Plan C was not in Plans

When I originally registered for Ironman Louisville 2011, it was with a clear vision of Plan A in mind. I would swim about the same time, cycle slightly faster, and run a little faster, to have an overall time which was faster than my 2009 attempt at Ironman Louisville. This net attempt would provide a sub-12-hour effort. I would see an 11 in the portion of my watch which indicates hours, I would raise my glass...of water likely, and smile.
Plan A went out the window. After taking a reasonable amount of time off beginning in October, as the result of Achilles pain, my return to running was met with more Achilles pain. I took measures to resolve this situation, including, but not limited to, more rest, regular icing, mild stretching, self-massage, and finally physical therapy. This was Plan B, which was supposed to get me to be able to run at Ironman Louisville.
This past Wednesday I enjoyed some success at a sprint triathlon. It was exciting, it was entertaining, and is was encouraging. I ran the entire three miles, in what I would consider only dull-pain. However, I believe the adrenaline effect allowed me to only feel dull pain. Looking back, I probably should not have put that kind of run effort down. I took Thursday and Friday off from running. In fact, I took Thursday entirely off. Saturday, I rode 60 miles, and then attempted to run. Within the first 25 yards my Achilles was on fire. I walked back home discouraged. My success from Wednesday was enjoyed, but the encouragement it offered was short lived.
Today I attempted to run again. My goal was to run four continuous miles. It started out like most of my runs as of late. My Achilles was tight, or stiff, or whatever adjective you want to use that suggests that it wasn't quite right. From here it loosened up a bit, followed by mild discomfort, at the level that I've come to get used to. I'm supposed to stop running if there is pain. If you read my previous blog post about pain, you understand this has been a quandary for me. What is pain? Without getting into the whole pain discussion again, I'll simply say, I kept going.
Around 2.5 miles, I started to accept my current reality as might be interpreted by an educated medical professional. I had been running with pain. Not just today, but every day that I attempted to run, but I labeled it "mild discomfort". By 3.25 miles the discomfort, so I called it, became pain, as I would also call it. At this point, I began to recognize my denial. The question at this point was, what am I going to do about it?
My first reaction to my "new circumstances," that weren't new at all, was to swim, bike, and drop out. I would have a DNF, but at least I would have done what I could do. My next response was that I needed to finish.  So now what?
Enter Plan C. Right now, Sunday, June 19, 2011, at 5:35 p.m. my current plan is to swim 2.4 mi, bike 112 mi, and then...walk 26.2 miles. It's not cool. It's not sexy. It is a long way from rockin', but it seems to be where I am. I'm not excited about it and I'm not happy about it, but in the spirit of self-preservation and living another day, this is where I am. This won't really make me less of an Ironman, but it will make me a much slower one.
I realize the event is a swim, bike, run event, and in some ways I feel like I am disrespecting the spirit of the race a bit by taking the approaching I'm talking, and it does make me feel reluctant. It will be hard to keep me chin up under these circumstances. In fact, my head is already hanging a bit low. This certainly puts a significant dent in my spirit. Plan C was not even on the radar when I registered in September. There was not Plan C. In fact, there was no Plan B. There was only Plan A, but here I am adapting to Plan C.

The Road to Ironman Louisville has had too many potholes, and now my vehicle needs to go into the shop.