Monday, November 22, 2010

Am I Serious?

I thought that after I finally picked back up on Saturday that I would run on Sunday, too. I was too tired and sore. What has happened? My legs haven't been this sore in awhile. So, no running on Sunday. However, I did run Monday morning.

It was a nice morning for a run at 5:00 am. The sky was clear and the moon was full, so I had some light. The temperature is around 20 degrees above normal for today, so it was a nice 61 degrees. Rain is supposed to be moving in for tomorrow morning, so I had the breeze blowing that upcoming rain in as well. However, my legs were still sore, and I weighed more this morning than I have since June 15. The run was just so-so, but it didn't kill me - 8:33, 8:56, 9:10. Total time: 26:39; Pace: 8:53.

For last year's Oxford Run 4 Hope Half Marathon, I didn't begin running regularly until January, because of my ITB injury. If I want to break the 8 minute mark in February, I need to get serious - NOW!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

I Ran on November 20

Well, this was my second run in 21 days, and my first in 16 days. After a feel good Clarksville Half Marathon, I thought I could take a week or two off and pick right back up. I don't mean distance-wise, but at the pace of my shorter runs without killing myself to do so. I was wrong! It seems I have lost 3 months of training over the last 3 weeks of "nothing".

After getting a haircut, I drove out to the Animal House to get Morgan some food. I talked to Shane, who has 2 weeks before the St. Jude's Marathon in Memphis. Talking to him inspired me to get back on the road. After I got back home, I got up a few leaves (hopefully, that's all for the year), and Sherri and I put up a few Christmas decorations outside. Nothing like the previous years - we have 4 lighted deer, 3 lighted trees, some spiral trees, and a few other things that we did not set out. Thank goodness! Before we headed to Crissy's to help get her Christmas stuff out of the attic (Corey's working in Alabama), I decided to run.

I wasn't sure on how many miles to start back up with, so I went with 4, which is the number Shane suggested I should be able to do. I struggled through those 4 miles. My chest hurt all the way across - from armpit to armpit. I didn't want to finish - wasn't sure if I could finish. Times - 8:23, 8:56, 9:31, 9:13. Total time: 36:04. Pace: 9:01.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Am I Finished?

After running the Clarksville Half Marathon on Saturday, October 30th, I took a few days off from running. Then I ran 4 miles on Thursday (November 4th). I planned on 10 miles on Saturday, November 6, but plans changed. Sherri had BOTH Max and Lainey for the day, so I decided I would stay home and help out. I could run the next day. Sunday was a beautiful day for a run, but I just couldn't make myself do it. Now that the time has changed, it is dark when I leave for work and when I get home from work. It's not only dangerous, but I have the winter-time blues as well. I thought that I would try again to get a 10 mile run in on Saturday, November 13. After I mowed over the leaves, I just didn't want to run. Besides, I could run tomorrow. Of course, that didn't happen either. So now, it has been almost 3 weeks, and I've only ran once. I have decided not to run the R3 5 or 10 mile race this weekend.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Ran Anyway

My original plan was to wait until Saturday to run again, but I thought I may as well get back to it. After all, I have a runner that is "about" a decade younger than me wanting to run faster than me. I want to retain the best times for as long as I can, because I know one day he will catch me. He's running further distances than me already. Besides, he needs a lofty goal to achieve. :)

My ankle did okay until about 1.5 miles into the run. Once again, it felt like a cracked bone from the bottom of the ball across the top to the other side. I thought about stopping, but it was cool (53 degrees) and a strong wind that made it feel cooler. It worked itself out and had only a few instances of shooting pain the rest of the run. My concern, though, was my right ITB. It was last year after the Clarksville Half that I injured it before. I do NOT want a repeat. Before I had gone the first half-mile, I felt that familiar pain. I was hoping it would loosen up. The pain did ease up, but it was always nagging at me. After each strike of my right foot, I felt a sigh of relief that I didn't feel like someone shot me in the knee.

I ran the four miles in 33:41, an 8:25 pace. I will let this slide - this time - since I was worried about the ITB. If I am able to run a half marathon in a pace of 8:09, shouldn't my shorter training runs be under 8:00?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Trying to Get Back to Running

Later in the day after Saturday's half marathon, everything from just above my right knee down seemed to stop working. It was my like my knee was frozen and unable to bend. I could feel every cell in my calf resisting movement. I was thinking, "Oh, no. I don't want to feel this way for days or weeks." I didn't have to. A few hours later, everything loosened up. Now, my problem was my ankle. My ankle hurt all day Sunday. It felt like the bone was cracked from the ball across the top to the other side. Monday, it seemed to be moving from the ball to the bottom of the foot. Since I worked on Monday, I had to move my foot more, which evidently loosened my ankle up, because it seemed to be getting better that evening. During the day on Tuesday, pain ran through it only every now and then, instead of it being there every single step. By Tuesday evening, it was feeling good. Since I wasn't moving around too much the last few days, I sat around and ate a lot. Now, I have that extra weight to contend with when I get back to running. I plan to pick it back up on Saturday with a 10 miler.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Clarksville Half Marathon - October 30, 2010

The day did not start off as planned. I got up 10 minutes before the alarm was to go off. I guess knowing I had an extra 10 minutes made me "waste" too much time. After showering, getting dressed, etc., I let my truck warm up, since it was only 30 degrees (it did warm up to 71 degrees that afternoon), as I scarfed down some toast with jelly and swallowed a cup of coffee in one gulp (it was only warm). I don't know where the time went. I was out the door at 7:10, and I wanted to be there at 7:15. I drank a complete 32 oz PowerAde on the drive across town. It was after 7:30 when I got there. I hurried to take off the sweat pants, lace my shoes, prepare the GPS, etc. About 7:40, I called my brother, Shane. No answer - maybe he's at already waiting on me. I headed toward the crowd and got in line for the port-a-johns. It was a long line. I thought about taking a chance and heading to the starting line, but thought better of it. After all, I had a coffee and 32 oz of PowerAde. It was getting close to gun time. I finally got into a port-a-john. I peed and I peed. And while I was peeing, I heard the starting buzzer. I finally finished and rushed toward the starting line. The whole crowd of runners had already gone through. I had noticed that while I jogged toward the starting line I didn't like the way my shoes/socks felt, so I made some adjustments and headed through the starting line.

I felt like I was flying. I was zig-zagging past a lot of people. The sad thing about that is that most of them were walking. They were in it to complete it. I had a personal record to obtain. I was about to make another move onto the side of the round when someone grabbed my shirt from behind. I moved back over behind the slower jogger, because I thought I cut someone off. It was just Shane, though. After a short conversation, he told me to go on, he would see me at the finish. So, as the crowd was thinning out, I tried to find my pace and just run. I wasn't in a race with anyone, but myself.

I didn't see the Mile Marker for Mile 1, but my watch beeped indicating I ran it in 7:32. My watch beeped Mile 2 in 7:51. Mile 3 was 8:09. However, it was about 2 minutes later that I saw the course's Mile Marker for Mile 3. This continued for for the remainder of the race: about 2 minutes between my watch marking a mile and the course marker. About Mile 4, my ankle really began hurting. It kind of felt like the bone was cracked. I thought about stopping, because there was no way I could run 9 more miles. I ran by Mile Marker 4 and it got better, so I kept on going.

My main goal was to set a personal record, which is 1:57:33 (8:58 pace) in the Oxford Run 4 Hope Half Marathon back in February. I was really hoping for under 1:57:00 (8:55), and dreaming of 1:55:00 (8:46). Shane asked me last week what I wanted to run it in, and I jokingly said, "8:30", which would be about 1:51:20.

According to my GPS, I ran 13.28 miles. I guess the extra 0.18 miles was from weaving around people. My watch time was right on with the official chip time of 1:46:38. I beat my "dream" time by almost 9 minutes. I felt good during the whole race, except for the ankle episode and between miles 9-11... I don't know how to describle them - depressed, lonely, can't wait until it's over? After that, things picked back up - the finish was getting closer!

Amazingly, I ran every mile faster than my 8:30 joke with Shane. My slowest pace was 8:23, which I did 3 times (at Miles 4 (ankle), 6 (?), and 11 (sad)). My list of mile paces - 7:32, 7:51, 8:09, 8:23, 8:13, 8:23, 7:41, 7:51, 8:09, 8:09, 8:23, 7:58, 8:13, and the last 0.1 (or 0.28) 1:43. I never dreamed of a pace of 8:09!

Last year, 884 people completed the 1st Annual Clarksville Half Marathon. I thought that since it joined the Half Marathon Series, there would be over 1,000 people this year. Evidently, some people were not thrilled about some of the things going on and didn't support it this year, and only 493 people finished this year. I was 88th overall, 11 of 34 in the 40-44 age group, and 72 of 234 men.

My next half marathon goal: an 8:00 pace. It will be difficult, though. The Oxford, Mississippi Half is hilly, and it may be cold on that February day.