TJ

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PureFlow running

I took the plunge.

Brooks PureFlow 2 - My new shoes

Brooks PureFlow 2 – My new shoes

These are the first pair of non-Saucony shoes I’ve owned.

Brooks PureFlow 2

TJ, RS and I went to the TrakShak in Birmingham yesterday evening to hear about training runs and events for the Mercedes Marathon in February 2014.  We’ve never really participated in group runs and training runs, so this is new.

While waiting for the event to start, I began trying on shoes.  TJ was a huge help as I have been one sided with Saucony and he has branched out a bit.  I really liked the Brooks PureFlow 2 as soon as I tried it on.  My foot is a little on the wider side and it had plenty of room.  It’s weight isn’t much more than the Saucony Fastwitch shoes I’ve been wearing for some time now and it definitely seems to have more support.

Hopefully this weekend I’ll be wearing them on at least one run.  I walked again yesterday because of my hip.  It is about 90% better, but I really want to give it the time it needs to heal so that I don’t have to interrupt my training for the Vulcan 10K coming up November 2.

The other great thing about the meeting last night was that there was a guy there who has run over 136 marathon and above races and has been running since the 70’s.  Here is his blog.  He is also a physical therapist, so I was able to ask him about my SI joint issues.  He was very helpful and recommended some easy stretches to loosen it up for running.  As with my Chiropractor, he said never stretch right before running.  He did say to stretch as much as I can throughout the day – thus I will.

I hope that things will start to settle down for me.  I really like to run and I am not one who likes to do many other physical activities.  I know that I should probably cross train and do other forms of workouts, but I am not an athlete.  I just want to run.  I don’t mind (but don’t really enjoy) running workouts.  They helped me get my first half done in 1:44 which I thought was great.  But for me running is simple.  Running is fun.  Running is what I want to do.  So that is what I do.

I’ll write about how I like the Brooks.  It really is about time for me to move beyond one brand of shoe.

Thanks for everyone’s ideas and support on my posts over the past few days.

I couldn’t do this without you all!!!

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Running maturity – UGH

Sometimes the hardest run is the one that never happens.

I decided not to run yesterday as my hip is not good at all.  I made it to the Chiropractor and that was helpful.  I’d say my pain went down by half after he adjusted me.  So I went home and decided to walk with a thought in the back of my mind that if I warmed up and felt well after a mile or two that I might go ahead and run a little.

That didn’t happen.

I was still in pain.  Someone at work said that it sounds like my SI joint.  It probably is now that I think about it. About 12 years ago I was in so much pain in that same joint that I couldn’t even walk.  So I guess I’ve aggravated it all over again.

Last night I put heat on it and took Ibuprofen.  That seemed to help.  I must say that today it still hurts, but not nearly as bad.  I just have to do the mature thing and not run until it is better.  Sometimes I hate maturity. 🙂

Tonight TJ and I are going to a meeting at a local running store to prepare for our half marathon in February.  This is the same race we ran last year, but we are interested in preparing with a running group.  We live about 35 minutes away, so it is hard sometimes to get out with people, but it is time to do what we have to in order to be able to run with a group.

That is it for today.  I am hoping to run this afternoon, but it is looking doubtful (that whole maturity thing again).  Either way I’ll write about it tomorrow.

I can’t wait for the weekend.  I hope I can run!

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Weekend running and 10K goal

I haven’t yet written about my weekend runs because of life getting in the way and my pondering the 11 year old me yesterday.  By the way, if you haven’t done so, ask yourself what you would say to the younger you with what you know now.  It really is helpful!

Yesterday was my off day and I took it with eagerness.  I ran 9 days in a row and was quite sore.  In fact my hip was really bad, but I walked 3.1 miles yesterday and that seemed to help quite a bit.

So Saturday I ran with my running geek friend (@BigBigGeek) and had a great time.  Realize I didn’t say I had a great run, but that I had a great time.  I think my running streak really was getting to me even though my mileage wasn’t very high.  After the week was over I realized that I ran almost 50% of the mileage I ran in September last week alone, so I might have over done it. 🙂

Anyway, we had a fun run talking the whole time.  I was glad to be the one listening more since by the time we hit the 3 mile mark I was about ready to walk.  Neill is really improving a lot.  It was just a few months ago that our runs would have messed up my pace for the week and now I am pushing to keep up with him!

We finished the 6 miles and I had to head out for weekend errands.  It was really a beautiful day and seriously a lot of fun.

Sunday was another run in the park.  TJ, RS and I ran in the park for about 5 miles.  TJ asked Saturday if I wanted to go there on Sunday morning, so I said sure.  We got there and knowing that he enjoyed the trail run we did right after our marathon (that I had to cut short), I chose to run the trails with my boys.  We got half way through and RS wasn’t feeling well so he walked back to the car on the road and TJ and I ran back on the trails.  I was a bit apprehensive since my achilles hasn’t been doing too great, but it really felt good.  At the end of the trail we still had a half mile to go to make it a total of 5 miles, so we ran up the road and turned back after a quarter mile.  I was exhausted, but in order to learn to push through, I ran as hard as I could back to the car.  TJ measured us running under 6:00 pace at the fastest, which was exciting to me.

Now this week.  TJ and I drove the Vulcan 10K course last weekend and it is going to be fun.  It is pretty flat other than a mile hill that goes up a mountain.  So I am going to try to get my speed up over the next few weeks preparing for the race.  I have 3 weeks to get back into racing form, so it isn’t long.  Between hill runs and tempo runs, I hope to be able to run the 10K under an 8:00 pace.  Actually I hope to hit 7:30/mile.  Time will tell.

Say hi to your 11 year old self for me. 🙂

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…but I wanted to eat pizza!

Yesterday I decided would be an off day… but I wanted to eat pizza last night.

So it wasn’t an off day.

My weight is creeping up on me again.  For some reason even running 4 miles a day it is moving in the wrong direction.  I don’t know why.

Yesterday was pizza night at my house.  Normally the Friday that I get paid we get pizza  for dinner and relax and enjoy.

I got home from work and decided to go run.  It probably wasn’t smart as my body is sore from running all week and yesterday makes 8 days in a row.  But even with not taking a day off this week, I’ll only be at 30 miles, so that isn’t too bad.

I’m off in a few to meet @BigBigGeek for some miles at the state park.  That is always fun.  We are going to run 6 miles which will be my long run for the week.

Question… Does anyone know or have experience on how long it takes to recover from a marathon?  I mean fully recover.  I feel like even almost 4 weeks later I am still a bit stiff in my running.  It could be the heat that has popped back up or the fact I took a few weeks off.

Yesterdays run averaged about 10:00 pace with walking.  At the end I pushed the last quarter mile down to a 6:40 pace just to get myself used to pushing through at the end (something TJ taught me).

Have an awesome weekend!!!

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Ordinary running

Ran again yesterday.  7 days in a row.

I was thinking as I ran how “ordinary” my running is.  I don’t mean that in a negative way, but I think I am feeling some rebound from training for a marathon.

I wondered as I trained, how I would feel after it was all over.  Would I have a difficult time adjusting to the fact I wasn’t training anymore, or would I be relieved.  I was happy to find out that after the marathon was all over, I was satisfied.  I didn’t feel upset or unfocused.  I was just living in the fact that I had completed my goal.

Now, almost 4 week later, I think I did have some issues that came up over the past few weeks.  Even as I ran yesterday, I felt a bit “off” thinking that it is all over.  My running right now is ordinary running.  Nothing special.  Nothing to train for.  Nothing but me and the road and my shoes.

I don’t mean that I am not planning some races. We have a 10K in a month and TJ just talked to me about running a few 5K’s.  In February we have the Mercedes Half Marathon and in March the Shamrock Marathon.

Right now though, I am enjoying just running and not really training.  I am enjoying pushing it a bit.  I am enjoying the cooler weather (though the heat index yesterday was 90).  I really am enjoying the no pressure running that I am doing.  But deep inside there is a little sadness.  There is a little loss.  Training for a marathon was hard, especially in the summer.  It was grueling and tiring.  I am surprised though how much of my identity was tied up in that training.  Even now it seems hard to not have that goal to reach out to.  It seems hard to not be in a place of, “Can I actually do this?”

So, I am working on enjoying my ordinary running.

Sometimes life is ordinary.  There is nothing to reach out for.  It is work, home, run, eat and sleep.

If we don’t enjoy the moments, even in the ordinary times, we will never appreciate the marathon of life.

Hmmm.  Now I feel better.  I’m glad I had a chance to write through this thought process.

On to my ordinary life.  I’m glad I am alive, can eat, can run and can sleep in a bed and have a wonderful family.

Ordinary is good.

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Better kick makes a better run

It was a cool morning yesterday.  Yes, 59 degrees cool.  I ran well.

I only had 3 miles on my plan for yesterday, so with some encouragement from TJ, I decided to pick up the pace a bit.

I have noticed that at a faster pace my achilles/foot issues don’t seem to be as aggravated, so with the cool morning and only three miles I picked it up.

  • Mile 1 – 8:51
  • Mile 2 – 7:53
  • Mile 3 – 7:44

It felt great.  I concentrated on my form.  However this time I thought more on what my legs were doing behind me rather than in front of me.  I read something a few weeks back on the ShutDownRunner’s blog.  He mentioned about working on kicking back and getting power from his legs that way.  Also I had read in an ebook recently about the fact that it isn’t as important on what part of your foot you land on as long as it is under you and not in front of you.  

So I chose yesterday to not worry as much about where my foot landed and think more of what was happening with my legs as I pushed off.  

Does that make sense?  

Anyway, it was a good run.  That along with some breathing hints given to me by @BigBigGeek on Saturday’s run made my run much better.

My goal for this week is to run 4+ miles each day.  My weight is up a bit so I need to lose several pounds.  I’ve noticed in the past when I run at least 4 miles in a day, I lose weight if I don’t eat poorly.  

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Bye bye running, for now

Okay when I said “for now”, I meant for now.

I had a small procedure done today that will prevent me from running until next Friday.  I can still walk, but nothing beyond that.

Sadly I didn’t get a final run in yesterday.  I got up at 3:30 AM and got home at 6:30 PM.  On top of that I had to be in town at 3:50 this morning, so as soon as I got home, I went to bed.

Any suggestions on what a running blogger should write while he can’t run?  I’ve had one suggestion already, but I am open to more.

Up until yesterday my running has been slowly improving since the big marathon day.  I got up to 4 miles on Wednesday and probably could have done more, but chose not to push it.  The heat has been getting to me again.  I haven’t run in 90+ degree weather for a couple of weeks and I can tell it has made a difference.  Of course it is supposed to be a high of 77 degrees tomorrow and I can’t run.  I guess I’ll have to sit and watch football.  Darn.

TJ has helped me map out my running plan for the next 6 months.  It is so nice to have him as a resource!  My goal for my next marathon is going to be three fold.

  1. Under 4:00
  2. 3:45
  3. 3:30 (BQ)

It is nice to have several options to push for and with cooler weather just a month away, I’m excited to have new goals.

I’m jealous of all you marathoners tapering and preparing for your Fall marathons.  I so enjoyed mine.  I hope I can keep healthy and keep running long distance races.  I really enjoy them.

Finally, a shout out to my running friend Neill (@BigBigGeek – bigbiggeek.wordpress.com) as he runs the Talladega Half Marathon Sunday.  I’m so excited for him.  If it weren’t for my current running situation (or lack thereof) I might think of running it myself – just for fun.  Good luck and God speed Neill (Isa. 40:31).

[I just got a tweet from him asking for advice for a newbie half marathoner – It would be awesome if you all could go to his blog (linked above) and give him some encouragement and support.  He is a great guy and really moving forward with his running!!!]

Sorry to be all over the place with this post.  Now what am I going to write tomorrow.  🙂

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Johnny’s Rant on The VIA Lehigh Valley Marathon

I read the funniest post yesterday afternoon (at least to me).

I was reading using an app on my iPhone and hangin’ with my Lovely Wife and I saw this post on a website called, “Johnny’s Rant on The Via Lehigh Valley Marathon”.  Knowing all that TJ and I went through from the traffic jam before the race to waiting for hours for a bus to take us back to the starting line, I had to read and see what Johnny said.

He and I must have been in the same area much of the time.  He mentions the issue with traffic (at least he didn’t go to the wrong hospital for the start of the race).  He mentions the port potties.  He mentions the buses (or lack there of).  But he also mentioned other details that I forgot to mention or didn’t write about in detail.

It was so funny, because as I said, we must have been close together, especially waiting for the bus.

Oh and by the way, he said that like me, they offered him a complementary entry into next years race.

Anyway, I have never read a random article on the Internet that so closely paralleled my experience that took place somewhere 850 miles away from where I live.

Here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.believeintherun.com/index.php/2013/09/17/johnnys-rant-via-lehigh-valley-marathon/ 

Good writing Johnny.  It made my night.

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Too soon for trail running

Alright.  I never said I was a smart runner.  Sometimes I do dumb things.

Yesterday, my second day back running after my marathon, I asked TJ if he wanted to go running with me at the State Park.  It was a beautiful day.  In fact, it was one of those days that if I was training for something, I would have really enjoyed my training day.  It was cool, low humidity, not a cloud in the sky.  It was awesome.

So we decided to go trail running a bit. I don’t trail run (except in marathons) and I am not 100% back from last Sunday’s race.  But I digress.

We drove to the park and went to the parking lot near the trails.  Low and behold we ran into my running buddy Neill (BigBigGeek) running his 12 mile long run (the last before his half marathon next week).  He looked great and was enjoying the weather.  By the way, he ended up with a 13.1 mile run and felt great doing it.  I am so excited for him.  A couple of weeks ago we ran an 11 mile run together in the heat and humidity and it was tough.

After a few minutes of talking we parted.  Neill went on to his record breaking run and TJ and I headed to the trails.

We had a fun run overall.  Neither of us run trails so we took it easy.  After about 1.5 miles the outside of my knee started to hurt.  It was annoying and steady, but I kept going.  After a while it became obvious that the pain was not going away and in fact was getting worse.  I had to start walking.  TJ showed me some stretches that helped, but the pain continued.  So we walked out to the main road and headed to our car without going back on the trail.

The good news is that within a half hour all pain was gone and I didn’t have any issues the rest of the day.  I imagine that my muscles are still repairing themselves and running a trail was too hard on them.  Oh well, live and learn.  It was only a 3 mile run/walk overall and it was probably good we stopped when we did.  I did enjoy the run and really enjoyed running trails with TJ.  It was a lot of fun.

Today is another cool morning but is going to get hot during the day.  I’m going to head out for an easy run and enjoy another day of just running for the fun of it!!!

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The rest of the story

The Lehigh Valley Marathon was special for me in that I finished it.  As I was running near mile 23, I thought to myself, “If I finish this, I bet this will be one of those moments that flash before my eyes right before I die.”  Funny what you think about when your body is close to collapse. 🙂

This post is about the unusual occurrences that happened before and after the marathon.

First, wanting to be careful and make sure we know where we were going, TJ and I drove to the Lehigh Valley Hospital Saturday afternoon.  I looked it up in my GPS and we drove there fairly easily.  We ran around a large parking lot for 2 miles and drove home.  I felt better knowing where we would be going in the morning.

That morning I woke up at 3:00 AM and never went back to sleep.  We left the hotel at 5:45 to get to the marathon starting line at 6:00.  We drove there fairly easily other than a traffic jam (at 5:50 AM on a Sunday morning).  They were working a bridge on the Interstate and had a lane shut down.  But we still managed to get to the hospital by 6:00.

Hmmm.  There was no one there.  No police, no runners, just a hospital.  My stomach sank.  We were at the wrong Lehigh Valley Hospital.  TJ figured out where the OTHER hospital was and I looked it up on my GPS.  Fifteen minutes later, we were at the right hospital, in another traffic jam.  Talk about nerve wracking!  We were 45 minutes away from the start and stopped in traffic trying to get to the parking lot.

We finally got to the parking lot and ran for the porta potties.  There were a total of 6.  We waited another 20 minutes, did our business and headed to the starting line.

Marathon Starting Line

Marathon Starting Line

They counted down the start and we were off.

(See Finishing the race! for details of our run).

The finish line was chaotic for me.  I just crossed and couldn’t hear anything because of the loud speaker and people and just lots of noise.  I told my mom and brother (that I had FaceTimed a few minutes before the finish) that I had to hang up (since I couldn’t hear them) and hung up on them.  Then I looked up and TJ was coming towards me.  He was a sight for sore eyes.

Just finished

Just finished

Getting Finisher's Medal

Getting Finisher’s Medal

I got my finishers medal and a water and just tried to make sense of the situation.  TJ suggested I go to the medic tent and get checked out.  I didn’t look very good I guess.

The medic tent was well done.  I got and IV after 3 needle pricks and laid there for an hour while it filled me up with fluids.  I felt badly for TJ having to sit and watch me get an IV for an hour, but he never complained.  Finally, I got up SLOWLY and we walked out to find the shuttle back to the starting line.

This is where everything went wrong.

TJ and I literally limped to get the shuttle.  The race is run in a straight line, so we were a half hour away from our car.  No one could tell us where to go to get the shuttle, but just pointed us in a general direction.  We finally found the spot…  Two hundred marathon runners stood in a line for a shuttle.  We waited about 10 minutes and the first shuttle pulled up.  It was tiny.  Probably 20 seats total.  It filled up with some runners and took off.

At this point I was becoming desperate.  I had to check out of my hotel in an hour and my 2 youngest sons were waiting for me.  On top of this, my phone battery died and TJ’s had only 4%.  I had to get back to the hotel to get a shower and head to my mom’s birthday party 3 hours away.  I walked around SLOWLY and looked for anyone I could ask for help.  I saw a police officer and told him my situation.  I asked if I could get a cab.  He said the wait for cabs was really long.  He was nice, but no real help (not that there was anything he could do).

A half hour after the first shuttle left, another shuttle arrived.  This was a full sized bus.  The line made progress.  A half hour later the tiny shuttle showed back up and took a few people.  There were probably about 50 people in front of us to get the next shuttle.  I should be able to make it.

I love runners.

We all stood in line after running 26.2 miles and everyone talked, laughed and waited.  A nice lady in front of me lent me her phone so I could call the hotel and my kids.  It was getting late and I had to make a decision.  Did I make my boys pack the room and sit in the lobby until I got back or did I bite the bullet and stay another night in the hotel.  It was now 1:00 PM.  I knew it would take 30 minutes to get back to the starting line if I could get on the next bus.  Then it would take about 15 minutes to drive back to the hotel.  I knew what I had to do.  I called the hotel, paid for another night and had HR call my Lovely Wife and let her know we were staying.  She called my mom and told her we would miss her birthday.

Now the frustrating part of the day.  We waited for the bus.  We stood in the sun for another hour with no shuttle and no explanation.

Nothing.

A runner forced suggested we move the line to the sidewalk where there was some shade, so everyone reluctantly moved.  As we waited on the sidewalk by the main road, one runner held out a $20 bill to passing cars asking them to give him a ride.  Finally one stopped and loaded about 4 people.  Everyone cheered.  We all talked, vented, stood, sat and baked in the sun.

Finally a guy came up with a couple cases of bottled water.  That was nice.  But we still stood with no bus.  In fact 2 large buses went past and just kept going.  Talk about some upset runners.

Finally a bus came by and stopped.  Cheers.  Only 2.25 hours later.  We started to load.  I wasn’t sure I could get on this one, but I knew I would give it a try, even if I had to sit in the toilet.  Then another bus pulled up behind the first bus.  BUT… It didn’t wait for the first bus to load and then move up, it just opened its door.  So we were in the back of the first line and others were loading in the other bus.  I was an unhappy camper.  Fortunately, TJ and I made it on the very back of the first bus.  People were actually sitting in the isles.

30 minutes later we were back to our car.  3:00 PM, 3 hours after we got in line, we arrived back at the hotel.

I wrote the race director and asked about the transportation issue.  They were apologetic and gave me a free pass for next years marathon.

Sorry for the long post.  I wanted to get all this out.  I must say that although it was a tough afternoon, I met so many great people.  Exhausted runners standing for hours and smiling.  Everyone was great.  It wasn’t fun waiting and I was upset to miss my mom’s 85th birthday, but I will remember this marathon for a long time to come!!!

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Finishing the race!

I finally arrived at my mom’s and will help celebrate her birthday a day late. Better late than never!

Here is a recap of the marathon… I will write some more later about the interesting time we had outside of the actual race, but I want to write about the race alone in this post.

We started at exactly 7:00. I was so nervous at the start, but after we got 1/4 of a mile into the marathon, nerves turned into running. It was really crowded for the first 4 miles or so and then it spread into a manageable amount of runners.

For me, I started at an 8:00 pace. Fast for me, but I had my reasons. I really wanted a chance at my dream of running it under a 3:30 and I figured if I didn’t try, I wouldn’t know if it was possible.

It wasn’t. 🙂

I ran an 8:00 pace for 12 miles. Not bad. But that was about all I could do. Almost out of nowhere I lost the steam to keep the pace. So, knowing I wouldn’t make my first goal, I settled in to finishing the race and enjoying the run!

It was an interesting course. Fairly hilly in the beginning. Then we got to the river and the trail beside the river. For about 8 miles we ran this trail. Two grooves of dirt with grass in the middle and on either side. So runners settled into a groove and did the best they could to pass when possible. I fell in behind a guy who was keeping an 8:00 pace. For several miles I just ran his pace. That was nice, until he suddenly stopped to walk. Ugh. That messed with me a bit. But I kept going and finally got through that 8 mile stretch.

At the half way point when my steam ran out I ate gels and drank Gatorade to keep me going. That was a good plan. I ran for a couple of miles and walked through the water/Gatorade stations. As soon as I downed my sugar, I was running again. At mile 15 a woman handing out Gatorade asked me if I was okay. I said yes, but I guess I didn’t look that great. After that, I turned off my app and just ran as I could run. Not very fast, but not walking either. In my mind I kept thinking, “If I walk, I won’t finish as fast”.

At mile 20 I fully hit the wall. We had just run 16 miles of river trails and gone up a hill and now were running on gravel. I had to walk a bit. I then got a text from my Lovely Wife saying to keep going and she was pulling for me. I thought, I can do this. Not long after, I started running again. I never walked longer than a minute or two. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Finally around mile 22 we got back onto asphalt. I never thought I’d be so happy to see a road again.

This was the hardest part. Between mile 22 and 24. I hurt a lot. I would run a while and then have to walk because my whole body hurt. After a minute I’d start running again. Then I made it to mile 24. Another runner, about age 35 came up beside me and we began to talk. He told me he had run 3 other marathons but not run one in a couple of years. We talked for almost 2 miles. Wow, that really helped. At the point where the finish was a half mile away (uphill), he asked if I was doing okay and I told him I was and to head on as I could see he wanted to run strong at the end. He took off up the hill.

As I ran up the hill and onto the final stretch I was feeling much better. The finish was visible and I could hear the announcer on the loud speaker. So I went to my phone app and FaceTimed my brother. He had suggested that a few days earlier, but I didn’t know if I would be in a place to be able to do it or not. So I ran my last .2 miles with my brother and mom cheering me on. I saw the finish in front of me and was running well. Suddenly my right calf cramped. Ugh. Only a couple hundred feet to go and I was limping as I ran. It then worked its way out and I was running again, though a bit more carefully.

The finish line

My running friend of the last two miles finished ahead of me with his two toddlers running with him. How cool. I ran over the finish line only to see TJ there to greet me. I got my finishers medal and a water.

I did it. I finished. 4:14. I then, at TJ’s and my Lovely Wife’s request went to the medic tent for an IV. I was a bit out of it. After about 30 minutes I felt fine and finished with my Intravenous beverage and headed out to catch a shuttle home (a whole other blog post).

Tj finished amazingly fast at 3:08 (3 minutes off Boston Qualifying time). I am so proud of him.

Special thanks again to my big bro Jeff and my Lovely Wife for posting all the updates. Also special thanks to all of you. The support I have received from the blogging community was way more than I ever expected and had a huge impact in my marathon. When I felt the wall hit and wanted to give up, I would think of YOU. I couldn’t face not finishing and having to post that to this blog. Thank you so much!!!

That is it for now. I am more sore than I have ever been in my life. Right now my 85 year old mom could beat me in a race! 🙂

Ahhh. Life is good!