As previously noted on The Running Griffin, the record-breaking heat of the Boston Marathon certainly took a toll. One of the worst parts was the post-race blistering that I had on the bottom of my feet given the scorching pavement and the water that ended up soaking through along the course. It probably would have made sense to take some time off to allow my feet to heal, but you can rest when you die.

Last weekend, I headed down to Cape Cod to take part in the Irish Village 5 Miler. The race starts at the Cape Cod Irish Village in Yarmouth and is a great 5 mile course. The course moved when the Irish Village moved just a bit down the road from its previous location and the new Cape Cod Irish Village is quite nice with a welcoming entrance, great gift shop and remarkable pub. My feet were absolutely killing me at this race and there were times that I simply had to stop running to walk given the amount of pain shooting up my feet. Needless to say, this was not a great race for me and I finished with a time of 45:11 good for 9:02/miles. The only thing worse than my time and the pain was having to sit in traffic trying to get over the Sagamore Bridge for 2.5 hours.

This weekend it was a back-to-back weekend with two 10k races on the schedule.

Yesterday, I traveled to Plympton for the Strawberry Shortcake 10k. The course itself is a rather scenic 6.2 miles along some country roads, through residential neighborhoods and past some cranberry bogs. Pre-race I still had the pain in my feet, but figured I’d go out and push what I could along the course. I felt pretty good along the course and even on the double hills, though the pain was still present, I maintained a pretty good pace heading up them. My time improved pretty substantially from last week as I shaved nearly a minute per mile off my pace and finished with a time of 50:08 or 8:05/miles. I felt much better about the way I ran the race and ended with still some pain in my feet, but not as much as I previously had. Nothing like a refreshing strawberry shortcake when you cross the finish line, too!

This morning, it was off to Norwell to take part in Evan’s Run, which raises money for autism research in memory of Evan Henry, an 11 year old with autism who accidentally drowned in 2000. The course for this 10k was one of the tougher ones in the area, with rolling hills basically throughout the entire course and a couple of sizable uphills mixed in along the way. The course had plenty of water, which was great given the fact it was pretty hot at race time. The one thing missing was mile markers which would have been a nice addition especially given the amount of hills and the sort of need to know where you were along the course.

Today the pain in my feet felt much better and I felt strong cruising up and down the rolling hills. Still not at 100% yet, but it was a good day in terms of the pain in my feet. I finished the race with a time of 50:38 good for 8:09/miles. A couple seconds off pace from yesterday but all things coupled with the fact this was a back-to-back weekend, I will take it!

Let’s hope the feet continue to improve and I am back to racing form soon!