| I knew from the beginning that the socks I was wearing were too thick for the tightly fitting racing flats I planned to wear, but circumstances dictated that I had no choice. Besides, I was still hoping that it really wouldn't be that much of an issue. And it wasn't really. In a way, the pain of the skin being rubbed off the top of my third toe served to distract me from the unpleasantness of the heat reflecting off the Shea Stadium parking lot and the desert-grade glare that bore like a nuclear blast into my brain. |  |
Beyond the blister issue, the race went about as I'd hoped. I ran a 6 flat first mile, took a deep breath and eased into a 6:22 second mile and then pulled myself together for a 6:07 last mile. A teammate passed me and led me through most of that third mile, so she really helped me to stay focused through the last part of the race. She beat me by one second, but I think it was worth it to have her pushing me to get under that old 19:12 PR mark. I feel really good about the race, especially coming after all the mileage I've been doing. Now I just hope the nasty blister doesn't interfere with me launching into my next high mileage cycle on Monday.