Running of the Elk 2015 – Race Recap

It’s been almost two weeks since I ran my first 5k of the race season and it went great!  I finished in an amazing 30:02.9…fine, 30:03.  But it was awesome.  I had no plan other than to run the race and enjoy myself.  I felt a little apprehensive at first but as soon as it was the 5k’s turn to start all that went away.

30:02.9 – Not my fastest ever but still awesome!

I couldn’t have asked for better weather.  The sun was shining but the air temp was cool but not so cool that I wasn’t comfortable to run in shorts and a tank top.  I forgot my sunglasses and had to make an emergency pit stop at a gas station for a pair of cheapies.  I also forgot to charge my headphones and I was worried that they were going to quit on my half way but they never did.  And I finally got to use my race bib belt that I purchased last year.  Awesome piece of “equipment.”  It was so great to attach my bib to it and put it on after I got out of the car rather than pin the bib to my shirt and end up with a wrinkled mess before I even got to the race.  It never rode up or even moved around.  I honestly didn’t give it a single thought during my run.

Love my new bib belt

The half went out first at 8am.  It was weird to stand on the side and watch the half go off without me.  But honestly, it was a relief to know that I wasn’t going out for that distance.  Being real with myself I know that I’m not up for right now and that I’m probably only going to race a since half this year vs the 4 I did last year.  It’s just not in the cards for me and I’m increasing my mileage at only a half a mile per week.  I want to do everything possible to be injury free in 2015.

The 5k was supposed to start at 8:15 but there was a little delay; nothing big, just a few minutes.  I originally lined up at the 10 min/mile sign but when I realized that walkers were lining up in front of me, I moved toward the front.  I understand that they have as much right to be there as anyone but I wish someone would take these folks aside and give them an etiquette lesson.  But that’s a whole other post.  I ended up lined up at about 8:30 min/mile and it was fine.  I still had to pass some folks that were walking but it wasn’t anything that really interfered with my race.

The course was part out and back and part loop.  It was just over 2 miles of street running before it turned onto a bike/foot path next to a creek before it turned back onto the original street to the finish line.  I liked the course.  It was a shady and fairly flat.  And it was fun to get passed by the 1/2’s front-runner.  Plus with the turn around, we got to see the first female in the 5k which always holds a special place for me.  It was fun to cheer for her and let her know she’s first.

Finishing with my new best running buddy, Walter.

Some time after mile 2, I picked up a new running buddy.  We were pushing each other to go faster and faster.  He said he just couldn’t let me go by him and it was really fun to run with him.  I think we need to hook up for training runs ever week.  I’m giving credit to Walter for that 9:23 min/mile in mile 3.  He just wouldn’t let me by and I wouldn’t quit trying to get by; not that he was preventing me from getting by because we were passing people right and left.

Love seeing those splits in the 9’s!

The finish was slightly up hill but nothing major.  By that time the endorphins were really kicking so I was feeling no pain anyway.  I’m super thrilled with my time and I really enjoyed this race.  I would definitely run this again.

I won! Ok, I didn’t place in my age group but it was a major victory!

What it isn’t!

Tuesday after work I suited up and tossed on my new Glycerin’s for a test run.  But sadly the run wasn’t to be.  I took about 5 steps and realized the my right shin is still too painful to run on.  It’s causing a limp that’s really pronounced and majorly annoying.  So I decided that after almost 3 weeks of very little running due to the pain, it was time to call the doctor.  I just feel like it’s not healing up very quickly and it’s time to see the doctor.

Some how, against all the odds, I managed to get a doctor’s appointment with my doctor yesterday after work.  The doctor was running about 40 minutes behind schedule when I got there but I decided to wait to see her because of the “super” storm that is supposed to arrive today (so far very disappointing as far as storms go).  After talking to the doctor she sent me for x-rays because she was concerned that it might be a stress fracture.  I was sure it wasn’t for no reason other than I didn’t want it to be that.  And it wasn’t.  The x-rays showed no evidence of a fracture.  Thank you power of positive thinking.  She’s sending me back to the sports medicine doctor and expects him to send me to physical therapy.  Yay.  Not.

I don’t know what it is about physical therapy but it makes me cringe.  I don’t know why other than the fact that I’m extremely lazy and I don’t want to do the work they want me to do.  But I’m going to suck it up and go.  I don’t have an appointment yet but I’m hoping for next week.  In the mean time it’s ice, rest and stretching.  But I guess that I shouldn’t complain since it’s just shin splints and not a fracture.  But I’m tired of being injured this year.  I just want to run.

I think it should be illegal to have brand new running shoes when your injured.  It’s pure torture to know they’re there and not be able to use them.  Soon, my pretties, soon.

Have you every been injured?

How did you deal with not being able to run?

Weekly Training Recap – 11/03 through 11/09/2014

What a crazy week.  I finally got a new girl in my department at work after about 6 months of it being just me and training takes up a lot of my time.  Monday was her first day and I talked so much that it felt like I was swallowing glass every time I swallowed.  It was a crazy day.

My training is coming a long and we’re about a week and a half out from the 2014 Davis Turkey Trot.  My shin splints are not healing as well as I’d hoped but forward progress has been made in that area.  Due to the splints, I’m thinking that my hopes of a new PR is not going to happen.  I’m ok with that.  I PR’ed once this year and a second time would be totally awesome but if it doesn’t happen, it will give me some thing to shoot for next time.

Weekly Recap 11/03 – 11/09/2014

I got my first ever 12 mile run last week.  Sure I’ve run multiple half marathons but I’ve never run a 12 miler before.  So instant PR!  Go me!  lol  I really enjoyed my run until I had to juke around a dead snake again.  Shouldn’t snakes be hibernating instead of hanging out in the middle of streets to get run over?  Sneaky little bastards just lay there all dead and shit waiting to freak me out.  Ugh!  Gives me the worst willies!  Gross.

My mileage was pretty low compared to the average week last month but it felt really great to be out running after being sick.  Thankfully, other than the shin splints, I’m feeling back to normal on that front.

Anyone else have a half marathon or marathon this month?

R.I.C.E….

I’m not missing in action, I swear. But it’s been a bit of a tough week for me that’s left me feeling like I didn’t want to blog because I didn’t want to be honest with myself much less anyone else. I don’t want to blog a pretend life where everything is just wonderful and I run a million miles with little effort and I’m always happy.

Generally I am a happy person and often get comments about how I’m always smiling. I like to smile. My job is great, my husband and home life are wonderful. What’s not to smile about?

So here it is…I have shin splints.  Gah!

*Not my shins…

Specifically anterior shin splints on both shins.  So painful and annoying.  And I totally blame the treadmill.  It started about a week and a half ago, so I did all my runs last week on the treadmill at the gym thinking that my shin pain was from transitioning to road running from the mill.  I ran 10 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Sunday on the road with some minor pain but nothing that would have made me not want to run.  In fact the pain would disappear completely after about the first mile on the road and I was basically pain-free for the rest of the run.

This last Monday, I went to the gym to run my regular 4 miles on the treadmill and it was so incredibly painful that I didn’t want to run anymore.  I muscled through the 4 miles and in hindsight it was a grave mistake.  I should have listened to my body and stopped.  Tuesday morning, I got up at my regular time (4am OMG am I crazy?  Don’t answer that) and could barely hobble a single mile.  It was so painful that my mile time was in the 11 min/mile area.  Yesterday was basically the same but with less pain.  This morning was much better.  I ran 2 miles with my compression sleeves and felt that I could easily have run further but I didn’t want to push it.  I’m trying to be cautious.  It’s a new area for me.

So to say the least I’ve been crabby, angry and irritated.  I do not like not being able to run.  I do not like a forced taper mid training cycle.  My poor sweetie…having to put up with me.  I feel for the guy.  You know its got to be tough.  And in the middle of all this crankiness the man buys me a bread maker for no reason at all.  He’s awesome!

In my down time I’ve mainly been feeling sorry for myself and eating a whole lot of stuff I shouldn’t and also doing basic R.I.C.E.  I also need to work on being more diligent with stretching and foam rolling.

Running Recap for last week:

I’m super happy with Saturdays long run.  My pace came down from my previous week while my distance increased.

I always have a hard time running in the dark so my first two miles were really slow but once the sun started to come up, my times came down considerably.  I did stop to walk when I refueled during miles 5 and 8.  But I’m totally stoked that I was running 10:15’s for miles 4, 6, 7, 10.  Even mile 9 wasn’t too bad.  If this had been my next half I would have come darn close to a new PR.

My mile times for my 9 mile long run the Saturday before were in the high 10’s, low 11’s for the whole run.  Improvement!

Usually on every long run something weird or funny happens.  This week was the fact that I left and realized that I forgot my water bottle.  I had to go back to the house for it and of course, I had to use the rest room again.  I basically had to rewarm up for a second time which is why I think I had two really slow miles that beginning of the run instead of just one like normal.  I know it’s not funny or weird but it’s always something.  Last week some guy stopped me to ask directions to down town and made me all weird and nervous for the rest of my run.  The week before that I slipped in some mud and almost fell on my face.  It’s always something…

Speaking of it always being someing…Sunday I had a very scary experience while running.  I left the house with the plan of running a simple 4 miles, easy run.  No biggie.  But during mile 3 I experienced a very scary cramp in my diaphragm.  I couldn’t get a breath in and the pain was at least a 9 on the scale of 1 to 10.  I actually had to call my sweetie to come pick me up because it was so bad.  I scared the daylights out of him.  I’m pretty sure that he was convinced that I’d been hit by a car or shot or something.  I was gasping for breath and grunting.  I went so far as to lay down on someones lawn to try to stretch out my ribcage.  Awful.  Of course by the time I got picked up and we drove the .25 mile home, the pain was gone and I felt fine.  So annoying!  But I got fancy coffee and a toasted bagel from the coffee shop out of it so it wasn’t a total loss.  And I spent  most of the rest of the day laying on the couch…

Less than 30 days until the 2014 Davis Turkey Trot.  As long as I can get my shins to play nice, I’m on track to possibly PR again which would be so awesome.  I haven’t allowed myself to think about this possibility a lot.  I prefer a no pressure training cycle.

What weird things have happened to you on run?  The weirdest was getting passed by a jack rabbit once.  He just looked at me as if to say, “Move your ass, lady.”

Have you every had a close call that involved you having to call home for a ride?