My family and I went to Spain and Portugal for two weeks. It was an amazing trip and we saw a lot of things that I would have never gotten the opportunity to see if I didn’t go. It really was incredible.
So what’s the problem?
There was so much walking. When we went to Israel a few months earlier, it was the same. We were averaging 7 to 9 miles a day, every day. However, in Spain and Portugal, there were cobblestone sidewalks and streets, which were very uneven and steep both going up and going down.
After the first day or so, my feet and knee started to kill me. I’m not kidding. It was crazy. It got to the point that I couldn’t walk. The pain was throbbing up and down my leg. My knee was absolutely burning. I literally couldn’t walk and was holding everyone up.
I also did something to my foot, some nerve damage, and the other foot had Achilles Tendonitis. I brought my new Saucony shoes that I bought at The Runner’s Edge. (I ended up leaving them there. They really weren’t good.)
I started feeling depressed
How could I continue to train if I feel like this? Will I ever be able to run again? My training partner suggested that I may not be able to do long runs again. Could that be the case? I really started to feel like a loser. I’m not sure why I couldn’t walk.
When I came home…
When I got back from Spain, I expressed my concern to my coach and to my training buddies. My coach put up a schedule and I was able to complete the training with no problem. It made me feel so much better.
I realized that when you’re on vacation, you’re not doing your normal activities, and walking for eight hours in one clip, is a lot. Most of us aren’t training for standing and walking for eight hours during the off-season, so it definitely was tough.
I started to change my mindset. I can do this and I will do this. And, if I had trouble on vacation walking up and down cobblestone paths, that’s okay. It’s just a one-off.
