Thursday, September 30, 2010

Red Light, Green Light




Training can be like driving in traffic.

You catch the green lights for awhile, then you're stuck at a red.

Yesterday I visited my doctor to get her assessment on my (k)ankle.

Me: "I twisted my ankle over the weekend while running."

[show kankle]

Me: "It doesn't hurt to walk on. It just looks bad because it's bruised. I am running the Marathon in 11 days."

[Doctor shoots a crazy look]

Dr: "Sorry, you're not running a marathon." She went on to explain how I could injure it more by continuing to run or cause a longer recovery period later on.

RED LIGHT

[Surprise, surprise; I start tearing up]

The Doctor did say she'd call to get a second option.

In the meantime, I called my Mom, who's very good at understanding sob talk.

Then I called Kim.

Kim is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to any aspect of running. She suggested I first and foremost listen to my body. I have time to still recover, and there's nothing you can do right or wrong during the taper.

Then, later in the evening, I went to see Erin, my massage therapist. Erin echoed what Kim said.

As I was driving home from the massage, the doctor called. She had spoken to an orthopedic surgeon. Turns out, the OS thinks a marathon can be pulled off while recently recovering from a sprain.

GREEN LIGHT

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Running for a Reason



Every runner has a reason.

To lose weight. To get in better shape.

Some of us run for bigger reasons than ourselves. We use running to benefit causes we hold close to our hearts.

The above photo is of a building along the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. Each summer, the building is transformed into the Chicago Marathon mural. One of the people featured on the building this year is William Beiersdorf. William is the founder of Salute, an Illinois-based charity benefiting active military and their families.

William, a Naval reservist, was called to active duty for more than a year the day after 9/11. While serving his country away from home, his family endured severe financial hardships. After completing his duty, William and his wife founded Team Salute to provide financial assistance to military families. William and the organization now operate a running team at the Marathon each year to raise funds and awareness for the cause.

As my brother prepares to head to Afghanistan in early 2011, [his 4th deployment while serving in the US Army, and now as an Army Reservist] I am hard pressed to find a cause that effects my family more. My brother has served in the Army for most of his adult life. I cannot think of a service for which I could be more grateful.

It is for these reasons that I am running as part of Team Salute on 10.10.10.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Big Fall

Everybody falls sometimes.

I do more than others.

I'm constantly running in to stuff. Tripping. I'm a klutz.

But Saturday's 12 mile run turned ugly at mile 11 where, somehow, I fell and twisted my ankle. Luckily no one else was injured in my massive plummet to the ground.

The entire 10:30 pace group stopped to see if I was ok. [Thanks again guys for not leaving me in the dust.]

I got back on my feet, and Sara, Tomas, Carrie and Jen walked with me.

I was so touched that they would stop and walk back with me. When I said something along those lines, the response was 'We're tired and were looking for a reason to walk!'

After running 40+ miles last week, we're all exhausted.

As for the ankle, it's turning in to quite a sight to see of purple and gray bruising.

I'm resting, icing, compressing and soaking in epsom salts.

No running til at least Saturday I've decided.

The good news is, although it's a bit stiff, I've not lost range of motion or am I in pain.

I'm hoping in time the swelling will go down and I'll be back to normal.

In case anyone's counting, the marathon's in 13 days.

Friday, September 24, 2010

You Know You're A Marathoner When...

[taken from a friend's email forward]

Your "easy" runs top the weekly mileage of 95% of the general population.

You eat like a 400 lb. man, and look like you're starving.

You miss a run and you're irritable and pissy all day and evening, as well as the next day.

Your friends gag when they catch a glimpse of your toes.

You roll your eyes when people talk about low carb diets.

"18 weeks" becomes your most important unit of time.

You start debating about Higdon.

You'd rather run a marathon than go on a "real" holiday.

You no longer think people who run marathons are crazy.

After finishing a really tough 26.2-mile run, your first thought is: "Next race, I'm going to...."

You have a pile of shoes in your closet because you feel like you have to have new running shoes every 400 miles.

Any run less than 16 miles feels like an easy workout.

You spend too much time on the Internet reading about other peoples' workouts.

You say you're going out for a short run and come back two hours later.

You think high 40s/low 50s and overcast sounds like perfect weather.

You get up earlier on weekends than you do during the work week.

You shower about 12 times a week.

Every time you see a runner when you're driving you feel like you too should be running, even if you ran 15 miles earlier in the day.

Your favorite shorts, singlet, socks and shoes cost three times as much as the clothes you got married in.

You tell your wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend that you want a marathon entry as a birthday present.

You think 40 miles is an easy week.

When you're driving somewhere and you see a distance to next town sign and automatically calculate how long it would take to run there.

You plan your vacations around your training schedule. A trip to Colorado is an opportunity to get some great hill work in. You could never imagine going on a cruise or a small Caribbean island. Trying to map out a 20 miler would be too hard.

When someone asks you how far you are planning to run, you say "I'm ONLY doing 10 today".

When your non-running friends stop calling you to hang out the night before you do your long runs.

You start planning your training for the next marathon before you finish the one your training for now.

You wear more electronics on a run than are in the dash of your car.

You tell non-runners you ran 5 miles when you really ran 15. Just so you won't have to sit through the "Wow, that's far!" conversation.

You gasp when you see someone running in everyday gym socks.

Your car smells a little sweaty from your running shoes in the back seat.

Your tan line is just above your ankles

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Curbs & Stairs

Post 20-miler, routine movements become difficult.

Meet your new worst enemies:



and



Suddenly, negotiating these concrete and wood obstacles are a challenge as your entire lower body is, to some degree, sore.

You find yourself planning routes ahead of time that avoid them.

Is there a ramp or an elevator near by?

You know you're sore and entitled to taking it easy while you recover.

Other people see you walking funny and think you're either injured or just plain lazy.

You think about telling people 'I ran twenty miles yesterday.' as an excuse, but you worry that they'll entire think you're gloating or crazy. So instead, you say nothing, and let people assume what they want.

During your much-slower journey to where ever you're going, you see someone else mimicking your moves. You smile or nod at each other. You think, 'Yeah, that guy gets it. He just ran twenty too.'

Ready to Run

Today marked the longest training run I'll do this season.

CARA organizes a great event - The Ready to Run 20 Miler.

The event is not a race, rather an organized training run to simulate the marathon experience. Groups of 50 people who run the same pace are formed for a wave. Many paces have multiple waves.

We started this morning at Foster Avenue Beach, heading north on the lakefront path, right around 7:30am.

We went north til about Bryn Mawr, then headed south.

The lakefront path is 18 miles long, so CARA throws in a few diversions away from the path to make up the difference.

Today I made it to 17 before the distance started to get to me. Getting to 18 was tough. Once I reached the 18 mile marker, I had to tell myself that running another 20 minutes was nothing. What's two miles, right?

The finish line was at the South Shore Cultural Center. Our pace group got together within 312's beer garden and had a few drinks to celebrate a great run.

Now we start to taper for race day!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The infamous mid-week 10 miler

This morning I headed down to the boardwalk to run along the Bay.

I headed north yesterday, so I headed south today.

The boardwalk went from sidewalk to a wider sidewalk to asphalt to a bike trail to...Sea World.

Somehow, without realizing where I was running to, I ended up in front of the entrance to Sea World.

I figured this run would be a journey being it is the longest run I'll be doing on my own, but I didn't think I'd end up at Sea World.

I've had better runs, but the weather was beautiful as San Diego so often is.

I was able to explore a bit and didn't get lost.

I think we'll call it a success.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Vacation Planning and Training

Tomorrow I'll travel to San Diego through Thursday.

Kim asked the details of my trip over lunch today.

As I began to explain my flight times and dates, she smiled and said, 'Oh, so you'll do your long run tomorrow morning in Chicago and then fly out. Do your weekday runs there, then fly back in time to rest before the 20 miler.'

Yes. Everything she had said was correct. Without realizing it, I had meticulously planned how I'd get training in while traveling.

The other two people at the table thought we were crazy.

It came to no surprise to Kim, she has done the same sort of planning while training for marathons over the years. We discussed terrain in San Diego. Ten miles could be rough through the hills, but the weather will be mild.

I used to worry about getting runs in when I traveled, even if I was just driving out to the burbs for the weekend. Now, it seems almost second nature to fit it in whenever I can.

Did I mention I have two issues of Runner's World packed in my carry-on?

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Running in the Dark

I used to be an evening runner.

Then I became a lunchtime runner.

Now, this year, a morning runner.

Tonight, I went back to my roots - a 9 miler starting at 6:30 P.M.

I started late because I wanted to run with some fellow 10:30's in CARA's training group. CARA holds midweek runs on Wednesdays during Marathon Training at Montrose.

Tonight is the first time in three years I went.

I was spoiled in 2008 and 2009 - I was able to talk my friend and former co-worker Katie in to running with me. Katie was training for the Chicago Half (held in September) both years, so it was easy to talk her in to doing some mileage with me.

It also helped that our offices were right next to each other.

It also helped that she was easy to convince.

We might talk about running earlier in the day, but around 4 P.M, we'd certainly talk specifics.

Sometimes we'd start out doing just 5, then we'd turn it in to 7.

Sometimes we ran in flash floods, accompanied by tornado sirens.

Sometimes we'd be chased by Canadian Geese or attacked by nats.

Last week, I didn't get up at 5 A.M. to finish 9 miles before work. I went after work, by myself. I found myself thinking of some very strange things trying to keep my mind busy for an hour and a half. The underlying theme though was that running 9 miles alone sucks.

Which brings me to tonight. For the first time in three years training with CARA, I showed up to the mid-week run. I was happy to see some familiar faces there. The run went well. Right around North Avenue, the street lights started to come on. We were not to our turn around point yet and we'd be running home in the dark.

But somehow, even in low light, it was great. The pacing was outstanding (thank you Kim and Carl) and 9 felt great instead of a slow form of torture.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

36 Mile Week

A 36 mile week consists of -

4 Tuesday Morning
9 after work on Wednesday
5 at lunch on Thursday
&
18 on Saturday

A 36 mile week feels like a truck ran over you.

A 36 mile week is not scared of calories, so you eat like a beast.

A 36 mile week requires multiple packets of Gu, including Roctane for the 18 miler.

A 36 mile week puts you to bed before 10.

A 36 mile week takes your social time and converts it all to prep, recovery, or actual running time.

A 36 mile week laughs at the sight of heels.

A 36 mile week is good friends with your foam roller.