Second Wind

The calf is still bothering me a little bit today but it is much better than yesterday.  I can walk without a limp but I can still feel the tightness/soreness.  I obviously skipped the run today, but I doubt I could have run on it anyway.  I have been icing, wrapping, and elevating when I can.  I decided not to make a quick trip to the doc today for a couple of reasons:  I don't have a good sports doc and the pain had improved enough that I am hopeful I will be able to run LVM.  I guess missing a run or two at this point isn't going to hurt and I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point.

Decided to take one more day off as a precaution.  Calf is still a little tight but I think the massage, icing and stretching, as well as everyones healing vibes has really been working.  I feel like I could have run today but again, better safe than sorry.

A bit of a setback today  :(  I got all dressed up to go for a run and only made it about 10 seconds before I knew I needed to stop.  It wasn't terrible pain, but it was enough to let me know I better just continue to rest it.  I am able to walk without pain (I guess walking the marathon is an option).  I am able to climb stairs with only slight discomfort.  I did notice what I think is some slight swelling on the outside area of my calf, but I'm not sure, it could just be my massive muscular calf just rippling out there :)  I guess I will just keep doing what I am doing and try to run each day to guage the progress.  I still have 4 more full healing days left, that's enough, right?

Well I was able to log one mile today but not without a bit of pain.  The first quarter mile started out well and everything felt really good, then the calf started to wimper a little and by the end it was really grumbling.  I am hoping that things will continue to improve each day, I'm sure they will.  I just wish I had three more weeks until the marathon to get fully healed.  Oh well, such is life.  :(

Time:  8:30  8:30/mile

Nothing.....again.

Oops!  I posted my LVM race report on the wrong day.  Sorry everyone who commented on this day, I moved it to Sunday the 7th.

***WARNING***  THIS IS REALLY LONG.....SORRY

WHAT HAPPENED TODAY WAS NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE!!!!

I don't even know where to begin with my race report.  Three days ago there was no way in the world I was going to be able to run a marathon today.  I couldn't even run a mile without stopping on Thursday due to a strain (or something) in my lower right calf muscle.  That was the day I mentally turned off all hope of running this race.  I didn't follow my normal race preparation routine with extra carbs, extra hydration and extra mental preparation three days before.  In short, I was mentally out of the game.  I still held on to some stubborn hope that I was going to go out there and walk the marathon just so I could collect my finishers medal but I was even having doubts about wanting to do that.  My spirit and my motivation had gone down the drain and I had slowly come to the realization that it wasn't going to happen.

Friday at work I was still going back and forth about what I was going to do but was basically telling everyone that I would not be running.

Saturday morning, same story, not running.  I was still considering being a stubborn mule and going out and walk the thing.  By Saturday morning, Megan had decided that she wanted to go out and run "the dang thing" even though she had not wanted to do it up this point.  I had a feeling she would jump in at the last minute because that is just how she is, doesn't want to be left out of any opportunity to thrash her body.  So on Saturday I kinda started to get into the racing mind set and started hydrating and eating additional carbs, topped of with our traditional pasta dinner the night before the race.  I was gonna do the thing, walk or run, I was going to finish.

Sunday morning, 3:30 am we are laying in bed contemplating wether or not to just stay in bed or get up and get er done.  Meg shared a dream she had with me just before we got up, I had a good chuckle.  We were on our way to the marathon when she realized she had forgotten her shoes.  She asked me to call my mom, who lives in St. George, and have her bring her shoes to her.  We got to the race and the only shoes she could find was a pair of firemans boots.  So she was running through Veyo.....yes Veyo, not even the Las Vegas marathon, in firemans boots and really getting frustrated.  That was the end of the dream.  With that on our minds we got up and got going.

Already a book and I haven't even started the race report yet.....sorry.

My essential gear for the race was to carry the car key and the cell phone.  The kids would be staying home so I would have my cell phone in case of emergency.  Since I was sorta planning to drop out of the race around mile 2 or 3 I had the car key and a detailed map of the race course so I could calculate where Meg would be and get out and support her.

On to the race report.....finally.  Our arrival at the race didn't start off too well.  We were following the parking directions for the race and it turned out the roads to the lots where we were instructed to park were already closed at 4:30 a.m. an hour and a half before the race was supposed to start.  A little frustrating, but manageable.  We were able to park at the New York New York and walk across the street to the Excalibur and take the tram to Mandalay Bay.  It's really different getting ready for a race inside a building where it is nice and warm and you have nice bathrooms, etc.  About 15 minutes before race time we started making our way out to the starting line, man was that a chore.  You could almost get to the starting line, but then a big fence was in the way with no explanation of where to go.  As we were nearing the fence, an air horn sounded and it appeared that the race was going to start.  People started scaling this 8 foot fence like you wouldn't believe, it was pertty chaotic.  As it turns out, it wasn't the start of the race, I have no idea what it was.  We finally found a gap in the fence and made our way to the starting line.  We were supposed to be in a corral near the front but there was not indication of where that was.  As you can see the start of this race was very messy.

We finally got situated and moved as close to the front as we could.  We dind't have to wait around too long as the gun sounded and we were off like a heard of cattle.  It was pretty tight running for a while.  At the start they did send of quite a few fireworks and that was kind of a cool touch.  The first couple of miles went pretty well for how crowded it was and we were able to go pretty much at the pace we wanted.  Every mile that passed I continued to be amazed at the lack of pain in my calf.  I could feel it a little bit, but it was nothing like last Thursday.  I kept thinking the whole way, "okay if I can just make it to 10 miles then I can finish this thing in a repectable time."  The 10 mile marker passed and I would say now lets make it to the half.  I continued to be more and more amazed at how well my calf continued to feel and then started to feel stupid for having been such a wimp during the week leading up to the race.  How in the world was I able to do this when I couldn't even run a mile 3 days ago. 

Around mile 15 I started to feel a new pain in my other leg.  It was in my foot.  It was a blister.  Never had one of those in a maratohon before.  I guess my new shoes hadn't been broken in enough and I was starting to get a blister.  It started to numb as the miles went on and I was able to manage the pain fairly well.  As precaution I ripped off my shoe at one point while Meg stopped at a POP just to make sure I didn't have any major damage going on, all was well, just painful.  Then I started having pains in my left hip area, geeeeez!  Maybe I was changing my stride a bit to compensate for my bum right calf.  These other two areas gave me more trouble than my calf ever did during the race.

Around mile 21 or 22 the fatigue really started to set in.  I think a lot of this fatige had to do with my lack of metal preparation and physical preparation during the week.  I litereally had to stop and walk a few times because the pain got so bad.  I was a bit frustrated with myself for not being better prepared for the race but what was I supposed to do, this injury really had me messed up in the head.  Well we finally made it to the finish line.  Meg and I ran every single step of the race together  It was really nice to run an entire race with her again, only two weeks after we ran VOF together.  I think she could have taken off the last few miles today and smoked me but she hung with me and we crossed the line together, both in major pain and both relieved to be done. 

They had some great chocolate milk and a few other good snacks and some pretty average looking finisher medals.  I had my picture taken with some hot show girls, yes Meg reluctantly took the picture with my cell phone camera.

Overall the race was good.  I will probably never run it again, but I had to do it at least once because it's my hometown marathon.  The only flaws I saw was no Gatorade at a designated aid station that was supposed to have it and one aid station at mile 17 which had zero volunteers.  All the boxes and tables were set up and ready for preparing the stuff but no volunteers to make it work.  The 17 mile aid station was supposed to be another designated gatorade station, which didn't sit with well with Meg and I again.  We drink all our carbs and it kinda sucked to miss out on two aid station that were supposed to have it.  You'd think for $95 you could get some flawless support along the coures, guess I thunk wrong.  As for local support along the course it was pretty spotty.  The locals that did come out were great and we thanked many of them.  Somewhere around mile 4 or 5 we had several holy rollers with huge signs declaring that the end of the world was coming and that we were all going to hell.  We had a good chuckle about that too as we knew far to well the hell we would be in in the next couple of hours.  We remembered these signs again at mile 23 and thought they would be appropriate at that point of the race too.

This report wouldn't be complete without a huge thank you to all my friends out in blog land who were thinking about me and praying for me.  THANK YOU ALL, OUR PRAYERS WERE HEARD WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!

Glad it's over, glad I did it, glad I was able to run the whole thing but most of all I am so greatful for the blessings I received today that somehow got me through this race.  It wasn't a PR but it was far better than that, it was an amazing journey that taught me so many things about will power and the resiliance of the human body, mind and spirit.

Ya Meg took this pic!  What a good sport!

We're only smiling because it's almost over.

Rest. Relax. Recover.

Rest. Relax. Recover......part two.

Finally decided to give the blistered foot a try today and didn't have much success.  Made it about a half a mile and then wimped out and walked the rest of the way.  Everything feels really good, only some slight lingering soreness.

Felt miserable last night toward the end of work and for the rest of the evening.  Felt like a major cold coming on in the back of my throat and nose area.  Decided that being out running in the cold was probably not the best idea this morning so I stayed in bed and read a couple more chapters in Breaking Dawn.  Yes, I am almost done with the Twilight series.  Not really much of a "guy" type genre of books but Meg raved about them so I suffered through them and kinda enjoyed them for the most part.  I could do without all the "feminine" emotions, but the whole vampire and werewolf topic is kinda cool.  Anyway, I digress.....gotta get back to work.  Will give the foot and cold another try tomorrow.

Decided to take the rest of the week off with my cold.

Another day off.

Rest.

Still suffering from my cold.  Weather is too cold.  I'm a wimp.  Maybe I'll run after Christmas.

Roads were frozen.  Wasn't running anyway.  Extra healing is really not a bad thing.  Still got a bit of a cold so may be another day or so before I run again.

Sick and Lazy.

Biggest snow storm to hit Vegas in 30 years!  Pretty much shut down the city.  Some areas of the city were hit worse than others but everyone saw some snow.  We got to leave work early which didn't help the rush hour traffic becuase everyone else left early too.  There wasn't much accumulation of snow on the roads in my part of town, just slush and gunk, couldn't even make my car fishtail.  But after spending a half an hour in Target we came out to a snow covered car, kinda cool.  The snow is pretty much melted today and it'll probably be 30 years before we see that again.

Wow!! Four whole miles today!!  My cold is pretty much gone and I figured it was about time to start logging some miles.  Felt fairly well recovered going into this run but still had a few small aches and pains here and there from minor injuries that never seem to go away.  Had to stop once for a few seconds cause my chest started to hurt.  I think it was just some muscle tightness in my shoulders and chest from so many days off.  Felt fine after the stop.  Kept it nice and easy the whole way.  Felt good to be back at it again.

Time:  34:32  8:38/mile

Wow, two days in a row!  Before I get to far into today's entry, does anyone have a good recommendation for a good yoga DVD?  I've been thinking alot about doing some yoga as my cross training in the evenings and wanted some recommendations on ones people have tried.

Anyway, today went well.  Just kept it nice and easy again.  Temps continue to be pretty cold with the starting temp at 34^o this morning but the winds were calm which made it very pleasant.  Almost felt a bit overdressed by the end.  I plan to keep the runs pretty simple for at least the next couple of weeks at least, or until the aches and pains start feeling better and I feel fully recovered from LVM.  Don't know for sure what that will do to my time at Painter's this year but I'm really not too worried about it.  At the worst I would get run with Meg again and that would be a great thing!

Time:  51:10  8:31/mile

Rest.

Almost didn't get up today.  Stayed up kinda late Sunday night and woke up without any motivation.  Layed in bed and wrestled with my decision for about 15 minutes and eventually got up.  I'm almost always glad I got up and ran, especially on days when I don't feel like it.  I'm glad I got up today because the weather was nice for winter.  Temp was 40^o with a very light breeze, borderline short weather.  I really need a thermometer upstairs so I know the temp before I get all dressed up in my winter clothes.  That would be a good thing for Santa to bring....only three more sleeps.

Time:  50:32  8:25/mile

Picked up the pace just a little bit today because I had to hurry due to another late night and late start.  Got out in time to run with Meg for her last couple of miles and then had to finish the rest of mine solo.  Today's weather was a carbon copy of yesterday with the temp at 40^o and very light if any wind.  I could certainly handle this kind of weather for the rest of the winter but I really doubt we will be so lucky.  Pretty much did a progression type run today with each mile increasing in speed with the last mile at about 7:50/mile.  Felt pretty good overall but am still dealing with the usual pains.  Might as well list them off for future reference:  Left hamstring always seems achy and tight, left hip, outside edge of left foot, and right hip.  The theme here is definatly some issues with the left leg but nothing bad enough to keep me from running.  This is the kind of stuff that I hope to stregthen/cure with some yoga and easier running for a while.  Hopefully I see some progress.  Only two more days until Christmas and I think we are finally all set, that has to be a first.

Time:  48:41  8:07/mile

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Rest.

Finally got back out on the road again today and felt pretty good.  Tried out the new running tights although according to the tag they are golfing pants.....what the???  Anyway, they kept me nice and toasty and I loved running in them much more than my baggy old sweats.  Took it pretty easy today and will continue to do so until everything feels better.  After the run today Meg and I did the PM version of the AM/PM Yoga disc.  This was my second time doing it since we got the disc for Christmas.  I would like to make it a twice a day thing, we'll see how that goes.  No real results to post about how yoga is helping me or not helping me, need to give it a couple of weeks to see how it goes.  I have enjoyed it both times I have done it and I like the way it makes me feel.  I am not very flexible at all so I hope to see some improvement in that area as a result.  Christmas was good, the break from running was good, now it is time to get back to work again.  Temp was 34 today and no wind, pretty dang good running conditions.

Time:  51:04  8:31/mile

Another 6 miles and another session of Yoga this morning.  I like the fact that it's only about a 20 minute session of yoga, still leaves me plenty of time to get ready for work.  I am finding out just how tight I really am when I do these yoga session.  I really can't stretch like the instructor, maybe someday.  Temp was warmer than yesterday at 40^o with a slight breeze from the north.  Had to shed the stocking cap for the last couple of miles cause it was too warm. 

Time:  50:18  8:23/mile

Last run of 2008!  Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you all have a great new year celebration and more importantly a great new year of running with new goals and lots of new PRs. 

Last day of 2008 was a beautiful day for a run, temp was 38^o and there was no wind.  One house in our neighborhood has the music and lights display and they have had it going the last couple of mornings.  I guess they went to bed and forgot to unplug the lights.  I wonder what the neighbors think with the music and lights going all night.  Anyway, it was kinda fun to run past the house several times with Christmas tunes going and lights a flashin.  Only a few more days of this Christmasy stuff, so enjoy it while it lasts I guess.  Meg and I did 5-6 striders of about .1 miles each at about 7:15 pace.  Felt pretty good to stretch out the legs a bit and push the old body again.  Came home and did the PM yoga workout again.  That makes 3 days in a row.....woo hoo!!  I still don't think there is ever a chance that I will be able to bend over and rest my head on my shin.......ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!

Man I have packed on the weight this holiday season.  Unfortuantely I will have to make weight loss one of my new years resolutions.....again.  I really need to shed 15-20 pounds of belly fat that I can never seem to shake.  My goal weight would be 165 and I am at 180 now so......here we go again.  Unfortunately for me, this won't stop me from eating all the good new years eve food tonight, I am so weak.

Time:  49:02  8:10/mile