Enjoy The Miles

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GrannyGranddaddy

Granny and Granddaddy at their house several years ago

This past weekend as we were traveling through where I was born and spent the first few years of my life, I had a a chance to reflect on my childhood, the major events of my life, the bits and pieces of what makes me who I am.  My granny passed away about two and half years ago and for the first time in 50 years my Granddaddy has been alone after having her by his side each and every day for the last 50 years.  Since then he has had a tough time adjusting to life on his own, the reality of being by himself, and ongoing health issues.  So when he said that he was moving to live in Colorado with my uncle, I was not surprised and actually feel like it is the best thing for him.  However that means he is leaving his home of the last 50 years and all the things that made it his “Home” with my granny.  We knew that this would be a visit that we could not miss on our way through.  What I didn’t really realize was how tough it would be for him as well as me.

We spent the day with Granddaddy and my Aunt Dianne and went to my Great Grandparents home in Oakman AL.  This was the first time I had been to their house since my Great Grandmother died over 22 years ago.  Theirs was a grand southern home on a hillside in the country.  The house actually served as the post office back in the civil war and held years and year of memories to more people than can be counted.  For me it was the basis for every Christmas morning memory as a child.  I can vividly remember the hardwood floors and the creaks they would make as you walked on them, the upstairs bedrooms that had the sloped ceilings that you would hit your head on if you sat up to quickly in bed and the magic of coming down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa had left.  I also remember great summers in the house with cousins, staying up playing spoons, and sitting out on the front porch with my Great Granddaddy talking for what seemed like hours.

CorryHouse

Old Corry Home in Oakman AL

The old house is now in bad shape.  No one has lived in it in over 20 years and looking at it with the broken window panes, and deteriorating foundation is sad.  It solidifies that the grandeur of the house is gone and is nothing but memories now.

As we made our way back to my Granddaddy’s house I realized that I was most likely spending the last few hours in his house since the plan is to sell it once he moves to Colorado.  I was very close with my grandparents as a kid.  I spent several summers with them and in that very house.  I have very good memories of both of them and the time we spent there.  I know the house like it was my own.  That evening I found myself walking through with my aunt to see if there was anything I wanted out of the house before they sold it and the enormity of the change hit me squarely in the gut.  The finality of it was closing in and what I had really just taken for granted as a pillar of stability in my younger years was closing the book on those times as memories of the past.

With each running event or triathlon that I train for and complete, there is a period immediately in the days after when the finality of the event hits me.  The race is over, the medal is hung on the wall, the race report is finished and then there is a void.  This was particularly true with the 50 miler I wrapped up last month and it lasted longer than normal.  I guess it was a bigger event – or a larger milestone or whatever.  I normally bounce back pretty quickly and get another goal on the calendar or shift focus to one that is already on the calendar but inevitably there still tends to be a void even if for a short period.  The realization that all of the early morning swims, the long runs in the rain, the bike rides in the heat all have peaked for that event and are done and the event is over and now just a memory.  Oftentimes during the training, I get bored with the long runs, or the swims are tough on a tired body or the bike up all the hills of SW Missouri get really tough and I tell myself I can’t wait to have these out of the way and just get to the race.  Then the race is over and I miss the training.  It’s kind of an endless self-feeding cycle.

As a husband and father, I also tend to get stressed out with the schedule of never ending places to be or low on patience when the kids are tired and whiny or fighting with each other.  I tell myself – I really just want to get through this week and make it to the weekend so that we can have a day off.  Then the weekend comes and there are games to go to, dance practice to hurry off to, church to get up early for and we breathe a sigh of relief on Sunday evening and think … man I am glad that weekend is over.

What I hope to try to keep in mind(at least with a focused effort) is that I need to stop and enjoy this!  Soon it will be over and I will be saying that I really miss it.  And while I can always add something else to focus on to the calendar or schedule… it will not be the same.  With each week, with each ball game, with each swim, run, bike and race… it moves each of those into the memory category.

I will miss my Great Grandparent’s home as well as my Grandparents home even more now as the years go by. I will miss spending time at both of these and the people that shared them with me.  Ultimately the houses just are the container of the memories of the experiences with the people there.  I will miss the people the most… the houses just are a finalization of the time periods held within them.

I hope I can stop and slow down in all of the aspects of my life and realize I need to enjoy the miles – and realize the race is just the point where the miles turn into memories.

I wanna be an Ultrarunner

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IMG_3310Forward progress…. that’s what kept going through my head over and over this past Saturday.  I had planned for this race for almost 6 months, trained for it since last October and now I was in the middle of it with 33.67 miles down and heading back out for my last loop.

In April of 2012 David Murphy had inspired me to complete my first Ultra race at the Ouachita Trails 50K.  After the race I talked to him and Charley about what would be a good 50 Mile race as a first and they both suggested Rocky Raccoon since it was relatively flat compared to the trails around where we live and because it was a really well organized and well supported race for a first 50.

So in October I threw out the idea to my buddy Adam to see if he would able and interested in helping crew me for my first 50 Miler.  He of course said I was nuts and asked where it was.  When I told him Rocky Raccoon in Huntsville Texas he just shook he head and laughed it off.

Adam and I hit the road for the 9 1/2 hour drive to Huntsville on Thursday.  The plan was to get into Huntsville that evening and have a day to relax, get familiar with the Huntsville State Park, get a short run in on the trails and be there in plenty of time for packet pickup and the race briefing.  Friday morning we were set to meet David, Jon and Stephanie for a easy run on the trails.  They had all ran Rocky previously and knew what to expect.  I on the other hand really had no idea.  David and Jon had helped get me prepared in the weeks leading up that while it is a relatively flat 50 miler, there are some hills and to make sure I had some hill training in(not really a problem around SW Missouri).  I had also heard the crazy stories from last years race in which almost 2 inches of rain fell on the morning of the race it was a huge mud fest.  So it was nice to get out on the trails to see what was coming and it was a great way to calm the nerves a bit with David and Jon’s antics on the trail.

We ran to what would be the first aid station(Nature Center) and back – just a little over 6 miles.  As we were coming back in, Coach was waiting at the trail head after just flying in from CO.  Another teammate Tanci had picked him up at the airport and met us.  Coach only had 20 minutes on the schedule for that day with emphasis on getting off of our feet ASAP…. just keep quiet and don’t tell him :) …. leave it to David to screw that up and blab to him that I had just ran 6 miles instead of 20 minutes… Luckily Jon distracted him with his wisdom about milking cows for ice cream with hay(the video helps explain this better)

The race briefing that evening was pretty cool.  It was crazy to see all of the people that had signed up for the 50 and 100 milers and quite honestly pretty intimidating.  There were some serious looking ultra runners there and all I kept thinking was… “Man, what have I gotten myself into… I am  no where near the level these folks are”.  But the really cool thing I have found about ultras is that everyone is really friendly and encouraging… and based upon the hands of the fellow first time 50 milers in the group – it was cool to see that this was a great group of runners!

4am came really early Saturday morning – especially after not being able to go to sleep until after midnight even with going to bed at 9:45(nerves!!).  Adam and I picked up Coach at his hotel and headed to Huntsville State Park to see David Murphy and Jeff Jones off on the 100 miler and to make any last minute adjustments for the start of the 50.  The 100 milers kicked off at 6am still in the dark and after they started all you could see was lights bobbing through the woods.  The nerves were getting high for me at this point as I watched the seconds tick off waiting until 7am for the 50 miler start.

I lined up in the group and as the start was counted down my heart rate was already pushing zone 2 before we even took a step.  After a mile or so I settled in behind a couple of guys from Houston that had just ran the Houston marathon and had on a whim signed up that week for the 50 miler when some cancellations opened up some new spots.  Neither had been on a trail run before and it was nice to calm the nerves talking for a bit.    I was holding a steady lower zone 2 through the first aid station and felt great as Adam caught up with me at the AS.  I quickly moved on out of the aid station an on my way to the DamNation section.

This part of the trail was new territory for me and for the most part it was much of the same – pretty easy going trails as long as you picked your feet up over the roots.  My pace was holding steady in the 10-11 mile/mile range at a lower zone 2 HR.  I was surprised to find Coach tucked into the woods as we rounded the corner coming up to the next aid station.  He said my time looked good and told me to keep track of everything I ate and how much I drank on each loop to communicate to him.  I also met David Murphy, and Jeff Jones going out of the DamNation aid station as I was coming in – they were both looking strong.  I came into the DamNation aid station and just needed a refill on my water and took some Enduralytes on out to make the loop around the dam and back to DamNation AS.

The loop back around was had a section that you run along the edge of the lake that is pretty much completely exposed with no tree cover… I was already worried about how this would translate later in the afternoon when the temps were supposed to get in the mid 70s.  I made the loop back around and in and out of DamNation pretty quickly.  The next stretch of the course would turn out to be the roughest section of the entire loops as the day progressed.  This section consisted of quite a bit of jeep road sections that were a steady uphill with a straight shot that just seemed to go on forever even though it was just a few miles.

As I came in to the Park Road aid station, Adam was there waiting with some GenUCan and after re-applying some BodyGlide to keep the chaffing under control, I was back out for the final stretch back to Dogwood aid station and the end of the first loop.  After I left Park Road, I realized that I should have taken a few more Enduralytes while I was stopped.  Being the ultra-coordinated runner that I am, I decided I could get those out of my pack and take them without missing a step.  2 seconds later I was laying face first in the dirt with a nice coating of sand all over my arms and neck to help convince me maybe I was off my game today in terms of coordination.  Nothing hurt.. other than my pride so onwards we went.

IMG_3330I met Jon Wilson as he was heading out for his second loop when I had about a mile or so left to go on the first loop.  I finished up the first 16.67 mile loop in 2:58 – which was much faster than I had anticipated.  I knew that the aid stations could kill my times if I lingered too much.  I also knew that with the temps as warm as they were I would need to keep fresh dry clothes on a much as possible.  I had planned separate shirts and shorts for each loop to help with that and I changed as quickly as possible to get back out on the trail.  I opted to leave my feet alone since there was no noticeable issues at this point.  It made a WORLD of difference to start out the second loop completely dry!

The second loop was pretty uneventful.  I had a few “near-misses” because of getting lazy and not picking my feet up but I never went down.  As I had the loop around DamNation the second time, I started to get the first inkling of being tired.  I had kept telling myself that I was already on my second loop which meant I was that much closer to just having one lap left.  However when I crossed the 25 mile point it kinda sunk in, that while I had been telling myself that I was close to just having one lap left to go, I really was just now half-way through… and had half of the distance to go….

The jeep road section back to Park Road seemed even longer this trip.  At this point my pace had slowed considerably.  With the uphill section and the monotony of just looking at a never-ending straight line I was down to 12-13 minute pace.  Seeing Adam as I came in to Park Road was a shot in the arm I needed!  I tried to down more GenUCan but ended up having to take it with me and carry two bottles to help get it all down.  The last 3.4 miles going back to Dogwood this time seemed longer and I seemed to be halfway just stumbling along.  At one point on the last little uphill section I looked up and thought to myself – That’s weird… it looks like that woman is running with her top down…. …no… wait… she IS running with her top partially down…. wait… looks like she has suction cups on her breasts…. hang on… I am losing it and getting delirious.  At this point I kinda had a moment of panic wondering what I would do if I got incoherent and wasn’t sure how to fix it.  Then as she was getting closer I could hear the rhythm of a pump working.  Ok.. so I am either about to lose it mentally or I am in the company of some really hard core runners – so much so that they can run either a 50 or 100 miler, pump breast milk, and not miss a step on a rooty course.  It was only later in the evening while talking to Jon Wilson that it was confirmed that I was not delirious since Jon told a similar recount.  Kudos to the hard core runner that let nothing stop her progress!!

I finished lap two in 3:48 – almost an hour slower than my first loop.  I had also crossed over the threshold of the longest distance I had ever run.  I changed shorts and shirt and then decided I should probably change socks because I was getting a hot spot on the ball of my right foot.  After taking my socks off I was amazed at how much sand I had on my feet.  I really couldn’t tell just running.  I rinsed them off good and put on dry socks and told Adam to keep the duct tape handy as I may need to use it if the new socks didn’t help the hot spots.  I grabbed some PB&J sandwiches, chips, and bottle refills and was off for the final loop.

I’m not gonna lie – it was TOUGH to convince myself to go back out on the last loop.  I just kept telling myself that I was on the LAST lap.  Funny the mental games you play with yourself :) .  The last loop was pretty brutal and kicked my butt.  Up to this point, I had run all of the first loop including all hills, the second loop I ran about 90% of it and walked a few of the uphill sections for a break.  The last loop was a constant battle internally of whether or not I was on an uphill section that I could convince myself was OK to walk.  As I left Nature Center aid station for the long stretch around DamNation I told Adam I needed to take my headlamp because it could be a really long time before I made it back to get it.

Turns out I would have been fine.  I made it back to the Park Road aid station with sunlight to spare.  It was awesome to see Adam again again and he was great to tell me that I was just a few miles away from hitting a new goal.  I left out of Park Road at basically a catatonic shuffle rather than a run.  I had hoped to finish between 10 and 11 hours.  I knew coming into the last aid station that I was going to miss that by a bit but still felt like my secondary goal of finishing in under 12 hours would be easily within reach.  I kept pushing and with about a mile left the sun sank enough that the headlamp became necessary.  It’s weird the way the headlamp kinda gets you in a tunnel vision environment and how surreal everything feels at that point!

IMG_3336I came up the last uphill section that left about 1/3 of mile to go and pushed to get back to an actual run instead of stumble.  I could see the lights of the Dogwood aid station and it hit me that I was actually finishing!!  As I crossed the finish line at 11 hours and 35 minutes  there was a wonderful lady handing out medals and the best hugs you can imagine.  I was soaking wet from sweat, salt crusted to my face and arms and I am sure smelling like death baking in the sun and she wanted a hug…. I though you are one crazy lady and just basically laid my shoulders against her.  She said – That’s not a hug – give me a REAL hug… I gotta admit that was a great feeling to finish up the race with someone truly proud of each and every finisher and undeterred by the raw effects of 11 1/2 hours on your feet sweating and trudging along.

IMG_3339I collapsed into a chair after that and Adam helped me get comfortable and off my feet for a bit.  It was still quite a while before David would be done with his 100 and I desperately wanted a shower and clean clothes.  Adam drove me back to the hotel so I could shower, change and get something to eat.

We headed back to Hunstville State Park around 9:30pm and caught up with Jon Wilson who had also grabbed a shower and some hydration.  The plan was to stay out and watch David come in.  It was really amazing to see the 100 milers coming in and changing for cooler temps and getting fresh batteries for the headlamps and watching their strength as they headed back out in the cool pitch black night.  David ended up crossing the finish at 1:37am and a total time of 19:37 hitting his goal of a sub 20 100!

This was one of the toughest events I have ever participated in.  Jon Wilson said it best when he said “It’s gonna hurt, then it’s gonna hurt some more, and then when you think it’s getting better.. it’s gonna hurt even more”.  My feet hurt like they never have before, my legs hurt even when at a slow shuffle, my arms and back hurt…. but it was the greatest feeling ever!  No one can quite explain it to you – you just have to experience it yourself!

So this makes my second “Ultra” event.  When I finished the 50K back in April, I for whatever reason didn’t really feel like I was a true Ultrarunner.  So I thought the 50 miler was my entry into the exclusive club.  After finishing the Rocky Raccoon 50… I still don’t feel like I am really an Ultrarunner.  So to answer the question I have heard several times in the past week – Are you going to do a 100 miler next??  Yes… yes I would love to have Rocky be my first 100 next year.  But… chances are that even with that I still wont feel like a real Ultrarunner.

What will it take?  I really don’t know.  I do think that Adam summed it up pretty well though when he said that what was most inspiring thing was not the crazy fast runners that looked like they were floating along each loop.  Don’t get me wrong – I hope to be able to run it like those guys some day.  However to see the folks(some in their 70s) that lined up at the start of the day on Saturday, knowing full well that they would be pushing it to finish in the 30 hours before the cutoff…. but yet loop after loop had the mental toughness to head back out with a smile on their face.  The ones that did not look like your typical runners…. either bigger, older, slower… whatever the case – they went out with the attitude they were going to finish .. not matter what.  That’s what its all about!!

To all of the Tejas Trails team, the volunteers, the crewing folks, the aid station teams, and everyone that helped make this event possible – THANK YOU!!  A HUGE thanks to Adam for giving up a 4 days with his family and leaving his wife at home with a newborn and his 3 year old with the flu to come down, walk miles on end, handle my sweaty dirty clothes, refill water bottles, and always keep pushing me to help me cross the finish line.  And a HUGE thanks to my wife and family for putting up with all of the training and hours of running to get me to this point!  This was one of my favorite events I have ever participated in and it is because of all of their efforts that made it that way!

Slow down….

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Slow Down!It has been just over a month and a half since I have added anything to the blog.  Sorry… I couldn’t remember the password…

No not really… I have just been tired.  For whatever reason I was tired of social media.  The Facebook posts were pretty much automated from DailyMile and a few comments here and there, the Twitter posts were almost gone, and the blog…. well it collected dust for 46 days.  So am I done with social media?  No – I just needed to slow down and take a break.  Social media has been a huge catalyst for the fitness aspects of life and introduced me to some really cool and inspiring people.  It has brought a world of people, experiences, advice, and camaraderie right to my laptop.  So no, I haven’t given up social media… I have just slowed down.

Through social media, I have also been introduced to some amazingly crazy and talented athletes and runners.  And… through them I have been introduced to PRSFit – a great coaching group out of Colorado.  And through PRSFit, I have been introduced to …. slowing it down.

Now from a running perspective this has been an entirely new approach to running.  For most of my running experience I have been of the mindset …. if you want to run faster, you have to run faster.  So coincidentally I had the mindset that each and every run was supposed to be all-out and if you weren’t completely dead tired at the end…. you didn’t go hard enough.  Additionally I was of the mindset that more running, more racing, and more activity has to be better… right??  PRSFit is working on changing that.

As I mentioned in my last post, the training from PRSFit is all based upon heart rate which triathletes have relied on for years but few runners have embraced.  With that, the bulk of the training is in Zone 2 of the 5 zones – putting it at what should be an easy conversational pace.

The process has been a challenge for me.  The first challenge was the heart rate monitor itself.  I opted for the Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor that was supposed to be more comfortable.  I thought that with the long miles that I would be putting in this year, it would be worth the extra $10 to go with it over the normal “hard strap”.  I am not sure if I just got a defective unit, or if it is very finicky in the way that it works, or if it works better for some that others… but the bottom line was that I got very sporadic results with it.  It seemed that with the first few runs it did OK.  However after a month or so of using it, it became crazy in the feedback… jumping from a heart rate in the 150s to over 240 within a matter of seconds without changing pace or effort.  The longer I would run… the more unreliable the results were… to the point that it would just consistently show my heart rate above 240.  I cleaned it per the recommendations, I changed the battery in it per the recommendations, and I constantly tried changing the position and tightness of the monitor,  position of my watch,  and even upgraded my watch to a newer version…. all with the same results… nothing that I could rely on.  The final straw was a few weeks ago while on a long run it was showing my heart rate at 180 even though I slowed to a walk to see if I could get it down to where it was supposed to be.   Finally I went “old-school” and just took my pulse for 10 seconds and multiplied it by 6… turns out my heart rate was 150-ish instead of 180!

So I reluctantly ordered the original “hard strap” version or the heart rate monitor, wondering if I would experience the same unreliable performance.    Surprisingly… it was VERY reliable and VERY consistent and quite honestly – I think it is actually more comfortable than the premium version.  The only drawback is that I believe I have spent the last 3 months training in a zone higher than I should have been.  I knew that the original heart rate monitor was wrong on the high end(240-250) but … I didn’t think about it being wrong on the lower end as well.  With the new monitor it is consistently showing me running about 5 beats per minute higher than I thought I would be at a given pace.  So…. I am back to … I need to slow down more.

This can be frustrating when you have over the past 2 years worked hard to increase your speed to be able to keep up with other runners in your normal group and feel like you are making good progress.  The drawback that I never took into consideration was that I was making progress, but putting a huge load on my body unnecessarily.  While I was increasing my speed to keep up with everyone… I was pushing myself to work in a higher Zone 4 heart rate, while they were most likely working in a lower Zone 2 or 3.  So… I am resigning myself to actively run slower… so much so that I have removed the pace from my Garmin data fields I see while out.  Now I only look at my heart rate, total time, and time of day.  This works out perfectly since my runs are all based upon total time instead of mileage now.

The downside to this… well for the time being I will most likely be running solo again.  The premise of running in a lower zone 2 is that – as you get your base built your speed will start to increase without increasing your heart rate and in the long run(no pun intended) you will make greater improvements and extend your running.  Sure – I miss the group runs and the social aspect!  And… getting out of the bed early on a 18 degree morning is a lot tougher when there is no one there to keep you accountable.  But… hopefully in the coming months my speed will increase to the point I can join everyone again at a much lower heart rate.

This is a great post on the Altra Zero Drop blog that talks about Base Training and why it is so important and why heart rate based training is a much better approach – even if it is tough to slow down in the beginning.

 

For now – I will concentrate on accurately running in Zone 2.  I have the Rocky Raccoon 50 miler coming up in three weeks.  My weekly mileage is slowing increasing and hopefully I will have enough under my belt by February 2nd to successfully complete my first 50 miler!

As far as social media goes… Who knows.  I don’t intend to completely drop it but I am going to slow down and keep it from pushing me to keep up!

Wise Like Yoda

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Life has happened over the past few months and free time is becoming pretty non-existent.(Not that it really was there beforehand but ….)  Since Chicago my posts have been few and far between.  So whats up??  Well work, kids, the normal stuff… but the training schedule has been a little different.  Back in the summer it was crazy but I was pretty much making it up as I went along.  If I wanted to run 8 miles great… if I wanted to run 4 miles.. whatever… swimming was in the afternoon after work, I biked on Tuesdays and on the weekends as I felt like it.  All in all… I was just winging it based upon what I thought I could handle on any given day.  Did that work??  Dunno… I guess it got me through the triathlons and even got me through the Half Ironman.  However this was a huge departure for me from what I have felt comfortable with in the past.  Normally I want a plan with specifics and those have always been ones that I downloaded as free plans.

So what is different now?  Well after Chicago and the whole broken/injured toe deal and missing my goal of a sub 4 hour marathon I felt like I was missing something.  I felt like I should be progressing more and more predictably.  The true “Aha moment” came after I starting looking back at my swimming.  I started this past spring with pretty much ZERO swimming experience, and ZERO comfort level and on my first triathlon I freaked out in the open water and after taking 18 minutes to finish a 500 yard swim I said I would never do one of those again.  Fast forward to September after I had worked with a swim coach.  I had gone from completely being freaked out in the water to completing a 1.2 mile swim and the difference was a coach.

So the thoughts started weighing on me then… would I be better off working with someone to help me improve all of the three activities?  Did I really need a coach to help me run??  I mean really… all you do is just put one foot in front of the other and repeat right?  But… this next year I have some lofty goals… I am attempting my first 50 miler in February, and I am planning on attempting my first full Iron Distance triathlon next summer, and ultimately I would like to get my marathon times where qualifying for Boston is not a hour out of my grasp.  So… maybe working with someone would be beneficial.

A couple of my friends David Murphy and Jon Wilson were both working with a coach and seeing results.  If these two guys could see results from working with someone… then maybe there was something to it.  These were already good ultra distance runners and ones that I wouldn’t have really thought about using a coach.  So after checking with David, I finally decided I would give it a shot and see what it was all about.  I reached out to PRSFit and had about a 30 minute conversation with Coach Jeff where he and I talked about everything from what my past activities and results looked like to what my goals were going forward.  Where he really got my attention is when he said that at my age there was still options for dramatic improvements and that I was a pretty good candidate.  So we agreed to start working together within a week or so to make sure my toe was at a point where I could start training.

The premise that coach Jeff and PRSFit work on is based on heart rate training.  I had seen lots of cyclist using heart rate monitors when we would leave for group rides… but I really had no idea what it all meant.  I however had not really heard of runners utilizing it.

The first week that coach put together a training plan was interesting.  The first day I had a max heart rate test that consisted on running one mile as hard as I could(not necessarily as fast as I could) with the heart rate monitor.  That was it…. not run one mile as hard as you can followed up by a 5 miler afterwards … that seemed weird.  Then two days later I had a Aerobic Threshold run which consisted of 30 minute run at a 5K pace with a push the last 3 minutes of the run.  This seemed a little more like a real run.  However this felll on our Thursday club run day so I ended up running 5 miles first with the group and then after we got back, I went back out and did the Aerobic Threshold run.  As Coach Jeff and I were reviewing the results, the subject of two runs being completed on that day was discussed.  I made mention that I figured that the workouts he had scheduled for me were the minimums and that as long as I got those in I was free to add to them as well.  Coach patiently explained to me that I was incorrect and that it would be best for me to follow the plan.  After pleading my case that I was used to running 5-6 days a week over the past 6 months, Coach explained that I was probably over-training and not effectively using my workouts to improve but rather just adding empty miles to the week.  Ok … Ok… fine I will stick to the plan and nothing else… grrrr…

So the next run I had scheduled was a Zone 2 run(there are 5 heart rate zones in the training, with zone 1 being the lowest and zone 5 being the highest).  I started worrying about that run after looking at my performance from the aerobic threshold run.  Based upon my estimation a zone 2 run would put me running almost a 10 minute mile.  That just seemed like it was completely incorrect.  I checked with some of the others in the PRSFit Facebook group and everyone kinda chuckled at my question… apparently that is a very common concern when getting started in the program.  Turns out my zone 2 on the next run was actually in the 9:15 – 9:30 range.

The next couple of weeks were tough.  I mostly had all zone 2 runs.  This sounds OK from a high level … I mean you get to run slower and easier so it should be better right?  Well the downside is that the group that I had been doing just about every one of my runs with were completely gone after about 5 minutes after we started running.  I was stuck staring at my Garmin almost constantly and watching them pull farther and farther away.  This was a little concerning at first.  I confided in Jon that I wasn’t sure things were going the way they were supposed to.  He assured me that if I stuck with it, I would see how it worked and that it would indeed work.  So… I ran pretty much by myself the next couple of weeks.  I would at times, start with the group or meet the group part of the way through the run, but they would always end up going on ahead.

I ran the Bass Pro Marathon a few weeks after this with the goal of again breaking 4 hours.  I started out way too fast and never slowed down.  At mile 23 it all came apart on me and I finished at 4:11.  Afterwards Coach Jeff reviewed my results and told me that I pretty much ran the whole marathon in Zone 4 and that I would not be able to improve much with that type of strategy and effort.  After thinking about it – it started to make sense.  If I am keeping my heart rate in a manageable place, it uses less energy, places less stress on the body, and is more efficient overall than going all out for as long as I can.

Since then I have really tried heard to make sure the workouts match exactly what Coach is asking for.  I have noticed that my zone 2 runs are now in the 8:40 8:45 range now.  So  my pace is starting to improve without increasing the heart rate.  Coach has also added several “Build” or progressive runs where I start at zone 2 and gradually build up to a zone 4 effort.  What I am finding now is that zone 4 is really hard.  Not necessarily hard to get to zone 4… that is the easy part.  Getting into zone 4 and keeping it at zone 4 is TOUGH.  The paces I am seeing are some that I really didn’t think I was capable of doing just a few months ago.  I have had several runs that my zone 4 puts me in a 7:50 pace – completely new territory for me!

Coach has also been working a swim workout into the schedule for me once a week for now until triathlon season comes back around.  After I get through Rocky Raccoon 50 miler in February I will start working on cycling and improving all three sports.

Coach has also put strenght workouts in my schedule…. I hate strength workouts!!  I would rather just go run than be bored to death working out with weights and some of the crazy stuff that is on the schedule.  Heck I have to google just about all of the strength training schedule just to understand what I am supposed to be doing.  I need it simple like  – do pushups, do situps… etc.  But I can tell a difference on the strength training too… so maybe he does know what he is talking about….

So will it make a difference?  I don’t know for sure just yet – it is still too early to say.  However it is already if nothing else, helping me believe I can improve.  So for now… I will trust in the program and believe that Coach Jeff is “Wise Like Yoda” as David Murphy likes to put it :)

2012 Bass Pro Marathon Recap

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Well I was able to log marathon #4 in the books this past weekend with the Bass Pro Marathon. The weather was absolutely incredible for it and the course was great. There were a ton of people that I knew there to run both the half and the full marathon and there were people that I didn’t know that I got to know through the course of the morning.

Bass Pro Marathon comes on the heels of the Dogwood Canyon 25K Trail run and just month after the Chicago Marathon for me. After injuring my toe in the hotel door the Thursday before Chicago Marathon, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete even one of these much less all of them and have a great time doing it! I ended up having a great race on Sunday and getting a new PR. My goal however was to break 4 hours, after not being able to get that in Chicago on the injured toe. I ended up with a 4:11:29 on Sunday. So am I disappointed – yeah a little… but still happy with the performance and the race.

I met a bunch of the Ozarks Running Club folks that morning just inside Bass Pro. It has been so cool to see the folks come together over the past couple of months to form the club and even more cool to get to know everyone. We really have a great group of runners and some really inspiring athletes! David even ended up running Bass Pro with us after flying all the way to New York just to spend one night and have them cancel the next day. There were also quite a few first time half-marathoners and full marathoners running from the club that morning too.

Starting out I was able to run at least the first mile with Adam who has totally kicked butt this year, going from saying he would never run to completing 2 sprint triathlons and his first Olympic triathlon at the Branson Ironman, and now taking on his first half marathon. And… he has done so and been able to jump in at a pretty stinking fast pace – he finished this – his first half mary in 1:49!! We talked for a bit while weaving through the crowd and trying to get a clear path to run. Then we parted ways as the half turned north and the full turned south.

I knew I was starting out quite a bit faster than what I had planned and really did try to slow down the pace a bit. I was also racing for the first time wearing the heart rate monitor. I have started with Coach Jeff with PRSFit (another blog post coming soon on that) and their training is completely based on heart rate training. So it was a little different for me to see how my heart rate fluctuates.

Somewhere around mile 3-4 I heard – “Hey – there’s an Idiot”. I was wearing my Idiots Running Club shirt so I knew he must be a fellow Idiot. Turns out it was Ron Bogart. We ran together for about half a mile or so. Ron was running his first full at Bass Pro as well and we talked about the Idiots Running Club and the Skunk Run. Finally Ron said he needed to stick to his plan and run his pace and I went on.

The course through mile 10 had some undulating hills – nothing major but enough to keep your legs awake. I heard a few people complain about how big the hills were but really they were just about right in terms of enough change in the course. Even with the hills, I noticed that I was still maintaining a much faster pace than what I had intended. In fact my slowest mile during the first 15 miles was at an 8:52 and I had 4 miles in the 8:30s. I originally had intended on trying to keep a pretty steady 8:55-9:00 pace throughout. By mile 13 I figured that by that point it wasn’t going to do any good to slow down and went with the “time in the bank” theory and kept pushing and hoped that I wouldn’t fade too much towards the end.

Somewhere along mile 11 or so I heard another “Hey Idiot” comment and saw a guy in a Marathon Maniacs shirt – turns out it was Randy Acklin… another Idiots Running Club member. Randy and I got to talk a little more and turns out he was in Chicago with me but never saw him in the crowd(go figure… there were only 45,000 others there). It was also cool to hear Randy’s story about how he had transformed his life and health through running and had a crazy schedule of races this year. Randy was also hoping to break 4 hours. At some point around one of the marathon relay check points, I lost Randy and figured we would see each other at the end.

Miles 13-19 seemed to go pretty quickly and honestly I was still feeling pretty good. However – from mile 19-21 I started to feel fatigue setting in pretty quickly. I knew though that Sharena and the kids were going to be somewhere in that range to watch so I kept trying to focus on that. I did finally see not only them, but also my sister, brother-in-law and niece Ashlynn just beyond mile 21. That kept me going for just a bit but my pace was grinding down… I was now averaging close to a 10 minute pace. There is a big difference between 8:40s and 10:00 minutes in terms of pace and I could feel it hitting hard.

I still was sitting in good position to come in around a 3:55ish time as long as I could keep a minimum of a 10:00 minute pace. Somewhere between mile 22 and 23 I got to a point where I had to slow down and walk for just a minute. I knew this was a mistake, but there was nothing I could do about it. My legs were starting to shut down on me. I knew that once I walked once it would be hard to get back to any type of predictable pace again. But… again… I couldn’t do anything about it. I kept looking at my Garmin and doing the math in my head and telling myself that I was still Ok… I could still break 4.

By mile 23, it had turned into running(or at least believing in my head I was running) for a few minutes and then walking a few minutes. I knew that I had to pick it up to keep a sub 4 in the realm. Between mile 24 and 25 was the lowest point of the race for me. As hard as I tried I couldn’t get back to a real run… it was more of a shuffle and finally it just turned into a quick walk. By this point I knew 4 hours was gone… I just had to try to beat my last PR in Chicago of 4:19.

There is something incredibly humbling (and whether right or wrong – embarrassing) about walking during the latter stages of a race. I had my head hung and the inner voices were working me over. The last mile and a half of the course has some very slight uphills which I remembered from running the half last year. Those slight hills might as well have been like the straight up hills at Dogwood Canyon at this point. I finally made it to mile 25 and I told myself that no matter what, I had to RUN to the finish line.

As I got to the last couple of turns through the neighborhoods before the final turn onto Sunshine I came up on a couple of younger guys that were wearing the same shirts with numbers on them(I assume they were on some type of team together) that I had traded leads back and forth since about mile 10. One of them was in obvious pain and was sitting on the ground while the other one was trying to get him moving and convince him he was almost there. I tried to help and tell him that he was less than half a mile from finishing and he could do it. Shortly thereafter I was hurting myself and REALLY wanting to be done. About that time I heard Vickie’s voice yelling at me to pick it up and keep going. I couldn’t tell where she was at…. I could just hear her and it made me push. I finally saw her and Robyn just up the street a bit and it was exactly what I needed to finish.

I crossed the finish line at 4:11:29 and it was cool to see all the familiar faces as I came down the final few hundred feet. After coming through the finishing chute, I caught up with Jon Wilson heading out and turns out he had a huge PR and hit a 3:31. Then I found Tim who ended up finishing sub 4 but still had issues with his back. I finally saw the family when I got through the food area, I went and gave everyone a hug. I admire them because I know I smelled like I had been working in the fields in July by this point. While talking to my kids I heard someone yell my name and looked up and David Murphy and Charley Hogue were just across from me. I got to catch up with them for a bit and David was his usual encouraging self – telling me that I had a PR and was that close to hitting my goal. He had helped pace Jon(and turns out got 3rd in his age group doing so).

So I left Bass Pro with a mix of feelings. One one hand I had a great day – the temperatures, weather, and course were awesome.. I had set a new PR and got to run with a bunch of friends. But.. in the back of my mind it was killing me that I was on target to not only break 4 but to beat it by 4-5 minutes if I hadn’t just totally shut down at mile 22. I also know that it’s silly to not just be thrilled with a great run and the fact that I had finished another marathon.

I was able to catch up with Coach Jeff with PRSFit on Monday and get some answers. He thought it was funny that I had set a new PR but was still disappointed. After telling the story and how close I was, he seemed to understand. The biggest thing that was eating at me was – why? Was it because I went out too fast, or did I not fuel enough, or was it because I didn’t have all that many miles of training in since Chicago? Coach Jeff was able to tell me within a few minutes of looking at my charts from the race. Turns out that I ran the whole race(well up until mile 23 or so) in Zone 4. In the heart rate training there are 5 zones that you work within with 5 being the highest. What this meant was that I ran for 3 1/2 hours with my heart working much harder than it should have and finally my body shut down. Coach Jeff kinda chuckled and said that he had never really seen anyone run an entire marathon in Zone 4. He said that by working through the program I would get to the point where I could run these type of races completely in Zone 2 or lower 3.

So for now I have an answer. And… I have a new PR .. and I have a great race in the books with a lot of friend and family around to have enjoyed it with.

Now… just 11 weeks until Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler….

2012 Dogwood Canyon 25K Recap

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This past weekend was my first experience with the Dogwood Canyon Trail Race.  Similarly to last year, it fell two weeks after the Chicago Marathon but instead of hesitating to sign up with just two weeks in between, this year I bit the bullet and signed up.  I was tempted to sign up for the 50k but better senses won out and I registered for the 25k and I will be the first to admit – 25k was all that I wanted on this course.

First things first – the packet pickup was in my opinion one of the most well organized packet pickups that I have ever been to(Including Chicago!).  The Bass Pro Conference Center in Springfield pretty easy to find and after going in – they had plenty of signs to get you where you needed to be.  I was in and out of there in under 5 minutes.  The first table printed a ticket to show I was registered and they sent me down the line to pickup the race bid, then the goodie bag, then the tech shirts – all of which was seamless!  Ultramax was the official timing services provider so I am not sure if the organization aspect came from there or from Bass Pro – but either way – GREAT JOB!

So on Sunday I knew how long it would take me to get to Dogwood Canyon since we were just there with the kids about a month ago.  I was most worried about parking but they had plenty of parking attendants to help and it went smoothly as well.  I got ready at the car and headed to the pavilion to meet up with other friends.  Right as I got to the pavilion though I realized I had left my Gu in the car and had to go back(This would prove to be a bad mistake at the end of the day).

I was able to meet about half a dozen fellow members from the Idiots Running Club though walking back to the car and back.  The head idiot – David Murphy met me when I was just about back to the car.  We said hey and moved on.

Tim and I had agreed to stick together through this one since it was my first time at Dogwood and he wasn’t really looking to set any records.  Starting out it was a little cramped as races normally are during the first mile or so.  The first mile is pretty much all on the asphalt roads inside the park.  Then we finally went off-road somewhere around mile 1 and had our first stream crossing.  I was able to pick a fairly shallow spot so I just barely got my feet wet(this would all go by the wayside within the next mile).

Not long after you have the first stream crossing, you start up the first hill.  It is a little deceiving at first because you go up a moderate hill that plateaus for just a short distance before turning back and the real hill begins.  I had been warned that I had not experienced HILLS like what I was going to go through at Dogwood.  I kinda just blew that off, thinking that Ouachita Trail we climbed rocks to get up the mountain so how hard could it be?  I found out the answer pretty quickly.  I had been indoctrinated into the idea of walking the steep uphills on trail runs so that you can conserve energy and fly down the downhills.  Even with this methodology – the first hill seemed like it almost had you climbing up at a negative incline.  There literally was no running, jogging, shuffling, or any resemblance of anything close to those on the first hill(at least with the crowd I was around).  It was all everyone could do to just climb it one step at a time.

Dogwood Elevation

Tim has always been pretty fast at walking the uphills.  He leaves me like he is still running and I am walking when I am going up as fast as I can.  So he hung back a bit and walked a little further at the top to let me catch up.  Then the downhill came…. it was AWESOME!  I have really come to enjoy the downhill sections of trail running.  I tried to keep short quick steps take me down the hill and with the downhill sections at Dogwood that turned out to be screaming fast paces.  Looking back at my splits on the course I had several splits with paces in the low 5:00 range – which is no where near what I could run on a flat course trying my hardest.  The added challenge of trying to keep footing made it a blast.

It was really just more of the same after the first hill.  The trail was marked really well and have volunteers there at the junctions and turn off points differentiating the 15k, 25k, and 50k routes.  It seemed like as soon as you finished a downhill you barely had time to regroup before you were headed back up another equally steep hill.

At the second aid station I had my first opportunity to fuel on boiled potatoes.  I have had several people tout the advantages of potatoes on ultras and I never really thought it would be appealing but turns out it is pretty good to give you a break from the mundane GU option.

I really only had a couple of issues to deal with the whole day in terms of being uncomfortable.  During two of the downhill sections, I ended up rolling my foot to the outside edge of the foot.  When that happened I had some pretty intense pain from the toe but it was short lived – maybe because I had no choice but to keep moving to keep from eating dirt.  The second issue became the real deal for the day when about 2 hours in I noticed I had pretty much soaked my running shirt with sweat and had not thought to use tape on my nipples that morning.  I knew it was not going to be pretty and sure enough about 10 miles in I started getting the first hint blood soaking through my shirt.  By mile 14 it was pretty noticeable and pretty painful.  One of the volunteers at the last aid station offered my bandaids which I quickly accepted and was thankful for the relief.

After the last aid station I kept thinking we were just about a mile and a half away from the finish.  Tim questioned that and thought my GPS must have been off.  Sure enough – we got to the 15.5 mile mark and were still nowhere near the finish line.  By the time we got to the top of the last hill Tim said we were close and we let loose on the downhill section.  We ended up crossing the finish line at about 16.4 miles.  I noticed there were several folks that had made their way down to the stream under the bridge by the finish line and that seemed like an awesome idea so I joined them and the water felt awesome!

All in all it was a fun run!  There is definitely a much more laid back feeling to trail runs and a much different approach to running them.

Sharena and the kids met me after finishing and we hung out there to watch the folks that were running the 50k come in.  It was cool seeing the first 50k finishers come across the finish line – pretty amazing runners!!  It was also cool to hear their stories as they cooled off in the stream at the finish and hear the similar comments about how crazy the hills were.

We hung out until David Murphy(AKA Pink Tutu Guy) came across the finish line.  David did his traditional cartwheel at the end to wrap up his run.  If you don’t know why David does the whole pink tutu deal – you need to – Check It Out Here.

After congratulating David and chatting with Jon Wilson at the car we all headed out.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Dogwood Canyon run and plan on doing it again next year.  Will I step up to the 50k next year…. dunno…

The only low point of the day was really about 13 hours after the start of the race when I went in to the grocery store to get a few things and was checking out.  When the cashier told me the total I opened my wallet and was in an instant panic when I saw that my credit and debit cards were all gone.  Apparently I must have left the door to my car unlocked when I went back to get my GU.  Talk about panic, confusion and complete infuriation all at once!!  I was able to get home and get everything cancelled ASAP and so far have not seen any unauthorized purchases – so keep your fingers crossed!

 

Never Say Never

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The past week has been a roller-coaster of highs and lows.  A week ago I was worried about the head-cold I had come down with for the second time in less than a month and the nagging cough.  Then after getting some meds for that I felt much better last Thursday as we all headed out to fly to Chicago for what would end up being my second chance to run the Chicago Marathon.  An afternoon of fun in Chicago with the family was ended by a freak accident in which I got my pinky toe caught in a revolving door at the hotel and once again the odds of running Chicago were thrown into doubt.

After not being able to walk on it and put any weight on that foot, Friday night I was resigned to the fact that I would not be able to run on Sunday in the marathon and consequently I posted Not Meant To Be.  After that I went as far as calling the airline to see about getting our tickets changed to fly out on Saturday instead of Monday.  However after finding out there was plenty of room on the flight but it would be $75 each…. I figured for $375 we could keep our original flight.

Nice huh?? Bruising on the bottom of my toe from getting it caught in the revolving door.

So Saturday morning Sharena convinced me that we should at least go to the expo and pick up my race packet and get my shirt.  After-all – I had paid for the shirt and should at least get it.  I was hesitant at first because I didn’t want a shirt from an event that I did not complete.  However after thinking about it for a bit I figured that if nothing else I could just use it as one of my normal running shirts since I go through them so fast.

The funny thing was that as the day progressed I figured out that I could walk on my left foot without horrible pain as long as I did not flex it very much and kept it flat.  In fact I at one point decided I would try a little jog and keeping it flat.  I found that by doing this I was able to move with an acceptable level of discomfort.

After getting to the expo (which was an adventure itself with all 5 of us in a cab) – the bug bit me that maybe I should just line up and give it a shot.  Worst case scenario if I was hurting too bad we ran right past our hotel within the first mile and I could just stop.

So Sunday at 5:45am I was up getting ready to walk to the start of the marathon.  The temps were in the upper 30s with not too strong of a breeze but enough to make you notice it.  I wore a long sleeve shirt that I would just throw off at the start but even with that my teeth were chattering by the time it was close to the start.

This year the Chicago Marathon implemented a new dual wave start.  The first wave started at 7:30 and the second wave, which I was in started at 8:00.  I don’t know if it was just imagination or real but it seemed to be much less frantic in the starting corrals this year.  It was still pretty much elbow to elbow but just not as crazy with the inching forward only to stop and wait.  There were still the annoying people that waited until 5 minutes before it started to jump the gates and said “Excuse Me” as if you could just magically disappear so they could get in front of you.  I crossed the start line at around 8:03 – so not much longer after I did last year with the single start at 7:30.

Getting ready to start!!

By this point my feet as well as most of the rest of my lower body were pretty numb from the cold.   So starting out I wasn’t really hurting all that bad.  My form was pretty bad though.  I had to try to keep my left foot landing flat which threw everything else off.  I got to the corner by Embassy Suites and saw Sharena and the kids – they were freezing I could tell and I hollered to them but they couldn’t hear me.  At this point I was feeling pretty good so I saw no need to stop.

By the time I turned onto State St. I had settled into a pretty good pace and really was feeling pretty good.  Looking back on it now I am not really sure how I was able to feel as good as I did through it except through a lot of people praying for me that I would be able to run it.  I had somehow settled in just on the heels of the 3:55 pace group – faster than I had anticipated going out – but still within my normal run paces so I decided to try to stay with them.

The route at least seemed familiar this year and I remembered several of the areas as I ran through them again.  I am not sure but it seemed like the supporting crowds may have been down a little this year compared to last year.  It may have been because the temps were so much cooler and jackets were required if you weren’t running.  But – that by no means translates to thin crowds – the streets were still 4-5 people deep in places.

I kept looking down at my race pace tattoo that I had gotten on Saturday and I was consistently staying ahead of the goal paces for a 4 hour finish.  By mile 13 I started to feel a little twinge in the toe.  Not enough to cause enough concern to stop, but enough to bring me out of my zone mentally and make me think about it.  I tried to ignore it and keep the pace going.  At this point I was half way through in under 2 hours so I was well on my way.

Mile 16-20 were the toughest for me last year and that stayed true this year.  Not sure why – but nonetheless they were tough mentally to stay focused.  The crowd support was still good and you pretty much have runners all around you within arms distance the whole race in Chicago so it shouldn’t bother me but it did.  This is also the section of the route that I noticed a lot more uneven pavement.  Normally this is not an issue but with the toe injury, every pothole and slant of the pavement caused me to grimace and limp ever slightly.

As I got to mile 19 I noticed that I had slipped a little further back from the 3:55 pace group.  My time compared to the goal time on the race pace tattoo was still about 2 minutes ahead of schedule but in the back of my mind it cause me to realize I was starting to slow a bit.  By mile 20 I suddenly noticed a very painful cramp developing in the top of my left foot leading up the the shin area.  I am sure this was due to the way I was trying to keep that foot from flexing and landing as flat as I could.  I just kept telling myself – lets try to make it to the next mile marker.

By mile 21, my pace had slowed to over 10 minutes per mile and my total time was creeping back towards the goal times on the tattoo.  Not a problem I kept thinking… I just need to keep pushing and try to get the pace back.  I did try a couple of pickups to try to re-energize the legs but each time I tried I kept getting a sharp pain in the top of my foot from the cramping.

At mile 22, things definitely slowed dramatically.  The cramp in my foot was causing me to flex my foot more.  This in turn cause me to immediately start feeling the shooting pain from my toe.  Within a half of a mile it forced me to stop and take my shoe completely off and try to stretch the foot out.  Just getting my foot out of the shoe was enough to cause me to moan.  This caused me to really worry that I might not get it back on. After about 45 seconds of letting it rest I forced my shoe back on and walked a bit to see if it would loosen up.  It didn’t.

The last 4 miles were the worse of the whole race.  By this point I saw the 4 hour pace slip by me.  My foot was cramping terribly.  My toe was starting to ache constantly and mentally it beat me up.  I kept telling myself I just had a little longer to go and I could sit down.

I vividly remember crossing the finish line last year in Chicago.  I became immediately amped up when I made the final turn from Roosevelt onto Michigan Ave.  I can remember the elation of seeing the finish line and picking up the pace to cross.  This year was different.  I wanted to feel that again… but all I could think about was getting off of my foot.  There was no chance of me picking up the pace to sprint.  I crossed the finish line at 4:19:30 – almost a full hour faster than I did last year.  I had hoped to break 4 hours in Chicago this year with the perfect weather and what I felt like had been pretty good training leading up to it.  I can’t feel too badly – I mean I beat last years time by almost an hour and I set a new marathon PR on an injured foot.  But I am one that once I set a goal – I hate to not see it happen.

Happy it was over :)

After crossing the finish line, I texted Sharena and let her know I had finished and that I just needed to sit down for a bit.  This was the first time I have ever used one of the thermal blankets they hand out.  I was freezing sitting there on the grass.  It seemed like the wind was blowing 20MPH through there and my teeth were chattering.  After about 20 minutes, I finally made my way across to the 27th mile after-party area and found my family and after a few hugs and kisses we started to make our way back to the hotel.  I think it probably took me 30-40 minutes to get back and I was hobbling pretty badly.  Chicago was finished and what I thought was going to be my first DNS turned out to be a race I completed and will always remember.

I am incredibly blessed!  I had a family that put up with me through all of the training and even more importantly – all of the highs and lows in Chicago after injuring my foot Thursday evening.  I also can not say how much it meant for all of the friends and family back home that were praying for me and supporting me!  That was truly amazing!

Whats next?  Well I saw the Ortho yesterday and got an X-Ray.  He said he could not tell for sure from the X-Ray whether it was a hairline fracture or not or just badly bruised.  He offered to put it in a boot for me but I declined.  I asked him how soon I could be back out running and he just said – As soon as you feel like it :) – So not much more in terms of definites.

I have Dogwood Canyon 25K Trail Race in about a week and a half.  I hope to be able to run it.  Time will tell.  I have not ran since being home and worry that the extremely uneven and hilly trail might be too much – but we shall see!!