42 posts tagged “running”

For some reason I seem to be jinxed in January from a running standpoint.  But in most years, I at least can get past the first week or two before I have problems.  Not this year.
I went for a run on New Year's Eve as a way to say good bye to 2008.  I ran 5.75 miles bringing my yearly total to 516.  Not bad but it actually was the fewest annual miles that I've run in the past 3 years.  Mainly due to my twisting my knee last January while running on a slippery bridge.  It took me three months to recover enough to get in a good run after that.
So after a good New Year's Eve run, I woke up early on New Year's Day (I know, sick) and went for a run.  A good 5 mile loop that had some ice but not as much as the previous day.  It was a pretty good run but I kept it a little slower than the day before.  As I approached the end, my knee tweaked.  What the heck?  I felt good, was on a dry route and I didn't step on anything.  But, in the last 5 steps of my run, I couldn't put weight on my knee.  It felt just like last year.
I don't usually swear much but this time I was sure thinking it.  Of course last year came to mind and the three months of trouble running.  After being mad, I slipped into being depressed.  This sucked.
I came home and immediately iced it and took some ibuprofen.  Since then I've been doing the same twice a day.  Hopefully I'll rest this one properly and take care of it so maybe I'm only out of running for a few weeks. Who knows but I'm pretty annoyed right now.
Oh and other January problems that I've experienced?  Well, the Knee last year.  Before that I had shingles and the flu and was away from running for a month.  Before that I had problems with my calf and the year before that I pulled my Achilles.  Maybe I just need to take January off from running.

I went for a run the other night (Thursday) after getting home from work.  It was a cool evening after some light rain so there was no one on the trail.  I felt pretty good so a longer 6 mile run was in order.
As I was getting to the turn around I noticed a little grey shape moving along on the trail.  Scuttling along was more like it.  I couldn't figure out what it was.  At first I thought it might be a skunk but there were no contrasting black and white stripes.  Remember, it was dark and my only light was my headlamp.  Shadows were about all I saw.
When I got closer to the thing, it started moving faster, but along the trail in the direction I was going.  I thought Ok, if you want to race, I'll give you a race.  It was at this point that he turned and looked at me and I recognized the possum face.  Cool, this was fun.  I slowed down a bit so that for a time we were running side by side.  He turned a looked at me again and then skedadled off the trail to the left.
I know, not much to talk about but I thought it was pretty neat.  Gave me something to think about for a while on the run.  Of course, he didn't feel like racing when I came back that way.  Actually he didn't even come out to cheer me on.  My feelings were hurt...

Possum

What is it about a race that makes beer taste great afterwards?  I remember a race in Colorado, the Running of the Green, where we were given Killian's after the race.  Boy that was good.  Well yesterday I downed a glass of Samuel Adams after the Half Madness 13.1 and tasted just as good.  Beer at 9:30 am.  Gotta love it.

The race itself was pretty good.  This was my first race for this year.  Matter of fact, my last race was last year's Chicago Half Marathon which I ran in 2:12.  My primary goal was to beat last year's time.  Secondary, if I could make it was to beat 2 hours.  My plan was to run between 8:45 and 9:00 min miles and then walk a minute.  I still do the Galloway Plan for running and it's great!  If around 10 or 11 miles, my goal of 2 hours was in sight, I would kick it up a bit to break it.  (I've run negative splits before in training effectively)

The Half Madness started in Batavia along the Fox River and the course went up either side of the river into the neighborhoods.  There were only a few hills on the course with the first one coming in the first 200 yards of the race up out of the river valley.  So thankfully hills weren't much of an issue.  I do like rolling courses but probably not for 13 miles.

Temp when I left the house was about 60.  Not too bad but it was supposed to climb to the high 80's later.  I hoped it would be much later.  Humidity didn't seem to be a problem either as it seemed rather dry.

The race started at 7:30 running West up that hill.  I guess the nice thing about the hill was that there were no jack rabbits at the started.  Everyone hit it at what I call a normal pace so I wasn't swept up with any surge and was running about 8:45 at the top which is what I wanted.  First mile was 9:11 before any walk.  A little slow, but not bad for the start.

After some winding roads in the neighborhood under trees, we turned west again for a long stretch approaching 2 miles.  No tree cover and that was my first indication that it was going to be a warm race.  My knuckles were already sweating!  I walked at the 2 mile mark and took a few steps at the water station about a quarter mile away and then off again.  2nd mile was 9:08.

As we were running through the neighborhoods, there were a lot of people blocked either in their driveways or in their streets waiting for the race to go by.  I bet more than a few were late for church.  Some took it in stride and were out cheering us on in their Sunday best.  Some, you could tell, were grumbling a bit.

What goes up must go down and after mile 4 we had a steep decline to get back down to the river.  It felt good to stretch the legs a bit.  5th mile was 9:01.  So far I've been pretty steady.

Another water break at the river and we started running on the bike path.  Now my walk breaks were a little harder to do because there just wasn't much space on a path where 3 people could run abreast and that was it.  I did my best to check around before walking so no one ran into me.  The harder part was when I started running again and had to pass everyone.  More than a few times I was off the path.

The 6th mile I ran at 9:16.  There was a water break about 6.5 miles where I happened to check my time again.  Right at 1 hour.  Wow!  I was on pace to be around 2 hours!  That lifted me a bit and gave me a brief adrenaline surge.

Approaching 7 miles we went back into the neighborhoods.  These were newer neighborhoods and the trees weren't as mature.  Less shade.  It was hot!  I still ran a 9:00 8th mile and 9:09 9th mile but I was starting to feel the heat.

The 10th mile was still at 9:12 and then I started to slow.  At about 10.5 the course went back on the bike path.  The runners were more spread out so it wasn't as crowded as before but this side of the river didn't have as much shade.  Between 10 and 11 I used 1 of the 2 Port a Potties on the race course (What's up with that!) so my time dropped back to 10:26 for 11.

By now I had decided that 2 hours was out of the picture and I would stop looking at my watch.  Just run and finish.  I've run this part of the trail many times so I was quite familiar it but of course I normally ran it in the other direction.  It looked different running from this direction.  :-)

I started taking more walking breaks for shorter durations.  Goal was every half mile for 45 seconds.  That worked for the 11th and 12th miles where I ran 10:00 for the 12th.  But, the 13th mile was a bear.  I think I walked 3 times that last mile.  My body just stopped running which is a weird feeling.  Took a big effort to get me moving again.

I rounded the corner for the last 100 yards and picked up my pace a bit because I was going to blow away my previous best of 2:12.  I finished at 2:04:49.  Almost 8 minutes better than the Chicago Half and a new PR!  Average pace ended up being 9:25 miles.  Not bad.

OvrAll /Gndr / Div  No Name             Representing     Division Total             Time Back    Pace
450 / 314 / 66       833 SNURKA, Jon GENEVA IL M_35-39     2:04:42.917 +55:22.004     9:31.2

BTW - My last race in this age group.  In a few weeks I'll be running in the Master's category.

My family was there at the finish and I heard them yell when I was about 20 yards away.  Matter of fact I almost tripped on the carpet because I snapped my head over to look at them and wasn't watching where I was going.

The post race food and drinks were good.  Plenty of water, bananas and bagels as well as pizza and the aforementioned beer.  Good stuff for after a run.

All told this was a great race being that it was the first time they ran it.  The organizers did a good job.  Only suggestions would be to start maybe at 7:00 to avoid some of the heat and put some Port a Potties on the course.  (Of course I was the only one who used one that I saw so maybe they knew something)   Oh, and check the distance.  My GPS said we went  13.24 miles.  A little longer than 13.1.

The fans along the course were sparse but some of them really tried to cheer everyone on.  Hopefully in coming years the residents of Batavia will come out and help support the race along the course.

When this year started my main goals were to run at least one half marathon and maybe two.  It looks like I could still be on track to hit that goal.
This Sunday I'll be running the Half Madness half marathon in the neighboring town of Batavia.  The race starts and ends along the river and is mostly run on the trail around the river (My training trail!).  But it does have a couple of hills when it climbs out of the river valley.  Of course the hills are a little more tame than the Colorado ones I used to run but that's ok.
Speaking of hills, I'm still seriously considering running the North Face Endurance Challenge.  This looks like a kick, but take a look at the elevation gain for the half marathon.  Oh my gosh that's a lot of up and down.  Thank goodness it's not being run at 9,000 feet!
My main concern with the race is getting in some trail running for practice.  All we really have around us are converted rail to trails with crushed gravel.  Not much in the way of challenging terrain.  I do have a good hill that I ran when getting ready for the Wild West Relay last year so spending some time on that will help.  But I think I need the trail time.  Gotta work on that one.
BTW- My goal for this Sunday is to beat my Chicago Half that I ran last year (2:12).  My secondary goal is to be 2 hours but I think that might depend on the weather.  Humidity really drains me.  (No time goals for the North Face, just want to finish)

I went for a long run this morning of around 11 miles.  At least as far as I can figure due to running the course previously.  (Out and back)  Problem is the Garmin GPS was off about .2 miles at the end.  So what do I trust?  I think I'll go with my experience on the trail. 
I like running in shade and this course has a lot of it (Converted Rail to Trail).  Of course the GPS gets a little confused.  I tried to keep a 9:00 - 9:30 pace but the poor unit said I was going as slow as 10:30 or as fast as 5:25.  I probably didn't hit those extremes or at least I didn't feel like I was that erratic.
The run it self was ok.  I ran 10 miles last weekend and it felt pretty good so I was hyped for 11.  Plus, last night I finally got a Running Song Playlist on my IPod together of upbeat music.  What could go wrong? 
I guess plenty.  First, it was a little more humid than last week and about 5 degrees warmer.  I don't do humidity so that was a drag.  Plus, I could never get in a groove.  Felt like I was forcing it.  So as you know, there are good and not so good days.  Today was a not so good run.
BUT, I did get in the 11 miles and I'm still on track for the Batavia 1/2 Marathon at the end of the month.  Something has come up that I didn't consider before.  The 1/2 is on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  We were thinking of going camping so what to do?  We are going camping next weekend so we may not try for the holiday but you never know.  We try to be a little spur of the moment on those things.
I guess I'll continue to keep up my training and take things as they come.
Happy Running!

  Due to our busy baseball weekend, I didn't have a chance to run on Saturday.  I really wanted to get one in this morning before our early 9:00 game so I got up around 6:30 ready to go.  When I stepped outside, I saw some clouds to the North and thought I better check weather.com before going for a run.  I'm glad I did.

  Turns out a serve thunderstorm was barreling down on us.  In looking at the Warning Updates, it was scheduled to hit some towns to the west of us in about 30 minutes.  I was planning on 6 miles but I cut that back to 4 so I could get it in before the rain.

  As I was running, I kept looking to the West but the clouds didn't seem too threatening.  Even so, I ran faster than I've run all season pushing a 8:09 pace over the 4 miles.  Not too bad and it actually felt good. 

  I finished the run at 7:03 and as I was doing my cool down, it started to sprinkle.  I hurried home and the skies opened up at 7:10.  Over the next 20 minutes, we received .51 inches of rain and wind gusts over 50 mph.  It was a pretty violent storm and woke up the rest of the family.  Of course the missus knew I was our running but didn't know I was back.  She was a little concerned until she came down and saw I was ok.

Storm line

  I guess being pushed is a good way to get a good time on a run but I don't know if I want to cut it that close again.  The storms around here can get pretty strong and it wouldn't be cool to be caught out in them.

  Ever since I ran with the CCC group last October, I've been running solo.  In part due to weather and schedule and in part due to my injuries.
  Today I decided to run again with the CCC group we had a great run.  I showed up and there were 8 of us.  For some reason a couple of the runners decided to run with the beginner group when they saw I was running with the intermediate one.  :-) 
  It ended up being just Scott, Deon and myself.  I ran the Chicago Half Marathon with Scott and I helped Deonn get ready for the Kansas City marathon with some long runs last fall.  This was Scott's first run with the group this year like myself and Deon hadn't gone over 4 miles yet this year.  So of course we planned to do 6 miles.
  The run was just enjoyable.  We had a strong wind for most of it and the course was a little hilly (If you can call them hills) but we kept a good pace and ran a mile walked a minute.  We ended up with a 9:49 pace over the 6.4 miles.  A little slow for me but it was good for the others.  They kept blaming me for the pace but I swear I was running behind them most of way.  I think just my presense inspired them to go faster.  :-)
  I think I'm going to continue with group running.  Running solo is ok, but doing it with a group makes the time go and is just fun.

  Finally got a good run in today with my trusty friend Shay at my side.  Thanks to my doc, my knee stayed in place while running.  I've been having problems since January when I twisted my knee on some slippery wood.  Ever since then it's been hard to run.  Especially when starting out and my knee isn't/ warmed up. 
  I've been seeing my Chiro for a while and he's been helping but this time he tried something a little different.  He taped my knee on Monday with kinesio tape (SP?) and it was designed to pull the patella away from the knee.  Well, whatever it did, it worked.  Probably my most pain free run this year.
  Now the problem is that I can't have him tape me before every run.  I see him once or twice a week and the tape usually comes off after a couple of showers.  I'll have to work with him to figure out a way to do this.  Oh, and I get to shave my knee.  Fun fun!
  At least I'm running a bit.

  11 miles never felt so good.  I ran for the first time in 4 weeks last Sunday.  Put in a slow 4 miles with walk breaks.  I followed up with 3 miles in Richmond on Wednesday (Business travel) and another 4 miles yesterday at home.  Yeah!  My energy level is pretty good and the run felt good over all.  My knee is still just a little tender but I'm taking it easy and wearing a brace.  So far that seems to help.  Now the trick is to not push it too much.

  What I think is interesting is that this is the third year of running where I had some ailment in the January - February time frame that limited my running.  Be it Achilles tendon, severe cold or this year's knee problem it seems that I get a "Forced" rest during this time frame.  That's not a bad thing I guess.  My body can probably use a rest from the pounding.

  So going forward I'm not sure what this means.  I'll still be taking it easy for a while but what happens next winter?  I guess I'll have to see.

  Or is that Catsup Post?  No, maybe Catch Up Post.  Yep, that's it.

  I've been out of touch lately (In more ways than one) with traveling and other fun stuff going on.  To briefly catch you up on what we've been doing, here is a recap:

• BDog graduated from Webelos to Boy Scouts
• My missus found something that needed to be checked out but it took a week to get in for the test (All Clear!  YEAH!!!)
• Had a father-son dinner on Valentine's day to discuss how to not give in to peer pressure
• I was sick with a cough for 3 weeks and finally got something from the doc to get rid of it
• Missus had flu like symptoms starting Sunday and still has some today
• BDog did a lock-in with the new Boy Scout Troop
• BDog, MJ and I went skiing in Wisconsin with some friends on President's Day (See Below)
• BDog has flu like symptoms starting last night and I stayed home with him today (Worked from home)
• MJ is the only one who hasn't been sick (Knock on wood)
• Another CoCoRaHS article ran in a local paper getting more volunteers to sign up
• Been seeing my Chiro about my knee.  Officially, it's tweaked.  He is using the Graston technique to release some of the muscles and tendons around the knee to free it up. 
• No running until probably this weekend.  That will be more than 3 weeks off!
• Lost about a pound through it all.

  That's about it.  Pretty busy 10 days or so.

  The skiing trip was my first in the Midwest since moving here from Colorado.  I was by no means an expert in Colorado but I did get out 2 or 3 times a year.  I was prepared to be dissapointed.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed the slopes here.  We went to Cascade Mountain and had a good time.  They just received a bunch of snow on Sunday making the conditions pretty good.  Lot's of powder!  My only complaint (If it is one) is that it took only 8 minutes to go up the lift and down the slope.  In other words short runs.  But what can you do when the "Mountain" is only 1,280 feet.  I'm used to another digit in that number.

  Kids both took lessons for 90 minutes and then tried their hand on a green run.  BDog did ok and stayed with it.  MJ had enough with the green and we both stayed on the teaching hill for the rest of the afteroon.  That was ok with me because I didn't want to strain my knee.  Doc gave me the ok to ski but I wasn't taking chance.  I wore a brace all day which helped.

  So we've had a busy Feb so far.  I can't wait to get in some running, but it won't be outside.  Everything has about 2 inches of ice.  We had a decent snowfall, then it melted a bit, turned to slush and now we have a deep freeze.  Nothing but ice as far as the eye can see.

  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the posting again, but as you can tell, life is busy.