Running
May 12th, 2010
Half Marathon Success. Kind Of.
On Sunday, May 2, I ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon. Before training for the 2005 Country Music Marathon, I’d never been jogging in my life. That kicked off a three year period where I ran regularly enough that I did the Rock n Roll Marathon the following year as well as four different half marathons. My last half marathon, the Banco Popular half in Chicago, was in September 2007. Since then, my periods of no running have been a lot more frequent than those in which I ran.
When I signed up for the Pittsburgh race, I got my fat ass out running regularly and quickly realized I’m not the spring chicken I was 3 years ago. Shin splints and pains in pretty much every part of my knees plagued my run. After the long run in the hills of DuPage County two weeks before the race, I was in trouble. I did very limited running and the following weekend I limited myself to an hour on an elliptical machine instead of a good long run. Come race day, I had no idea how my legs would react.
I don’t know if it was the rest, the adrenaline or both, but as soon as the race started, my legs were in good shape. My fastest half marathon was in Brooklyn in April 2007 when I finished in about an hour and 48 minutes, which is a pace of 8:13. Five months later, I ran my slowest half marathon, finishing the Banco Popular race in 2 hours and 4 minutes, a pace of 9:29. My goal in Pittsburgh was relatively modest – I wanted to run it in less than 2 hours.
For the first few miles, things were great. I started out running with the 1:50 pace group, figuring I’d run with them and eventually fall back a little. But I felt so good I actually ran faster than them. Right around the time I passed the two mile marker, it started to rain. That was annoying, but I was feeling good so I didn’t care. About 4 miles in, I was still going strong and actually started to have visions of beating the 1:50 group. That was stoopid.
Around Mile 6, I hit a wall. That’s actually an understatement. I slammed into a wall. I had nothing left. I’d been forced to take walking breaks in some of my longer training runs, but never this early. That earlier good feeling was obviously me lying to myself. The next three miles or so sucked. I did a lot of walking and seriously thought about quitting the race. The 1:50 pace group went by. There were some race photographers set up around the 7 or 8 mile mark and I tried to put on a show. I tried to raise my arms above my head and smile. I failed on both counts and look like a freak:
In any event, I kept chugging along and got a second wind of sorts around mile 9. I took a couple more walking breaks and watched the 2 hour pace group pass me, which sucked, but I was definitely making progress.
For the last mile, I sucked it up and sprinted. Then walked. Then sprinted some more. I ended up finishing in 2:00:42, which is disappointing but I’m okay with it. Here I am crossing the finish line:
I will sign up for another race soon as it’s the only thing that keeps me motivated to run. I’m leaning towards the half marathon in Hyde Park in September (formerly known as the Banco Popular half). With better training, no rain, new music on my iPod and a running buddy, I will have a slim chance of beating my Brooklyn record. Unlikely, but it would be nice.
April 30th, 2010
Your Prayers Are Working! Don’t Stop
Latest update: Still a 70% chance of rain, but now just showers instead of thunderstorms. Also, predicted win has dropped from 16 MPH to 7MPH. No word on whether the hills are flattening out.
For those who care, you should be able to get updates on my race on my Twitter account. You can also just come to this site and see the Twitter feed on the right.
April 29th, 2010
Somebody Needs to Talk to Jesus on My Behalf
Current forecast for Sunday in Pittsburgh: High of 78 degrees, 70% chance of rain, with that rain predicted to be thunderstorms, and 16 MPH winds. That might suck.
There will be few people cheering me on. It’s possible the iPod will get destroyed. Oh, when you run in the rain, your shirt is weighed down from the water and sticks to your body. Last time that happened to me, my nipples bled.
April 29th, 2010
Running Down the Homestretch
After doing no running for 6 or 7 days and only an hour on the elliptical in between, I wanted to test how my legs were doing. So yesterday, I took off for a five mile run. Overall, things seem to be pretty good – definitely much better than at the beginning of last week. Now the only question that remains is whether I have the stamina and the mental fortitude to pull off 13 miles on Sunday. I’m sure I’ll finish, but I fear I may have to take a couple of walking breaks. That would suck.
April 20th, 2010
My Legs Hate Me
Went off to do a 4-mile run today. Everything was fine for the first 3 miles. Better than fine, actually. Then: Sharp pain above left knee so I stopped to check it out. Once I did that, I noticed some shin splint-like pain on m right leg. I decided to walk home rather than risk further pain.
Plan tomorrow is to run six miles. It’s too late to take a real break before the race, so if I have pain there, I’ll be doing 12 miles on an elliptical machine this weekend. That would suck.
April 11th, 2010
Bacon-Fueled Run
After eating my way through Baconfest yesterday (exciting details coming soon), I felt fine this morning but was not particularly excited about running. My hope this week was to go to lovely Waterfall Glen to run on a lovely wide path made of crushed limestone includes some valuable hill training I could use in advance of Pittsburgh. Sadly, my potential ride/running buddy opted to go to church so I was left to run alone along the lake.
I stalled as long as I could, but finally headed over there around 3:00. There was some wind again, but the 56 degree temperature was perfect. I ended up running about a half mile longer than planned, but felt pretty good at the end. So good, actually, that I think I might have run too slow.
Well, that’s what I thought when I first finished. Then I realized what my knees and shins felt like. Now I type this with my homemade gel pack doing wonders for my legs. Have I told you about my homemade gel pack? Two parts water and one part rubbing alcohol in a zip lock bag makes a perfect reusable cold pack.
April 9th, 2010
Another Day, Another Run
Running is boring and I feel like my legs might stop working properly at any minute. But in the meantime, I must carry on if I am to have any hope of not humiliating myself in Pittsburgh. Today’s run:
April 8th, 2010
Today’s Run
Chilly is fine. Windy is less fine. Headed over to the lake for a 6-mile run today. The 35 degree weather combined with the 15 MPH winds left me with virtually no feeling in my hands at the end of the run. It took me a full two minutes or so to get the keys out of the little pocket inside my shorts and unlock my bike to go home. Frostbite must really suck.
In other news, I really need new music on my iPod.
April 7th, 2010
Tonight’s Run
After a nice 3 day break, I got back into it with a short run tonight after the rain ended. I brought Fred along and he’s clearly getting back into shape.
April 4th, 2010
9 Miles of I Suck
After running late at night on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, my plan was to do my long run on Sunday evening so I’d have enough recovery time. But according to the forecast, it was going to windy in the morning, windier in the afternoon and raining in the late afternoon through the evening. So without sufficient time to recover and operating on 5 hours of sleep, I headed out late this morning for the run. The wind was blowing north pretty hard, supposedly about 15 miles per hour.
I sucked and I’m not too happy about it. I finished, but took four walking breaks. The first 3 were less than 30 seconds and the last one was about two minutes. I might embarrass myself in Pittsburgh.
At least now I have two full days to recover. Next run is not until Wednesday.