I’ve missed the last couple group trainings (for Rio Del Lago and the Cedar Canyon Half Marathon), so it was good to be back at it this week. Like I said in my recap of our second training, this season I’m basically walking most of the practices now, with short sprints in between the groups of walkers. This day, however, I didn’t run at all. Still feeling fatigued and somewhat achey from my race, which I hope passes very quickly.

One of the walkers on my team really impresses me with her tenacity and strength. It wasn’t that long ago that she finished treatment for breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, hysterectomy, and more… she is determined to get in better shape and be in the best possible health she can be so that in the event cancer does return, she’ll be even better off to battle it.

I was concerned about her maintaining the minimum pace needed for the course (18:18 minute miles), but she has been powering through. She actually average about a 17:50 minute mile this past weekend for the entire 6 miles, she even blew past a few of our other walkers that were dawdling a bit too much.

The biggest problem is that she has been having pain under her left toes while walking. She describes it as feeling like she has “a metal bar” under her toes. I’m not quite sure what that could be, so if you have any suggestions to point me in a direction as to what it could be, let me know! She also has been dealing with some neuropathy (numbness in her hands and feet) as a side effect from her cancer treatments. Perhaps the pain in her toes is related to that? I walked behind her for a bit and she isn’t altering her gait as the pain comes on, so that’s good.

Post training we had a fundraiser breakfast at an Applebee’s. It was $10 for all you can eat pancakes, eggs, breakfast meats, juices, coffee, etc. From that price tag, $5 went to Applebee’s and $5 went to our team’s fundraising goals. Friends and family were invited to support the team and enjoy breakfast. Since we were right next to a hotel, there were several people staying at the hotel that came in and bought the breakfast too since it was convenient to their hotel and for a good cause.

Next weekend we are holding a 10K race for our group training. It’s to give the team a little bit of race experience, but it’s also a fundraiser as people from the community can register. Many of the people on the team have never been in a race; this gives them a chance to put on a timing chip, pin on a number and learn about lining up amongst a crowd. It should be fun!

I am coaching a group of runners for the organization Team Challenge. They are fundraising for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America while training to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half marathon in December.