Okay, so I quit all the whining and just "got 'er done" as m0mmymel indicated I should.
So as all of the 2 followers of this blog would know, I'm about to hit 400 miles for the year, and today it got done.
I didn't make it easy on myself, despite that absolutely gorgeous running weather (16 degrees Celsius) and zero wind.
Note to self: DON'T have dim sum as a pre-race meal.
Really, I didn't mean for it to happen that way...it just happened to be where we had lunch.
So yeah, dim sum for some reason is slow to digest for me. At about mile 1.5, I had digestive cramps and side stitches that seemed to progress up my GI tract. I think I slowed to a walk about 3 times to ease the discomfort.
Then with about 1/4 mile to go on my 4-mile run, I heard the song, "Desire" by U2. The song has got a very strong and complex beat which pumped me up a bit, not to mention the very appropriate song title as I hit mile 400. I was sure to make my very last 1/4 mile a strong finish for the milestone and sprinted as much as I could.
So, milestone accomplished. No fanfare except for the 2 people who follow my blog and myself. Just a simple pat on the back from myself with sense that I accomplished a lot for the year. And at a minimum, 500 miles for next year.
Not in a hurry...
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Getting to 400 miles for the year has been fairly difficult, not so much from a physical standpoint, but more of a mental and motivational standpoint.
I guess it's hard for me to actually get motivated to run right now with the distraction of the holidays and me not really training for anything in the coming weeks or months.
Right now I'm only 4 miles short of getting to 400 miles and it's something that I know I can do in a single run, which actually makes it less challenging since it's going to be so easy. I know, I know, I should just go out and just do it. This afternoon should be a fairly nice day so I might just go out and knock it out.
At the beginning of the year, Christine set a goal for us to run a collective 500 miles for the year, which I thought was definitely doable. That's like 3/4 of a mile a day. Little did I know that I would end up running 80% of that by myself! It's crazy now that I look back on it, but the motivation of training for a half marathon was really the catalyst for a lot of those miles.
I'm one of those people that needs that extra competitive reason to get things going, at least for right now. Having that training schedule helped and understanding that the schedule was necessary for helping me run a half marathon made the mileage more meaningful.
Right now I'm looking at some events for the early new year, some 5Ks and 10Ks further out. I'm definitely thinking of running a marathon later in the year and a half marathon thrown in their somewhere. But I'm somewhat content with getting through this year and then starting next year with a renewed effort.
I guess it's hard for me to actually get motivated to run right now with the distraction of the holidays and me not really training for anything in the coming weeks or months.
Right now I'm only 4 miles short of getting to 400 miles and it's something that I know I can do in a single run, which actually makes it less challenging since it's going to be so easy. I know, I know, I should just go out and just do it. This afternoon should be a fairly nice day so I might just go out and knock it out.
At the beginning of the year, Christine set a goal for us to run a collective 500 miles for the year, which I thought was definitely doable. That's like 3/4 of a mile a day. Little did I know that I would end up running 80% of that by myself! It's crazy now that I look back on it, but the motivation of training for a half marathon was really the catalyst for a lot of those miles.
I'm one of those people that needs that extra competitive reason to get things going, at least for right now. Having that training schedule helped and understanding that the schedule was necessary for helping me run a half marathon made the mileage more meaningful.
Right now I'm looking at some events for the early new year, some 5Ks and 10Ks further out. I'm definitely thinking of running a marathon later in the year and a half marathon thrown in their somewhere. But I'm somewhat content with getting through this year and then starting next year with a renewed effort.
2009 Goals and the Marathon Dilemma
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
After hitting almost all my modest goals for the 2008, I'm approaching 2009 with some more aggressive goals. The main goal is a marathon, which I'll get to.
I'm planning to do more 10Ks (i actually didn't do any this year) and possibly a half marathon. I did a few 5Ks this year which were fun but I'm hoping to do some longer distance events next year, not so much to actually win them, but to do some events at the intermediate and longer distances.
I'm pretty confident I can get a PR at the 5K distance since my 5K times have been gradually improving so it's not out of reach. As much as that's a nice accomplishment I do want to do a marathon. My half marathon this year was such a great time and I had quite a sense of accomplishment afterwards, but I want to experience running a marathon.
Actually one of the goals this year for both Christine and I was to do the Walt Disney World Marathon in January, but that pretty much went out the window when we discovered we had a baby on the way that was due in February! :) Theoretically I could have still done it, but Christine wouldn't have been able to travel. I was hoping to be able to do a marathon this year, but because of all our adjusted plans, there wasn't enough time for me to properly train for one so that's been tabled 'til '09.
Which leads me to....what marathon do I want to run for my first marathon? I am pretty much contemplating 2 possible choices: one would be the Chicago Marathon. Chicago is a fairly flat course so a decent time *is* possible. There is a fair amount of prestige with the Chicago Marathon as well as it's one of the World Marathon Major events. My other option would be to run one of the two marathons in my hometown of Toronto. One of the events in Toronto is the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in late-September which is a run up and down Lakeshore Blvd., which has the advantage of being fairly flat. The other event is the GoodLife Toronto Marathon in mid-October (around the same time as Chicago) that has part of the course goes along Yonge St., including the deadly climb just past York Mills Rd. I've rollerbladed up that hill and it's something to behold. Anyway, I think be able to run down Yonge St. would be an awesome experience but this course would be nowhere near flat.
Given that timing for all three events are within a similar timeframe, I could train starting in April and pretty much be ready for any of them, it's just what is really going to be a priority for me as far as what marathon do I want to be my first. As convenient as it would be, the Dallas White Rock Marathon would be another option, but it would have the same meaning. You'd think I was losing my virginity or something! :) Well, in a way, I am losing my marathon virginity...so the fact that it's my first, and I want it to have some significance, means that it's going to be a tough decision.
Oh yes, today was my first recovery run since my half marathon. I would have run earlier, but I was also fighting a cold and today was the first day my sinuses didn't feel like they were filled with cement. It was a quick 2-miler and everything felt fine. All parts were working without problems.
Also I'm 9 miles away from hitting 400 miles for the year. It's going to be about a mile a day, so I think I can do a few 2-mile runs every other day until the end of the year to hit that mark. If today's run is any indication, my body seems up for the task to finish up the year strong.
I'm planning to do more 10Ks (i actually didn't do any this year) and possibly a half marathon. I did a few 5Ks this year which were fun but I'm hoping to do some longer distance events next year, not so much to actually win them, but to do some events at the intermediate and longer distances.
I'm pretty confident I can get a PR at the 5K distance since my 5K times have been gradually improving so it's not out of reach. As much as that's a nice accomplishment I do want to do a marathon. My half marathon this year was such a great time and I had quite a sense of accomplishment afterwards, but I want to experience running a marathon.
Actually one of the goals this year for both Christine and I was to do the Walt Disney World Marathon in January, but that pretty much went out the window when we discovered we had a baby on the way that was due in February! :) Theoretically I could have still done it, but Christine wouldn't have been able to travel. I was hoping to be able to do a marathon this year, but because of all our adjusted plans, there wasn't enough time for me to properly train for one so that's been tabled 'til '09.
Which leads me to....what marathon do I want to run for my first marathon? I am pretty much contemplating 2 possible choices: one would be the Chicago Marathon. Chicago is a fairly flat course so a decent time *is* possible. There is a fair amount of prestige with the Chicago Marathon as well as it's one of the World Marathon Major events. My other option would be to run one of the two marathons in my hometown of Toronto. One of the events in Toronto is the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in late-September which is a run up and down Lakeshore Blvd., which has the advantage of being fairly flat. The other event is the GoodLife Toronto Marathon in mid-October (around the same time as Chicago) that has part of the course goes along Yonge St., including the deadly climb just past York Mills Rd. I've rollerbladed up that hill and it's something to behold. Anyway, I think be able to run down Yonge St. would be an awesome experience but this course would be nowhere near flat.
Given that timing for all three events are within a similar timeframe, I could train starting in April and pretty much be ready for any of them, it's just what is really going to be a priority for me as far as what marathon do I want to be my first. As convenient as it would be, the Dallas White Rock Marathon would be another option, but it would have the same meaning. You'd think I was losing my virginity or something! :) Well, in a way, I am losing my marathon virginity...so the fact that it's my first, and I want it to have some significance, means that it's going to be a tough decision.
Oh yes, today was my first recovery run since my half marathon. I would have run earlier, but I was also fighting a cold and today was the first day my sinuses didn't feel like they were filled with cement. It was a quick 2-miler and everything felt fine. All parts were working without problems.
Also I'm 9 miles away from hitting 400 miles for the year. It's going to be about a mile a day, so I think I can do a few 2-mile runs every other day until the end of the year to hit that mark. If today's run is any indication, my body seems up for the task to finish up the year strong.
Recovery Day 3 - Body Part Inventory revisited
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Today is Day 3 from recovering from an HM and everything is feeling better. The quads are still a wee bit sore, the one blister I did get is healed, and today is the first day without an ankle wrap.
Since I don't have an ankle wrap, obviously I'm not experiencing any ankle pain today, which means whatever pain I was feeling wasn't necessarily skeletal in nature (of course, i'm not a doctor, so it's a non-professional, solely empirical assessment), but more than likely just a lot beating on my ankle. I'm going to guess that I had some breakdown in my running form that caused me to land on my left leg differently and result in the ankle pain. Who knows.
So yeah, physically everything is recovering nicely. I just have to recover from this cold now. Yay.
I'm hoping by the end of the week, possibly Saturday, I can enjoy the balmy weather and do a jog for a mile and see if all body parts are okay and haven't fallen off.
I still haven't figured out my 2009 goals yet. I guess I should try and plan that out. I know there are some 5K's happening at the end of the year...I *might* partake in one of them just to do them...definitely not going to push myself too hard during those events.
Back to work!
Since I don't have an ankle wrap, obviously I'm not experiencing any ankle pain today, which means whatever pain I was feeling wasn't necessarily skeletal in nature (of course, i'm not a doctor, so it's a non-professional, solely empirical assessment), but more than likely just a lot beating on my ankle. I'm going to guess that I had some breakdown in my running form that caused me to land on my left leg differently and result in the ankle pain. Who knows.
So yeah, physically everything is recovering nicely. I just have to recover from this cold now. Yay.
I'm hoping by the end of the week, possibly Saturday, I can enjoy the balmy weather and do a jog for a mile and see if all body parts are okay and haven't fallen off.
I still haven't figured out my 2009 goals yet. I guess I should try and plan that out. I know there are some 5K's happening at the end of the year...I *might* partake in one of them just to do them...definitely not going to push myself too hard during those events.
Back to work!
Taking body part inventory
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Monday, December 15, 2008
Today was a dose of reality after yesterday's half marathon. Nothing like waves after waves of muscle soreness and tightness to help you relive with vividly painful realism the previous day's events.
So yesterday I provided a recap of the day's events for the half marathon. I never mentioned the previous day's events that led me to some serious stressing-out.
My in-laws were in town for my daughter's birthday so we all decided to go shopping and visit the shopping mall Santa, hit the nearby Chuck E. Cheese and go out for dinner.
We hit the Grapevine Mills mall which is a massive outlet mall. While we're waiting for Santa to arrive, we start walking around. Stupid me forgot to bring proper walking shoes and I was in my Chuck Taylor Converse low-tops for ENTIRE DAY. Now these shoes are nothing more than a layer of rubber with a canvas shell. Minimal padding at best. They look cool, but they're not really good walking shoes if you don't already have good arches. Anyway we walked and walked...did the Santa thing...then walked some more until the noon hour when we hit CEC. I was basically on my feet for about 3+ hours in those stupid canvas shoes. My feet were killing me, my sore calf was sorer, whine whine whine. I was also starting to get stressed out that all the walking on these crappy shoes were going to have an effect on my run the next day.
So I got the chance to sit down and take a load off my feet at CEC. We were there for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hotel for a nice nap.
After the nap, we headed out for dinner with basically no destination...on a Friday night....in downtown Dallas....at 6pm....for 7 people. It really wasn't going to happen.
We ended up trying to get into Maggiano's at this shopping mall not too far from the hotel, but at that hour, they weren't taking any more reservations, nor any parties with more than 4 people.
So, we walked...and walked....and walked some more around this mall. My feet were taking another pounding (yes I only packed 1 pair of shoes other than the runners for my HM the next day). I was getting stressed out again because of all the pounding again as I could feel the soreness creeping in to my feet. We finally found a TGI Friday's that was able to seat us in 10 minutes. Thankfully they also have a pretty varied menu and I found a chicken and pasta dish that would be a good pre-race dinner for a long run the next day.
The night ended rather uneventfully but I was pretty darned stressed with all the walking I did that day, and I had no idea how my feet and legs would react even with a night's sleep.
Thankfully everything felt pretty fresh the next day.
Fast forward to today, my ankle is still pretty frickin' sore, and I'm inclined to blame some of that on the unnecessary walking on Saturday. It's not noticeably swollen, but the lack of mobility in that area makes me think something ain't right. Oh yes, I have the obligatory soreness in my quads. I'm pretty much walking so gingerly it looks like I can't bend at the knees.
I've been trying to figure what I can do as far as running is concerned for this week. If everything feels right, and if my ankle pain is gone, I might do a mile or two near the end of the week, and maybe another couple of miles on Sunday.
In between now and the end of the year I'll have to think of what my runner plans will be for 2009.
Oh yeah, one last milestone for this year that's possible is that I'm about 15 miles short of 400 miles for the year. That's about a mile a day. It's a milestone that would be a nice cherry on top of the year, but I'm not going to risk a proper recovery period to hit that milestone.
So yesterday I provided a recap of the day's events for the half marathon. I never mentioned the previous day's events that led me to some serious stressing-out.
My in-laws were in town for my daughter's birthday so we all decided to go shopping and visit the shopping mall Santa, hit the nearby Chuck E. Cheese and go out for dinner.
We hit the Grapevine Mills mall which is a massive outlet mall. While we're waiting for Santa to arrive, we start walking around. Stupid me forgot to bring proper walking shoes and I was in my Chuck Taylor Converse low-tops for ENTIRE DAY. Now these shoes are nothing more than a layer of rubber with a canvas shell. Minimal padding at best. They look cool, but they're not really good walking shoes if you don't already have good arches. Anyway we walked and walked...did the Santa thing...then walked some more until the noon hour when we hit CEC. I was basically on my feet for about 3+ hours in those stupid canvas shoes. My feet were killing me, my sore calf was sorer, whine whine whine. I was also starting to get stressed out that all the walking on these crappy shoes were going to have an effect on my run the next day.
So I got the chance to sit down and take a load off my feet at CEC. We were there for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hotel for a nice nap.
After the nap, we headed out for dinner with basically no destination...on a Friday night....in downtown Dallas....at 6pm....for 7 people. It really wasn't going to happen.
We ended up trying to get into Maggiano's at this shopping mall not too far from the hotel, but at that hour, they weren't taking any more reservations, nor any parties with more than 4 people.
So, we walked...and walked....and walked some more around this mall. My feet were taking another pounding (yes I only packed 1 pair of shoes other than the runners for my HM the next day). I was getting stressed out again because of all the pounding again as I could feel the soreness creeping in to my feet. We finally found a TGI Friday's that was able to seat us in 10 minutes. Thankfully they also have a pretty varied menu and I found a chicken and pasta dish that would be a good pre-race dinner for a long run the next day.
The night ended rather uneventfully but I was pretty darned stressed with all the walking I did that day, and I had no idea how my feet and legs would react even with a night's sleep.
Thankfully everything felt pretty fresh the next day.
Fast forward to today, my ankle is still pretty frickin' sore, and I'm inclined to blame some of that on the unnecessary walking on Saturday. It's not noticeably swollen, but the lack of mobility in that area makes me think something ain't right. Oh yes, I have the obligatory soreness in my quads. I'm pretty much walking so gingerly it looks like I can't bend at the knees.
I've been trying to figure what I can do as far as running is concerned for this week. If everything feels right, and if my ankle pain is gone, I might do a mile or two near the end of the week, and maybe another couple of miles on Sunday.
In between now and the end of the year I'll have to think of what my runner plans will be for 2009.
Oh yeah, one last milestone for this year that's possible is that I'm about 15 miles short of 400 miles for the year. That's about a mile a day. It's a milestone that would be a nice cherry on top of the year, but I'm not going to risk a proper recovery period to hit that milestone.
My Dallas White Rock Half Marathon Race Report - Finished with some help from the Marines
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Sunday, December 14, 2008
Today was my first half marathon run as I participated in the Dallas White Rock Marathon / Half Marathon event. The White Rock part is actually White Rock Lake that is near downtown Dallas, which, ironically, the half marathon participants don't actually go near. For this event everyone, both marathoners and half marathoners, started at the same start line, but near mile 7, the different participants split and go their separate ways. There were even two different finish lines for marathoners and half marathoners.
My DW Christine, DD Sydney and I got up at the inhumane hour of 4:45 to get to the parking lot of the American Airlines Center, which was the event headquarters. We decided to stay at a hotel near the event (well, not really...it was more of blind luck that my in-laws decided to visit us for our Sydney's birthday this weekend and booked a hotel that happened to be near the AAC) which was only a mile away from the AAC so it only took us 10 minutes to get situated with a prime, front row parking spot.
We had about 2 hours to kill before the starting gun so I chilled out in the back of the van while Christine had some breakfast and Sydney renewed her slumber that we rudely interrupted.
By the time 7:00 am rolled around, I was ready to see what was going on in the AAC...which was really a whole lot of nothing. Lots of people milling around and congregating, using the restrooms, stretching, etc.
I looked around, did my stretches and lunges, and made sure my calf sleeve was fitted right. I was wearing the sleeve because of a sore/strained calf/tendon that I had suffered the week before. I kinda broke a cardinal rule by getting both the sleeve and the arm warmers before the event and had never tried them about before until today so I had no idea of how they would or would not work. Okay okay, for breakfast I had yogurt and bananas which I also had never had for breakfast before prior to a long run. Previously I had tried Power Bars, CLIF bars, and oatmeal, and each time I ended up with side stitches. I was determined not to have side stitches because they were REALLY annoying and slowed me down significantly. Anyway, I headed towards Victory Park where all the corporate sponsors had their tents. Before I knew it was 20 minutes before the starting gun and we were strongly urged to get to our starting corrals. Since Sydney was still slumbering, I really didn't want to disturb her sleep as it has the same effect as waking a sleeping bear.
I found my corral and the long anticipated waiting began. It was a fairly warm (15 C) and windy. The arm warmers I brought along were perfect as the wind was bringing a bit of chill to the air. I couldn't hear much of the starting announcements with the exception of the F-16s which buzzed the venue. I gotta admit, that put a chill up my spine and really got me pumped up.
The starting gun went off and we got the start and the immediate stop and wait. We had a slow walk up to the start line and then we were off about 8 minutes after the gun went. I had never been in a race with so many runners. In total, there were 17,000 participants in all distances...CRAZY I tell you!
Everything felt great for the first 5 miles. Pace felt good, maybe a little faster than I wanted, but comfortable. I had a problem with wiping the sweat away from my eyes. Every time I had to do so, I had to take off my sunglasses (mainly for reducing glare but it was a overcast day so the sun wasn't really a problem). After about the fifth time I did so, I just took the glasses off and tried to tuck them into my fuel belt. Well, you can guess what happened about a mile later....yep, they dislodged from my fuel belt and were on the pavement behind me. No great loss since they were cheap sunglasses as I have a bad habit of losing/breaking them.
When I got to mile 6, I had to use the restroom but the lines were about 5-deep and I didn't feel like waiting so I bypassed them and waited for the next aid station. About a hundred yards beyond the port-o-lets, some male runners made their own restroom from some bushes. The same idea was crossing my mind at that instance and I made a sharp right turn to the bushes for a bio-break. Despite the bio-break, I realized I hadn't encountered any side stitches which usually afflicted me after about 2 or 3 miles. Evidently the change in my pre-run ritual worked so I got off lucky there. Also the calf sleeve I was wearing wasn't even noticeable and it was doing its job. In addition, the arm warmers were put to good use for wiping away sweat. So I was 3 for 3 in getting off lucky with race day changes that had never been tried before.
After the marathoner/half marathoner split after mile 7, the half marathoner course consisted of a down-and-back where the runners went down the road, made a U-turn and headed back in the opposite direction. The "down" part felt like it went on for miles and miles. Each time I thought we were going to make the U-turn, it just kept going to the next intersection. In reality it was only 3/4 of a mile but it felt like it was about 3 times that distance. It was at this point I started feeling a semi-sharp pain in my left ankle. What it felt like was bone-on-bone contact in my ankle. As I'm typing this, it's still really sore and it feels pretty much like it did back after mile 7. I was hoping I would be able to run it off but it basically persisted to the end of the race. For about 10 seconds, I had thought about dropping out because the pain wasn't going away after about a mile. I could tell I was favoring it a bit and it was definitely having an effect on my running form. I was then reminded that I hadn't trained for 2 1/2 months just to drop out and I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't suck it up...so it was up to mind over matter. In addition, the aid station nearby was being worked by some Marine volunteers and they were barking up encouragement as only Marines can do. :) I think some of that encouragement helped me keep moving.
I hit mile 10 and the course moved to a runner trail that had the nicest, softest asphalt. Ironically it turned out to be the hardest 5 kilometers of the entire race. I don't know what it was, but being on that trail was slowing me down. I don't know if it was psychological or physical, but running became difficult. I remembered at that point to text message Christine to let her know that I hit mile 10 which was her cue to make her way to the finish line. The softer surface of the trail didn't really help my left ankle that much and I was trying to keep my focus off the ankle.
The trail turned a corner at mile 13 and we could see the AAC where the finish line was. Right before the mile 13 marker I saw someone being attended to by 3 other people. It looked like she had cramped up or something because they were trying to stretch her out. I couldn't see her face to see if she was in a great deal of pain but to have that happen to you with one-tenth of a mile to go is up there in the SUCK Hall of Fame.
I remembered that Christine and Sydney were going to be near the finish line to my right so I was kinda looking for them and focusing on the finish line itself. I managed to spot them just as I passed them and I could hear Sydney yell, "Go Dadda Go!!!" I have to admit that hearing them cheer me on got me right *there*. :) I felt so proud.
As I closed in on the finish line I pulled out my shirt to hide my fuel belt and took off my headphones for the finish line photo. Every thing afterwards -- the medal, the finisher's photo, the food line -- was pretty much a blur. I texted Christine to meet me back at the van. When I got to the van I couldn't help but get a bit emotional as she was so supportive with all the early morning training runs that probably woke her up when I got up. She was definitely deserving of some of that finisher's medal. :)
Anyway, I'm back at home, icing down my left ankle. Every thing feels okay except for some leg soreness which is to be expected. I ended up finishing with a time of 2:28:56. Not stellar, but heck, I'm happy to finish. :)
*UPDATE*
Apparently I wasn't the only person disappointed with their times. It was such a windy day that it affected a lot of finishing times. In fact, the fastest finisher had the slowest finishing time since 2002 when there wasn't an elite field. YIKES.
Also, a sad outcome for a marathon participant, who collapsed at mile 21 and died a short time later. :(
My DW Christine, DD Sydney and I got up at the inhumane hour of 4:45 to get to the parking lot of the American Airlines Center, which was the event headquarters. We decided to stay at a hotel near the event (well, not really...it was more of blind luck that my in-laws decided to visit us for our Sydney's birthday this weekend and booked a hotel that happened to be near the AAC) which was only a mile away from the AAC so it only took us 10 minutes to get situated with a prime, front row parking spot.
We had about 2 hours to kill before the starting gun so I chilled out in the back of the van while Christine had some breakfast and Sydney renewed her slumber that we rudely interrupted.
By the time 7:00 am rolled around, I was ready to see what was going on in the AAC...which was really a whole lot of nothing. Lots of people milling around and congregating, using the restrooms, stretching, etc.
I looked around, did my stretches and lunges, and made sure my calf sleeve was fitted right. I was wearing the sleeve because of a sore/strained calf/tendon that I had suffered the week before. I kinda broke a cardinal rule by getting both the sleeve and the arm warmers before the event and had never tried them about before until today so I had no idea of how they would or would not work. Okay okay, for breakfast I had yogurt and bananas which I also had never had for breakfast before prior to a long run. Previously I had tried Power Bars, CLIF bars, and oatmeal, and each time I ended up with side stitches. I was determined not to have side stitches because they were REALLY annoying and slowed me down significantly. Anyway, I headed towards Victory Park where all the corporate sponsors had their tents. Before I knew it was 20 minutes before the starting gun and we were strongly urged to get to our starting corrals. Since Sydney was still slumbering, I really didn't want to disturb her sleep as it has the same effect as waking a sleeping bear.
I found my corral and the long anticipated waiting began. It was a fairly warm (15 C) and windy. The arm warmers I brought along were perfect as the wind was bringing a bit of chill to the air. I couldn't hear much of the starting announcements with the exception of the F-16s which buzzed the venue. I gotta admit, that put a chill up my spine and really got me pumped up.
The starting gun went off and we got the start and the immediate stop and wait. We had a slow walk up to the start line and then we were off about 8 minutes after the gun went. I had never been in a race with so many runners. In total, there were 17,000 participants in all distances...CRAZY I tell you!
Everything felt great for the first 5 miles. Pace felt good, maybe a little faster than I wanted, but comfortable. I had a problem with wiping the sweat away from my eyes. Every time I had to do so, I had to take off my sunglasses (mainly for reducing glare but it was a overcast day so the sun wasn't really a problem). After about the fifth time I did so, I just took the glasses off and tried to tuck them into my fuel belt. Well, you can guess what happened about a mile later....yep, they dislodged from my fuel belt and were on the pavement behind me. No great loss since they were cheap sunglasses as I have a bad habit of losing/breaking them.
When I got to mile 6, I had to use the restroom but the lines were about 5-deep and I didn't feel like waiting so I bypassed them and waited for the next aid station. About a hundred yards beyond the port-o-lets, some male runners made their own restroom from some bushes. The same idea was crossing my mind at that instance and I made a sharp right turn to the bushes for a bio-break. Despite the bio-break, I realized I hadn't encountered any side stitches which usually afflicted me after about 2 or 3 miles. Evidently the change in my pre-run ritual worked so I got off lucky there. Also the calf sleeve I was wearing wasn't even noticeable and it was doing its job. In addition, the arm warmers were put to good use for wiping away sweat. So I was 3 for 3 in getting off lucky with race day changes that had never been tried before.
After the marathoner/half marathoner split after mile 7, the half marathoner course consisted of a down-and-back where the runners went down the road, made a U-turn and headed back in the opposite direction. The "down" part felt like it went on for miles and miles. Each time I thought we were going to make the U-turn, it just kept going to the next intersection. In reality it was only 3/4 of a mile but it felt like it was about 3 times that distance. It was at this point I started feeling a semi-sharp pain in my left ankle. What it felt like was bone-on-bone contact in my ankle. As I'm typing this, it's still really sore and it feels pretty much like it did back after mile 7. I was hoping I would be able to run it off but it basically persisted to the end of the race. For about 10 seconds, I had thought about dropping out because the pain wasn't going away after about a mile. I could tell I was favoring it a bit and it was definitely having an effect on my running form. I was then reminded that I hadn't trained for 2 1/2 months just to drop out and I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't suck it up...so it was up to mind over matter. In addition, the aid station nearby was being worked by some Marine volunteers and they were barking up encouragement as only Marines can do. :) I think some of that encouragement helped me keep moving.
I hit mile 10 and the course moved to a runner trail that had the nicest, softest asphalt. Ironically it turned out to be the hardest 5 kilometers of the entire race. I don't know what it was, but being on that trail was slowing me down. I don't know if it was psychological or physical, but running became difficult. I remembered at that point to text message Christine to let her know that I hit mile 10 which was her cue to make her way to the finish line. The softer surface of the trail didn't really help my left ankle that much and I was trying to keep my focus off the ankle.
The trail turned a corner at mile 13 and we could see the AAC where the finish line was. Right before the mile 13 marker I saw someone being attended to by 3 other people. It looked like she had cramped up or something because they were trying to stretch her out. I couldn't see her face to see if she was in a great deal of pain but to have that happen to you with one-tenth of a mile to go is up there in the SUCK Hall of Fame.
I remembered that Christine and Sydney were going to be near the finish line to my right so I was kinda looking for them and focusing on the finish line itself. I managed to spot them just as I passed them and I could hear Sydney yell, "Go Dadda Go!!!" I have to admit that hearing them cheer me on got me right *there*. :) I felt so proud.
As I closed in on the finish line I pulled out my shirt to hide my fuel belt and took off my headphones for the finish line photo. Every thing afterwards -- the medal, the finisher's photo, the food line -- was pretty much a blur. I texted Christine to meet me back at the van. When I got to the van I couldn't help but get a bit emotional as she was so supportive with all the early morning training runs that probably woke her up when I got up. She was definitely deserving of some of that finisher's medal. :)
Anyway, I'm back at home, icing down my left ankle. Every thing feels okay except for some leg soreness which is to be expected. I ended up finishing with a time of 2:28:56. Not stellar, but heck, I'm happy to finish. :)
*UPDATE*
Apparently I wasn't the only person disappointed with their times. It was such a windy day that it affected a lot of finishing times. In fact, the fastest finisher had the slowest finishing time since 2002 when there wasn't an elite field. YIKES.
Also, a sad outcome for a marathon participant, who collapsed at mile 21 and died a short time later. :(
Two streaks broken
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
So I had 2 running-related streaks broken this past week - one acceptable, one not-so good.
First off, after about 3 consecutive months of diligently following my half-marathon training plan down to specific days and specific mileage, I skipped a training run Tuesday morning. It was going to be a simple 3-mile run but my daughter stayed up late the night before, which in turn, kept both myself and my wife up. I just was in no condition to do any running at O-dark-hundred in the morning. I suppose it's okay since I'm in my taper period of the training schedule with the half-marathon happening this coming Sunday.
Second, after about 3 consecutive months of being injury-free, with only 4 days before my half-marathon, I suffered my first injury during my 4-mile training run this morning. It was pretty-darn cold this morning (-3 Celsius with wind chill) so I bundled up accordingly and headed up.
About a mile into the run, I felt this twinge in my right calf. Before I knew it, it felt like my calf had tightened up and felt like there was this huge knot in my leg. I stopped and tried to massage it out but it was SO sore. I was able to run but not put a whole lot of weight on it. I tried jogging it out and it was tolerable. After about another half-mile, it felt a bit better but at that point I was trying to put it out of my mind.
I finished the 4-mile run and tried to ice it down. It hasn't improved much since then. I do notice that just keeping it immobile makes it feel a bit better, so I may have to abandon my last taper run before the half-marathon so that my calf can recover in time for the big day on Sunday.
First off, after about 3 consecutive months of diligently following my half-marathon training plan down to specific days and specific mileage, I skipped a training run Tuesday morning. It was going to be a simple 3-mile run but my daughter stayed up late the night before, which in turn, kept both myself and my wife up. I just was in no condition to do any running at O-dark-hundred in the morning. I suppose it's okay since I'm in my taper period of the training schedule with the half-marathon happening this coming Sunday.
Second, after about 3 consecutive months of being injury-free, with only 4 days before my half-marathon, I suffered my first injury during my 4-mile training run this morning. It was pretty-darn cold this morning (-3 Celsius with wind chill) so I bundled up accordingly and headed up.
About a mile into the run, I felt this twinge in my right calf. Before I knew it, it felt like my calf had tightened up and felt like there was this huge knot in my leg. I stopped and tried to massage it out but it was SO sore. I was able to run but not put a whole lot of weight on it. I tried jogging it out and it was tolerable. After about another half-mile, it felt a bit better but at that point I was trying to put it out of my mind.
I finished the 4-mile run and tried to ice it down. It hasn't improved much since then. I do notice that just keeping it immobile makes it feel a bit better, so I may have to abandon my last taper run before the half-marathon so that my calf can recover in time for the big day on Sunday.
The final week....
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
It's the final week before my half-marathon and I can tell the reduced mileage of the tapering is having an effect on me. I'm starting to feel as if I have extra energy to burn.
For example, on my long run on Sunday, I had a "meager" 5 miles to run per my training schedule. By the time I hit mile 4, I had guestimated that if I kept my current pace, I would hit a non-competitive PR for a 10K distance if I went an extra 1.2 miles. I'm just way too competitive...I think anyone who knows me can attest to that. So what the heck...an extra 1.2 miles is not going to put me at risk for injury.
So yes, I did ignore my training program by technically over-training, but it was 1.2 miles...what could be the harm? Well, thankfully, there was no harm, but that doesn't mean the next time I could turn an ankle or take a bad step during that extra 1.2 mile trek...and then what...no one to blame but myself.
Oh yeah...I *did* have set a non-competitive 10K PR with a 1:01:56, but that's the last time I'm doing anything outside of my training schedule like that....really, I swear. :)
Seriously though, I've been on this training program for 3+ months now and there is actually too much to risk by being impatient and not keeping my energy level in check, so with a week to go and 3 training runs left, I'm going to keep things low key.
There's only a 3-miler, 4-miler, and a 2-miler before the big day...I have a feeling they're all going to feel like nothing. The only run that I might push beyond the scheduled mileage is the 3-miler. What's an extra 0.1 miles to get it past the 5K mark? It's not like I ran an extra 1.2 miles like I did on Sunday. With the 4-miler, there's no point in stretching it out to 5 miles...I'm fine with 4 miles. And 2 miles is just a short jaunt around my neighbourhood.
Another thing I found out is that the weather forecast for Sunday is going to be warm...like it ought to be 8 degrees Celsius for race morning, which is a bit warmer than I expected. It's warmer than my "tights-wearing threshold" of 5 Celsius and it's supposed to warm up significantly. We'll see what happens as the big day gets closer as I'll have to update my running wardrobe accordingly.
For example, on my long run on Sunday, I had a "meager" 5 miles to run per my training schedule. By the time I hit mile 4, I had guestimated that if I kept my current pace, I would hit a non-competitive PR for a 10K distance if I went an extra 1.2 miles. I'm just way too competitive...I think anyone who knows me can attest to that. So what the heck...an extra 1.2 miles is not going to put me at risk for injury.
So yes, I did ignore my training program by technically over-training, but it was 1.2 miles...what could be the harm? Well, thankfully, there was no harm, but that doesn't mean the next time I could turn an ankle or take a bad step during that extra 1.2 mile trek...and then what...no one to blame but myself.
Oh yeah...I *did* have set a non-competitive 10K PR with a 1:01:56, but that's the last time I'm doing anything outside of my training schedule like that....really, I swear. :)
Seriously though, I've been on this training program for 3+ months now and there is actually too much to risk by being impatient and not keeping my energy level in check, so with a week to go and 3 training runs left, I'm going to keep things low key.
There's only a 3-miler, 4-miler, and a 2-miler before the big day...I have a feeling they're all going to feel like nothing. The only run that I might push beyond the scheduled mileage is the 3-miler. What's an extra 0.1 miles to get it past the 5K mark? It's not like I ran an extra 1.2 miles like I did on Sunday. With the 4-miler, there's no point in stretching it out to 5 miles...I'm fine with 4 miles. And 2 miles is just a short jaunt around my neighbourhood.
Another thing I found out is that the weather forecast for Sunday is going to be warm...like it ought to be 8 degrees Celsius for race morning, which is a bit warmer than I expected. It's warmer than my "tights-wearing threshold" of 5 Celsius and it's supposed to warm up significantly. We'll see what happens as the big day gets closer as I'll have to update my running wardrobe accordingly.
One of those days
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008
4:45 am and I have to run 6 miles?
It was one of those mornings when you think too much about how many miles you have to cover and it becomes a more daunting task the more you think about it. But it's running. I've run 6 miles before without problems. It's just a matter of getting through it when you're mind isn't into it.
I made it even more difficult on myself with the route I chose to take. I didn't feel like wandering too far away from the house so I ran a 2-mile loop near my house 3 times over. Running the same loop was the most boring thing I could do but at least I was in a consistently lit area. My normal 6 mile route would have been the route I use for my long runs which is a desolate boring run and I don't know how well lit it is.
The one good thing about this morning was that it was comfortable enough where I didn't have to wear running tights. It was short-sleeve shirt and shorts weather...in December! AWESOME! :) I know it's going to be short-lived though...the forecast indicates my Friday run is going to be chilly again, but at least it's not 6 miles.
I passed a milestone this morning with the 6-mile run. I have officially completed 1 mile per day for the entire year. I'm currently at 366 miles completed. It wasn't really a goal that I had set out to do at the beginning of the year, but by the time September rolled around, and with the mileage that I was piling on with my half-marathon training, I knew it was an achievable goal but it was going to be pretty close.
So I'm going to celebrate by...taking a day off.
It was one of those mornings when you think too much about how many miles you have to cover and it becomes a more daunting task the more you think about it. But it's running. I've run 6 miles before without problems. It's just a matter of getting through it when you're mind isn't into it.
I made it even more difficult on myself with the route I chose to take. I didn't feel like wandering too far away from the house so I ran a 2-mile loop near my house 3 times over. Running the same loop was the most boring thing I could do but at least I was in a consistently lit area. My normal 6 mile route would have been the route I use for my long runs which is a desolate boring run and I don't know how well lit it is.
The one good thing about this morning was that it was comfortable enough where I didn't have to wear running tights. It was short-sleeve shirt and shorts weather...in December! AWESOME! :) I know it's going to be short-lived though...the forecast indicates my Friday run is going to be chilly again, but at least it's not 6 miles.
I passed a milestone this morning with the 6-mile run. I have officially completed 1 mile per day for the entire year. I'm currently at 366 miles completed. It wasn't really a goal that I had set out to do at the beginning of the year, but by the time September rolled around, and with the mileage that I was piling on with my half-marathon training, I knew it was an achievable goal but it was going to be pretty close.
So I'm going to celebrate by...taking a day off.
A cold 2 miler
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
This morning it was pretty darn cold...even for Dallas!
Anyway, what was supposed to be a run with an "easy" pace, I just wanted to PUSH PUSH PUSH. I was probably going at about a 9:30 pace at the half-way point, so I wanted to see if I could do a negative split so I pushed the pace even more in the last mile.
Even though Nike+ doesn't keep track of 2 mile paces, it was by far my fastest 2 mile at 17:39.
Another milestone I'm about to hit, and that I should hit tomorrow with my 6 mile run, is that I'll have averaged over a mile a day for the entire year. I'm currently at 359.84 miles. I had just missed out on hitting my November mileage goal of 70 miles, but I only logged 69.8 miles on the Nike+ website. Arghh.
But ultimately, the Nike+ goals and the a mile a day goal are not my ultimate destination. The half-marathon two weeks from now will be the goal for this year.
Anyway, what was supposed to be a run with an "easy" pace, I just wanted to PUSH PUSH PUSH. I was probably going at about a 9:30 pace at the half-way point, so I wanted to see if I could do a negative split so I pushed the pace even more in the last mile.
Even though Nike+ doesn't keep track of 2 mile paces, it was by far my fastest 2 mile at 17:39.
Another milestone I'm about to hit, and that I should hit tomorrow with my 6 mile run, is that I'll have averaged over a mile a day for the entire year. I'm currently at 359.84 miles. I had just missed out on hitting my November mileage goal of 70 miles, but I only logged 69.8 miles on the Nike+ website. Arghh.
But ultimately, the Nike+ goals and the a mile a day goal are not my ultimate destination. The half-marathon two weeks from now will be the goal for this year.
I Back...and Up and Down.
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After spending some time off in St. Louis for the Thanksgiving Holiday, I'm back. I didn't rest on my laurels while in "The Lou".
I competed in the Chesterfield Turkey Trot 5K and got close to my PR. Only 9 seconds off! Dang it!!! It was a really big turn-out as there were over 2,000 people there on a chilly Thanksgiving Day morning. I felt pretty good throughout the race. There were plenty of hills which I didn't have to encounter before in any other event. I felt so good that when I saw the finish line I picked up the pace. I saw someone to the left of me out of the corner of my eye and saw her pick up the pace as well. Being the competitive person that I am, that made me want to speed up. I saw her speed up. I sped up more. And she sped up. Now I didn't know this person, but she didn't want me to beat her and vice-versa.
So with about 200 metres remaining, I just went full sprint (but within control) with no looking back. I've no idea where she ended up, if she beat me to the finish line or what, but I felt totally AWESOME that I was able to sprint like that. I had so much adrenaline pumping after that sprint I felt I could have gone another mile at that pace.
I ended up finishing in the bottom half of my age group, but at least in the top half overall. The race was fun and it also served as my normally scheduled run on Fridays. Because of the holiday, our travel schedule, and the 5K event, I ended up with one less run for the week which was okay, but boy, did I end up paying for it on my long run!
So I gave myself a day off on Friday for a long run on Saturday. I was scheduled to do 8 miles that day so I mapped a 4 mile route to a certain point and then planned to run back.
Well, I couldn't even tell you how many hills there were. It felt like there were more hills in the first 3 miles than there were flats. There was a serious downward slope that I had shuffle down and I knew that on the way back I had to go up that hill. I think there were at least 5 or 6 hills in that first 4 mile leg but I was powering through them. I've never trained with hills, mainly because I live in a very flat area.
On the way back I encountered that dreaded monster of a hill that I went down during the first 4 miles. I took a short walking break before the climb to build up the energy to actually make it all the way up at a running pace. Mind you, I had just run about 6 miles at this point so my body and my legs had taken a pounding on those hills up until this point. This hill was probably a 30 to 40 degree twisty slope that was about 300 to 350 metres long.
I powered up that hill. The Pose method went out the door for that hill. With about 50 metres to go I could feel my legs burn and it felt like I had burned through whatever energy was left in my legs. I had to take another walking break when I reached the top. After that climb, the remaining 3 hills were going to be nothing in comparison, and everything was feeling fine afterwards.
If anything, the weekend was awesome because I had encountered and conquered some things that I hadn't had to deal with before.
1. Hills during a 5K, plus with plenty of gas to spare at the end for a full-out sprint.
2. Big-time hills during an 8 mile run. I wish there were more hills around here because I could use the extra training with hills because they were actually fun! I say that now, but if I had to do a lot of hills every week, I probably wouldn't be saying that.
I competed in the Chesterfield Turkey Trot 5K and got close to my PR. Only 9 seconds off! Dang it!!! It was a really big turn-out as there were over 2,000 people there on a chilly Thanksgiving Day morning. I felt pretty good throughout the race. There were plenty of hills which I didn't have to encounter before in any other event. I felt so good that when I saw the finish line I picked up the pace. I saw someone to the left of me out of the corner of my eye and saw her pick up the pace as well. Being the competitive person that I am, that made me want to speed up. I saw her speed up. I sped up more. And she sped up. Now I didn't know this person, but she didn't want me to beat her and vice-versa.
So with about 200 metres remaining, I just went full sprint (but within control) with no looking back. I've no idea where she ended up, if she beat me to the finish line or what, but I felt totally AWESOME that I was able to sprint like that. I had so much adrenaline pumping after that sprint I felt I could have gone another mile at that pace.
I ended up finishing in the bottom half of my age group, but at least in the top half overall. The race was fun and it also served as my normally scheduled run on Fridays. Because of the holiday, our travel schedule, and the 5K event, I ended up with one less run for the week which was okay, but boy, did I end up paying for it on my long run!
So I gave myself a day off on Friday for a long run on Saturday. I was scheduled to do 8 miles that day so I mapped a 4 mile route to a certain point and then planned to run back.
Well, I couldn't even tell you how many hills there were. It felt like there were more hills in the first 3 miles than there were flats. There was a serious downward slope that I had shuffle down and I knew that on the way back I had to go up that hill. I think there were at least 5 or 6 hills in that first 4 mile leg but I was powering through them. I've never trained with hills, mainly because I live in a very flat area.
On the way back I encountered that dreaded monster of a hill that I went down during the first 4 miles. I took a short walking break before the climb to build up the energy to actually make it all the way up at a running pace. Mind you, I had just run about 6 miles at this point so my body and my legs had taken a pounding on those hills up until this point. This hill was probably a 30 to 40 degree twisty slope that was about 300 to 350 metres long.
I powered up that hill. The Pose method went out the door for that hill. With about 50 metres to go I could feel my legs burn and it felt like I had burned through whatever energy was left in my legs. I had to take another walking break when I reached the top. After that climb, the remaining 3 hills were going to be nothing in comparison, and everything was feeling fine afterwards.
If anything, the weekend was awesome because I had encountered and conquered some things that I hadn't had to deal with before.
1. Hills during a 5K, plus with plenty of gas to spare at the end for a full-out sprint.
2. Big-time hills during an 8 mile run. I wish there were more hills around here because I could use the extra training with hills because they were actually fun! I say that now, but if I had to do a lot of hills every week, I probably wouldn't be saying that.
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