge through the runs. It was all worth it as I crossed that finish line. I felt like I had accomplished one of my main goals as I started my weight loss journey and it felt good. Shortly there after I saw Jen walking back to find me and Paul shortly there after. It was great to see them both. It meant a lot that they were there, and that they took the time to come find me and see how I did before even helping themselves to the food and refreshments. I love you guys! We made our way back across the Platt Street Bridge to where they were serving the refreshments, bottled water, fruit, yogurt, etc. Along the way we were given our finishing medals. I felt like it was a symbol of how far I came since surgery, and how much I had accomplished. I had a great sense of pride. It has been a while, since I felt good about myself.
Then the rain came! And it was a deluge. I had already finished my race, but my poor pregnant wife and Ma were still out there trying to finish their wave. I was concerned especially with the potentially slippery conditions, that I decided to make my way back along the course to find them and walk them in. It didn't take long to get drenched in these water works. It was a slow trudge and my feet were ready to pack it in and disown me for sure. I found them a mile or so back and was glad that they were both alright, despite nearly drownd from the weather. We walked back in and found the others near the refreshments.
Despite the weather and the feet it was a great experience. I would highly recommend it. Participating in one of these has a lot of motivational value and is a great goal to help you along your weight loss journey. I completed the 3.1 miles in 41 minutes and 46 seconds, which is about a 13:25/mile pace. I was very please with this result especially considering all the human obstacles along the way. It was a big improvement from my earlier attempt where I took an hour while walking the whole thing. I'm not sure when I will be able to do my next one as I need time for my feet to recover as I was pretty well hobbled afterwards. With the help of the Lap Band I was able to over come my feet to actually participate in this race and life instead of just watching it pass me by from the bleachers of obesity.
Thank you and God bless. :-)
