Seattle Half Marathon: A Recap

It was an absolutely gorgeous day for running in Seattle today. A bit foggy along Lake Washington, but overall, a great day to run. The Hoffmann family gathered at some weird hour of the morning that I tend to avoid and set off for 13.1 miles.

There were a lot of racers out there today and between the full marathon walk which for some reason started 10 minutes before the half marathon run, it was a sea of people heading down Fifth Avenue.

My foot injury did not rear its ugly head during the run, but I defiantly felt the affects of not being able to train for a few weeks prior to the race. After some big hills and some foot pain (just from it striking the ground over and over again, nothing big) though I was exhausted. This was at about mile 9. I kept trying to get through the wall, but my legs didn't respond to that very much. By mile 10 I was walking and not at a fast pace. My dad was with me the whole time, so he's probably feeling good today. We ended up running the last 1/4 mile which was good. I crossed the line at 3:15. Not the pace I was looking for, but I wasn't at my peak either. I'll take a bit of time off, join a gym and get back to it in mid-December.

At any rate, I have a medal and another t-shirt, plus some sore muscles. Wonder when I get to do it again?

Alan

Foot recovery...its boring

So, it was tendonitis in my foot, which the doctors put some sort of cream on and made magically better. However, they said to take it easy and to test out the foot first. To do that, they had me go to the track. To the map!




God, this was boring. I made it, as indicated, six laps before saying "this sucks. I'm going to watch football!" My foot was fine. Felt great. I'm going for a real run tomorrow.

Why do people run long distance in track?

I do not recommend limping 3 miles

I went out for a run on Sunday, and it could be called a miserable experience for several reasons.

1) Wind. Running in the cold sucks. Running in the cold with wind? More so. Running into said win? There is no adjective to describe the suckiness of that.

2) I got the hiccups at one point. Yeah, running when your diaphragm decides to suddenly involuntarily contracts (thank eMedicine!) is a blast. Really helps getting into a rhythm.

On top of that, my foot was bothering me. It had been doing this at the end of my runs as of late, and I thought it was just fatigue from repeatedly putting a lot of pressure on my foot over a two hour period. Running can be a strenuous thing and these things are almost expected.

However, this time...the pain started at mile 2.5. I tried to gut it out, but nope. I decided that it simply was not going to happen today, I may have decided this a bit late. Decide for yourself, using this handy map.




I don't know how long it took me to get home. A while is a good way to put it.

I went to the doctor today. X-rays negative. Hooray! Maybe its tendonitis. Boo! Let's see what the interwebs have to say about tendonitis.

Walking or running up hill, i.e. golf courses or marathon running can be the catalyst for tendonitis in the foot.

Treatment: Cease all sporting activities and try and stay off your feet as much as possible.

I have physical therapy on Wednesday. We'll see what happens. I hope I can run the half marathon in two weeks...but we'll see.

Alan

Running...I've been doin' it

Since its been nearly a month since I posted here, I figure lets blog.

I have been running. When I last left off, our valiant hero (me) was running six miles. He was quite studly.

Flash forward to present day and I'm running NINE MILES and am somehow studlier. You didn't think it was possible, dear reader.

TO THE MAP!!




As you can see, its a nice long run in the country. What you don't see is that there is no place to pee. There are houses with people in them that would see since there are no trees to duck behind.

The other thing you don't see are the hills. I didn't think Salem had any. Apparently, that assertion was incorrect. At about mile three there's a short but fairly steep one. Also, from mile six to seven, its one long gradual incline. Wheee!

Anyway, doing this one in about an hour 50 minutes. Not bad. I feel good.

I am studlier...er.

Alan

Wall? What wall?

So, yesterday I went for a run. It was a spur of the moment thing. I did some very basic stretches and went out for the six mile run. Started out really well, and then...I just kept going.

I figured given my week of inactivity I would walk a few times, but it never happened. I just kept running, and running well.

When I got to 5.5 miles, no wall seemed apperant. So, even though it was dark, I tacked on the extra mile.

Seven miles. The best part was, I got it in at about 1:20, or 10 minutes faster than I ran six miles the week before.

The key, I think, is not avoiding the wall, but to avoid creating it. If you slow up and walk, it throws you out of rhthym. These mini-walls, if you will, are more or less mental. Your mind thinks you need a break. If you can push past it, the feeling usually passes. If you cave in though, you may experience a short burst of energy, but the feeling returns eventually. And those small breaks are building towards one, very real wall. The big wall, which is that absoulte feeling of exhaustion, is also mental, but at the end of the run, you really are tired. Your muscles are going to ache, your going to be sore (I am this morning) and you're going to be tired.

If you can avoid the minor walls along the way, the walls that pop up when you're actually fairly fresh, you can run through the big wall at the end.

Now, watch me crawl home after hitting a bigtime wall tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

In honor of what I hit at mile 5.5

Here's a live version of Kansas' " The Wall"

Ow.

Six mile run and the dangers of running during festivals

I'm stepping up my march to the Half Marathon, breaking out this six mile route. It comes complete with back road goodness and even some hills, something that I did not think existed in Illinois.

I looked up some back stretches prior to this one too, in an effort to loosen that up. My back had been nagging me for awhile, and it turns out there are some simple things you can do to get it ready to run. I used three primary...uh...positions, for lack of a better word.

1. The Plank

Lie on your stomach. Prop yourself up with your elbows and toes, straighten out your back so its like a blank. (Light as a feather...stiff as a board...haha) Hold the position for 10 seconds, relax, repeat until your back is able to carry heavy set children away from the donut machine about five times.

2. The Bridge

Lie on your back, with feet firmly on ground. Lift your ass in the air (buttocks, for those sophisticated readers I have) and make a straightline from shoulders to knee. Hold for five seconds, relax, repeat.

3. Wall slide

Stand up against wall, with feet 18 inches away from said wall. Slide down the wall until knees are at a 90 degree angle. Hold for a few seconds, then somehow slide back up the wall (I kind of just worked my way up, as wall wouldn't permit me to slide)

Those three worked really well, back trouble was minimal during he run, and it made a difference.

What else made a difference? The Little Egypt Festival, which quarantined off downtown. As I ran down U.S. 50/Main Street, I was feeling pretty good. Tired, but good. And then I came to the barricade.

Now, I could have gone through. I'm a pedestrian after all. But, seeing how I'd have to wait for the inane amount of traffic that occurred at this spot (I think the peoples were trying to get to Hardee's) I decided to run down Westgate to get to Whitaker, which I would take anyway, I'd just join it sooner than I thought.

Of course, this plan turned into epic fail because all the cars that couldn't get to Hardee's were coming my way now. So, on the corner of Westgate and Whitaker, I stood there, waiting to cross the street. I'm not a big fan of the game "Dodge the Traffic" as that game has a tendency to rely on other people having functioning brakes and the reflexes needed to use them. By the time I finally got to cross the street, my aches and pains caught up with me, my rhythm was all out of whack, and I grinded out the last mile to home.

Still made it, despite the quasi-taunts from a car of high schoolers, whom will all undoubtedly be obese in three years. That however, is a rant for another day.

The plan is to try this run again Monday morning, except without that annoying parade. Seriously people, hold festivals when I'm not training for a half marathon.