200 Days

MCM is 200 days away.  My head knows that is plenty of time.  I know I can get to where I need to be in 200 days.  I'm just still a little afraid. 

Lower Abdominal Injury

About a month ago, I thought I was pretty invincible.  I had completed a fifty miler, and was training for the Boston to Big Sur challenge.  Even though it was two marathons six days apart, I felt pretty undaunted – I had done two 28-mile double-summit Mount Diablo training runs in training for my 50 in December.  I decided I would use Hal Higdon’s Boston Bound training plan to get some speed work and hill intervals, but that I would do back to back weekend long runs, starting at 20 miles, then after a week off two 22’s and eventually two 24’s.  I figured this would ensure that not only would I finish the two marathons, but that I might even PR Boston.  My ultimate hero dream was to come down Boylston Street and maybe even see the time clock time with a two in the hours column. 

Then I had that bad run.  It was a Friday afternoon, and I was supposed to do an eight mile pace run, which I had decided meant trying to get as far under 7:00 miles as possible.  I had been able to do this a few other times, but on this day something felt off, and I was putting in too much effort to hit 7:10 miles.  When I finally got home and stopped, I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen.  I didn’t think much of it – I’m used to the aches and pains of running, and I was more concerned with the fact that my mile splits were off target.  That night I went out drinking beers with a buddy, and even helped him move a dresser down a few flights of stairs.  That didn’t feel great on the abdomen, but I just hoped I’d wake up the next morning and it would be gone.  Well, that didn’t happen, and when my allergies flared up on Saturday and every sneeze jarred my abdomen, I just planned to skip the Saturday run so I could just get the 22-miler in on Sunday.  No chance of that either, and I finally became resigned to the fact that I’d just have to take a couple days off.

I tried running on Tuesday, and made it about a block before feeling sharp pain which forced me to turn around.  That was enough to make me realize I was injured, and couldn’t just gut this one out.  I also had to admit to myself that I was limping throughout the day at work.  My first thought was that I had a sports hernia, and after a Google search I became pretty convinced that it was a pretty accurate diagnosis.  Then I became a little more optimistic and Googled “abdominal strain” and was pretty sure that that’s what I had.  I know that medical self-diagnosis on Google is one of the worst things you can do, but the compulsion is always too hard to resist.  Lesley told me I should go to the doctor, but I didn’t want to hear that I should take a few months off and miss Boston and Big Sur. 

I took eight days off, and my symptoms gradually improved, but when I went out for a two-mile trial run, I felt the return of the pressure on my lower abdomen again.  I decided that since there seemed to be some improvement, I didn’t need to throw in the towel yet so I signed up for a one-month gym membership.  The owner gave me a deal when I explained my situation, and I told him that all I needed was the stationary bike. 

For the past few weeks the stationary bike has been both my refuge and antagonist.  I have been able to maintain fitness, but am unsure how this will translate to running.  The tedium though, is terrible.  I try to keep my RPMs up to at least 90, and some days when I get bored, I just crank up the level for about two minutes to snap out of it.  I have done speed work outs, but again, have no idea what they translate to my Yasso repeats.  There are televisions with close captioning, so I listen to my headphones and drift in and out of daytime television shows like Katie (Couric, a talk show that I never knew existed), or four straight episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives the other day.  I did run a whole category of Literature questions in Jeopardy and nailed the final Jeopardy question, unsure whether or not I should tell the guy on the treadmill next to me (I didn’t, but more to give him a chance than out of a fear of showing off).  Sometimes I look out the window over my shoulder and see the blossoms on the tree outside, and know that spring is blooming this time largely without me.

Last weekend I was able to get out for a run, and decided that the abdominal issue would just be there, but as long as it wasn’t painful I would keep going.  I ran a twelve mile loop that finished at the gym, then rode the bike for an hour, before a dead-legged mile shuffle back home.  I ran a couple other times this week, but can’t quite get back-to-back runs.  When I do run, I cannot push the pace – it just feels like I’m lacking the strength of my lower abs – so I’ve given up on the idea of a Boston PR or Boston BQ.  I did get a twenty-miler in this morning though, and while it didn’t feel great, I think I can at least get through Boston.  I’m still unsure about Big Sur, but I’ve got three weeks to hopefully heal some, so I’ll see how it feels.

I guess injuries are a part of running, or getting older, or both.  At least it has been a reminder that I should focus more on cross training.  Just not on a stationary bike – I think on my last day at the gym I’m going to drag that thing out to the parking lot and drive over it a couple times with my car.

MCM Training Starts Today!

Today is my first official day training for the Marine Corps Marathon.  I had my coach design out a plan for the next 7 months to get me to the starting line healthy and hopefully feeling pretty confident.  I certainly don't have any lofty goals for this marathon.  Finishing = Winning. 

I started off with a 3 mile run today.  It's been about 3 weeks since I last ran so it felt good to get back out there again.  I've missed it.  Evan was so excited when I got home and he immediately started asking me if I was going to have some Nuun.  The boys love that stuff.

Mike decided to photobomb us in the background.
 

Yoga

I went to a yoga class this morning.  It's been a few weeks since my last class.  I've really missed it.  My body has as well.  I've noticed my hip feeling tight again and I definitely noticed a decrease in my flexibility. 

Today's class kicked my butt in the best possible way. I've got to get back into the habit of going 2-3 times a week again.

Like Mommy & Daddy!

The boys and I were waiting for Mike to pick us up outside a Fleet Feet store (my favorite running shoe store) and Lucas pointed to the pictures of the runners on the window.  He then exclaimed, "Those are runners like Mommy & Daddy!"

I love how he associates running with us.  Hopefully by us modeling running to him, he'll grow up to be a runner someday as well.

Back at it

I've fallen off the wagon.  Life got in the way yet again and it seems like I've been sick 3 weeks out of March.  Plus I've also come to realize that I just don't run regularly when I'm not training for something.  I need the accountability of knowing my runs are working towards a bigger goal.  I've decided to change that. 

I signed up for two races in May.  I'm a huge fan of Brazen Racing and decided to sign up for two of their races.  I'm doing the Western Pacific 10K on May 3 and the Nitro Trail 5K on May 31.  But that's not all I've got on my race calendar.  I've got something else.  Something BIG. 

For awhile now I've thought that a half marathon was probably the max distance I would run in a race.  I don't think I'm cut out for anything longer.  But then again, a marathon has always been on my bucket list.  It's something I'd love to say I did.  Because I never, ever thought I would run one before (hell, I never even thought I'd run at all!).  I've always said that if I were to run a marathon it would have to be a big race.  A race with a lot of spectators to boost my spirits when I hit the wall.  A race with a lot of participants so I never feel like I'm running all by myself. 

The Marine Corps Marathon is one of those races.  I happened to look at their website and saw that they were accepting entrants for their lottery.  I entered feeling fairly confident I wouldn't get selected. 

But then I did.  I got into Marine Corps.  Holy crap.  I'm going to run a marathon.  I'm just a bit frightened...

Spectating at Oakland Running Festival's Marathon & Half Marathon

Today was Oakland Running Festival's race.  Last year this was my first half marathon.  In addition, I managed to convince 21 of my students to run the half marathon as well!  We were so grateful to be part of Running for a Better Oakland which helped train the runners on Saturday mornings.  There were quite a few of our former students who were running the half marathon again so Mike and I wanted to be there to cheer them on (they didn't know we were coming so surprising them was fun).  In addition our good friend Moir was running the full marathon (his first!) so we wanted to be sure to cheer him on.  A coworker of ours was also running her first marathon so we were hoping to see her as well.

We made it a fun outing for the boys by taking BART.  They love riding on BART.
 
 
 
 
 

We took BART to West Oakland because it was around the halfway point for the half marathon runners and close to mile 20 for the marathoners.  Within a few minutes of arriving we saw Junior run by (in the yellow shirt). 

 Then came Jonathan (also in yellow - all of the students wore yellow RBO shirts).

I was happy to see Jefferson coming by as well.  Last year Mike ran the half marathon with him.

After Jefferson we saw Alejandra running with a smile on her face!
 
 Jasmine came running by as well looking really strong!

Then I looked around the corner and saw David and Vanessa.  They looked like they were struggling and walking a bit.  I definitely know that feeling.  I think I scared them when I jumped out in front of them and told them to start running again!  I ran a bit with them and was so proud of them for digging deep and continuing on. 
 
 I'm so proud of all of my students from last year.  It was really good to see them and cheer them on as they ran 13.1 miles! 

We were all really excited when we saw Moir come around the corner!  

 
We also saw our coworker Lacy run by.  I didn't get a picture because she was running faster than I anticipated (she rocked that marathon!) so I didn't have my camera ready.  But I gave her a high five!  
It was really inspiring to see all of the runners.  I love cheering on at races.  I know how much it means to me when I run a race to have people cheer me on.  It was also a bit intimidating to see the runners who were struggling because this is probably going to be me.  I've signed up for my first marathon - October 26th.  Time to get training!