My feet hurt

There are so many thing I want to cover in this post, so expect something quite disjointed.

I will start off listing what physical activity I have done since I last posted a week and a half ago:

• Zumba the last two Tuesdays
• Swimming last Wednesday, Saturday, Monday, and yesterday (Wednesday)
• Running on Monday and Wednesday of this week
• Short (just over 15 minutes round trip) walk on Monday
• Lunch duty two days both last week and this week

Although I am satisfied with the amount of exercise I have gotten, I don't feel as if I am making the gains I want to. Normally, I would not care, but on Saturday, I am planning to run in the Race for Pace. As it stands now, I am not sure that I will be able to finish it in around 30 minutes. When I ran this race two years ago, I did it in 27 minutes. There is no possible way I could come close to that considering how my times have dropped off in the last year or so. :-(

On Monday, I had a really good run, and based on that I would think I could finish Saturday's race in under 30 minutes. But I have a bigger problem, which is impeding me greatly: my feet. Unfortunately, my latest pair of Asics Gel Enduros have proven to be worse than my previous pair. My feet were so uncomfortable during Monday's almost three miles (after I did my normal two miles, I ran around the outside of the gym and up the steps a handful of times), I ended up buying Dr Scholl's athletic foot insoles to try to help. Those babies cost an insane $19.99, which is more than half of what my running shoes were on sale (yes, the fact that I paid less than $40 should be a good indicator that I am not buying good shoes!). Anyway, the insoles were little help. They feel good on my feet when I walk, but the bottoms of my feet, particular the balls of my feet, continue to hurt once I hit the pavement. I won't completely blame my Asics; as it turns out the Gel Enduro 7 shoes are apparently trail shoes and I run on pavement. But the Gel Enduro 5 was awesome, and I would assume it was also a trail shoe. Anyway, on both Monday with the old insoles (three miles) and Wednesday with the new ones (two miles), I got through the runs, so I am pretty sure I will make it on Saturday. Just not sure how I will end up. Hopefully, there is not some other issue going on...

I am taking a break today, other than a brief (five minutes one way) walk I have to do as part of a volunteer thing. And if I swim on Friday, I will take it easy and try to swim no more than 10 laps (I swam 18 on Monday and 15 on Wednesday, which is pretty good after a run on those days).

Monday's run
Mile one: somewhere over 9 minutes and under 11 (I forgot to turn on the stopwatch); it was a pretty good run, so I am thinking and hoping it was around 10:30)
Mile two: 8:30

Wednesday's run
Mile one: 10:55
Mile two: 9:17

No idea why Monday's run was better, but it was. Hopefully, I can get back to better times soon. And, more importantly, here's hoping the feet feel better soon. Those babies still hurt a little today.