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Running miles finally increasing

Another coooold run yesterday.  Not as bad as the day before.  I guess it was about 25 with a wind chill of about 17. The heat wave is coming though.  Saturday will be a high of 62!!!  Maybe the 5K Saturday morning will actually be fun!  I got in almost 4 miles yesterday which brings me up to 26 miles for the month at a 10:00 pace.  It is somewhat sad to me that I can’t run faster, but I am afraid my hip isn’t quite there yet.  Better slow and steady than walking!

I’m about through with my Nike app.  It isn’t recording my mileage correctly.  I have been at 2104 miles total for about 2 weeks. I tried to write support and they sent me to twitter.  I will keep using it because I enjoy my friends that are on it, but it needs some serious help

Have an awesome day and stay warm!

Tom

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9 degree run – So that is how it feels!

Yesterday

2:30 PM

Going running

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Seriously?

I know most of the country is cold and y’all in the North are frozen, but let me explain…

I run in the South.  All Summer I run in the afternoon and with heat indexes above 100 degrees.  I seriously think to myself, at least in the Winter I’ll be able to run in mild weather.

9 degrees “feels like” is not mild!

The run itself wasn’t bad.  I admit as I ran into the wind, my face froze a bit, but running with the wind was not bad.  I am from the North originally and I can still remember standing at the bus stop for school in sub zero weather, so this isn’t something I am unfamiliar with.  Still, yesterday was the coldest run I’ve ever had.  4 miles.  4 frozen miles.

As I ran I asked myself, would I rather run in 9 degree wind chill or in 110 degree heat index???

All in all, I choose the cold.  Fortunately we don’t have ice or snow to deal with, so just a 20 mph wind in 20 degree weather won’t kill me; and you know what they say, “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger”.  Dumb saying.

I confess, I am glad to run in 9 degrees or 110 degrees.  It is supposed to be 40 for our 5K on Saturday.  Fortunately it is going to be that warm as it starts at 7:30 AM.

Keep warm, if you can.  Or if you are on the other side of the world, keep cool.  Either way…

ENJOY LIFE!

 

 

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6 mile run – Longest in a few weeks

Quick update…

I had a good day running yesterday.  I ran 6 miles for the first time since Christmas Day when I ran with TJ.  My hip was okay and I ran below a 10:00 pace, so I think I am on my way to “normal” running again.

Life has been crazy so far this year.  I won’t go into details, but let’s just say that if things keep going this way, this will be a very interesting year!

Keep running.

Tom

Just hangin’ with the dog…

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My next 5K

Plane crashes, iPhones, running, oh my!

Life seems back to normal.  I took Wednesday off from running as I had already run 6 times in 6 days, so I figured it would be wise to let my body heal.

Yesterday I went out to run 4 miles and achieved my goal.

I must admit I am itching to get higher mileage in, but my head tells me to hold off.  I get twinges of pain in my hip about every 100 meters or so.  Once I can run 4 miles pain free, I’ll begin to up my mileage.  My plan is to concentrate on running well, pay attention to my form and run slowly.  Oh yeah, and DON’T GET HURT.

I must say one of my biggest motivations to stay healthy is not wanting to walk 3 miles a day anymore.  However every time I read everyone’s race recaps and think… I could do that… Then I think… 4 miles a day.

I love racing.  It makes running worth the pain and aggravation.  But I know I’ll never get back to racing until I get better.

Oh, did I mention I have a 5K with TJ a week from Saturday?  No, I’m not kidding.  It is the Red Shoe Run, a race TJ and I raced in last year and I really enjoyed.  My plan is to run to feel and not to place.  I know I can run 8:30 for 3 miles and be fine.  I also know that if I run 7:00 for 3 miles, I’ll be walking for another month.  I just hope my competitiveness stays away.  I think I have a good grasp on being wise and not overdoing it right now, so I think I’ll be fine.

Maybe @bigbiggeek could run it and I could pace him.  That would help.  TJ will be out in front as usual.  I can’t wait to see how he does.

Have an awesome weekend and stay healthy!!!

Tom

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In with a roar

I won’t begin to tell you everything about my New Year’s eve and New Year’s day!  Let’s just say it was spent chasing a lost iPhone 30 miles and then giving up on the chase.  That was the 31st at 9:00 PM.  Then on the 1st we were contacted about the fact someone had it (I assume the same people) and we drove another 30 miles to retrieve it.  Thanks Apple for allowing me to lock the phone (my kid’s phone) remotely so it was bricked and unusable until it was returned.

Also on the 1st, my second youngest woke me up feeling sick.  After a visit to the doc-in-the-box, I found out he had strep, a fever and was, well, sick.  This was first thing in the morning.  The iPhone retrieval was early afternoon.

Then an unusual trip to the store.  We picked up some items for a cookout and on the way home there were about 30 people looking at a house.  Hmmm.  I slowly went past as to not hit anyone wandering into the street.  It looked like a tree had fallen on part of a house and a guy was outside sitting in a chair on the front lawn not looking good.  We went on ahead as it seemed there were plenty of people to handle the situation.  It wasn’t until later last night that I found out a plane had crashed into that house and that guy in the chair was the pilot.  I’m glad no one was hurt, but we must have missed seeing it by a couple of minutes.  There weren’t even emergency vehicles there when we passed by.

So that was the my end of 2013 and beginning of 2014.

Oh, and I ran.  I was able to run 27 miles from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve.  Not bad considering all my issues lately.

2014 has been a busy year so far…  A found iPhone, a sick kid and a plane crash a half mile from my home.

Bring it on!

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On the road again – running day 5

4 for 5!

That’s right.  I’ve now run 4 out of 5 days.  I’m still not 100% and when I approach steep hills I walk up them because they cause me the most pain.  But here is the breakdown of my last 5 days.

  • Wednesday: 7 miles
  • Thursday: off
  • Friday: 3 miles
  • Saturday: 4 miles
  • Sunday: 4 miles

So adding it all up, I’m at 18 miles in 5 days.  Not much really, but I’ll take it.   I am feeling pretty well overall and the runs have been enjoyable with 2 of them with other people.

My goal is to keep in the 4 mile range and around 10:00 pace for a while until I am able to run without pain.  We have a 5K coming up in a couple of weeks that I want to run with TJ and then a half marathon in February.  I have consigned myself to not push hard in either race since I don’t want to be out hurt for another month.

So I am slowly building up my endurance and coming back to life with my running and not a day too soon.  My weight is up about 13 lbs since my marathon and at 4 miles a day I can start bringing it under control.

This injury thing has been tough, but it is nothing that almost all runners haven’t experienced.  I made some mistakes that made it worse and one day I will write my thoughts about what I did wrong and what I did right!

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2 days of runs

I think I’m finally coming back from my injury. I ran 3 mikes yesterday and 4.25 today with @bigbiggeek.

Today’s run was fun. I really enjoy my runs with @bigbiggeek and due to my stupid injuries, I haven’t been able to run much. We ran in the state park, in the cold and rain. Still it was great to catch up. My hip did great until toward the end when it started getting sore. Normally in the rain my bursitis acts up, but I had very little pain today.

I’m excited that I stumbled upon the “New Serola Sacroiliac Belt” on Amazon yesterday. (Link). It seems to help a lot of people. I can’t wait to give it a try.

All in all a great (but rainy) day!

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7 mile Christmas day run!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, as I did.  It was wonderful to spend time with my family and see my youngest child finally get his license.  He is a cautious driver and I’m glad to have a new chauffeur in the house. 🙂

Running

I had  a great run yesterday with TJ.  We ran last Christmas in the cold and rain, but yesterday was sunny and 48 degrees.  Not a bad day for a run.

So after all the food of the morning, we headed out at lunchtime for a 3 mile run. Two days earlier I had to stop a run after 2 miles because my hip was hurting me too much.  It was also very cold and windy and I knew I was tensing up.  So I took Christmas Eve off and then headed out with TJ for a slow easy run.

We decided to run the route of a 5K we ran in our neighborhood last spring. It isn’t normally a run we can do since part of the run is on a busy, narrow 2 lane road, but being Christmas day, we thought it would be safe.

It was a good run and we talked quite a bit about my hip and how I could run more and not get hurt.  As we ran, we walked up steep hills since they are painful to me.  We also ran at a good pace for recovery.  We averaged about 10:50 pace which is about 2 minutes slower than my normal winter pace.

After the three miles were up we decided to run a short trail behind our house.  This is a flat, easy trail.  More like a managed mile long park then a trail.  Anyway, we finished that two mile trail and headed home.  Nope.  By the time we got home, TJ mentioned that just one more mile and we would be at the mileage we ran last Christmas (7 miles), so we headed out for one more.  We finished at 7 miles in 1:13:50.

Okay, here is the significance of this run.

I haven’t run 7 miles or over 70 minutes since my marathon in September.  On top of that I really felt great.  Very little hip pain and only a moment of pain from my heel spur.  I felt so great after this run.  Christmas day, beautiful weather, a fun time with my second oldest son and the longest run in nearly 4 months.

Today I’m sore, but not doing badly.  I have twinges from my hip, but overall feel great.  I may walk this afternoon rather than run, just to play it safe. I’ll see after I get home from work.

So thank TJ for a fun run and a confidence booster.  Oh – and for Christmas TJ said he’d pay for my next marathon.  Although I don’t know when that will be, it was such a great gift.

Life is good and I’m definitely feeling better about things.

Slow and steady.

I will be back.

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I’m happy

2 days left.

2 days until I can run again… hopefully.

What bad timing.  Not running during Christmas where there is food everywhere.  At my work, rather than a Christmas lunch, we decided to have 2 people bring in some type of food each day for 2 weeks.  So there has been real food and dips; doughnuts and candy; just about any type of food every day for 14 days.

Therefore my weight went up more than it has been.  Fortunately (sort of)  I had a nauseous headache yesterday and couldn’t stomach the food that was brought.  I also couldn’t walk after I got home because I just felt awful.  I went to bed, eat some soup and went to sleep early.  I did wake up at 2:30, but still got 8 hours of sleep.

I haven’t been too inspired to write this blog lately.  I guess it is a combination of not running, not wanting to complain about not running and just the time of year.

Finishing the marathon

Finishing the marathon

I was thinking back to my marathon in September today though.  It was so hard and yet so rewarding.  I can’t believe I was able to run 26.2 miles after only running for 19 months.  Now, if I get to 4 miles I’m elated.

Life is good though.  I have good kids, a lovely wife and a great home.

I can’t ask for much more than that.

2 days left.

I’m happy.

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Last four months of running

It was a quiet weekend.  Taking a week off from running isn’t much fun.  Especially since my mileage has tanked in the past 4 months:

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  • August 2013 – 195 miles
  • September 2013 – 66 miles
  • October 2013 – 44 miles
  • November 2013 – 34 miles
  • December 2013 – 12.5 miles

So, I’m not real happy with all the time I’ve had to take off.  I’m hoping that after this week off, I’ll begin to get back to some sort of consistent running, even it is only a few miles a day.  Time will tell.

Part of my latest problem was that I was beginning to recover and run consistently and then ran a 5K and that set me back again.  My plan now is not to run a race before the Mercedes Half Marathon in February.  I REALLY want to run that as last year it was the most fun I’ve had at a race in my short running carrier.

So, onward and upward.  Only 4 days left in my self imposed rest.

Frankly I need to run just so I can keep this blog going.  A running blog without being able to run isn’t very interesting. 🙂

Tom