Hyannis Marathon

Today was a glorious day on the Cape once again for the Hyannis 10k, half marathon, marathon and marathon relay.

This is my first race since Labor Day and I wasn't sure I was going to run until we were actually in the car and on the way. I signed up for the 10k and I was feeling strong and confident until a week ago when I was felled by a nasty cold going around. I spent Tuesday ensconced in my chair wondering if I'd have the lung power to make it. By Thursday I felt better but I took a spill down a handful of stairs in the house, landing on my right knee and left hip. I lay on the floor in the entryway swearing and asking who I pissed off to have this happening.

But this morning I woke up at 6, took some ibuprofen and packed my bag to head to Hyannis determined to walk the race if necessary.

It was cold - no two ways about it, but I shed my track pants - wearing my running tights, an underarmor long sleeve t and my oversized Dice-K shirt and was glad I had shed the pants the moment I stood in the sun. I would have been too hot and they would have been too heavy for me today.

I met up with Kristen from the Runner's World beginners forum before she went off for the early start on the marathon.

The mix on my iPod: the Apple commercial play list on shuffle mode.

It took a couple of minutes to get across the start line, but it wasn't long before I was off with my recent strategy of run a song/walk a song and the first 3 miles flew by. My goal was a 13 minute mile and I was pretty close to that for the first half of the race. After the first water station, I could start to feel the lingering effects of the cold but was able to keep pace until mile 4.5 when my knee began to stiffen up so the strategy became run a song, power walk a song, walk a song. By mile 5 I was pretty much down to power walking with the occasional jog for a few minutes before dropping back to a power walk again. In the final quarter mile, I was able to break into a jog to the finish for a time of 1:28:02 - which is certainly a respectable enough time.

There are a lot of reasons I love this race course, the main one being I just love the smell of the salt marshes as you run past them and the views of the ocean along the route. The relative flatness and tree lined streets are a bonus. It is certainly among my favorite races and I look forward to returning to this course for the Johnny Kelley Memorial race at the end of May.

So that first time returning fear has now been stared down. I have the Running of the Irish (Ras Na Heireann) in 3 weeks which is a 5k through Somerville in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Gentle Reader

I have not been good about keeping up with this since being injured. Like I didn't run this past week as I've had a cold and have been trying to rest before Hyannis tomorrow - my first race since Labor Day. To make matters worse, Thursday I took a minor tumble down a couple of stairs and my knees have begun to stiffen up a bit. My work schedule has been crazy while they try to figure out rhythms and times for all of us new folk.

I am racing Sunday, I don't care if I walk most of it. I need to break through that psychological hurdle that seems to keep getting in the way of me moving forward.

So if you will be in Hyannis - look for me as I trot along the route and give me a big "Gambatte" (a Japenglish word meaning: go for it in sporting events). If you won't, then check back here later Sunday as I post my race report and maybe a photo or few.

Surreal Snow

I beat the bed magnet to get out the door this morning at the butt crack of dawn and into a surreal world. It snowed last night. Not a lot - a dusting is the official term. You know, enough to cover bare patches and make the roads slick but not enough to really measure.

But the temperature was warm enough so when the snow stopped, there was this surreal fog over the road... almost as if the snow had suspended itself midair and just decided to stop before reaching the ground. Because it wasn't fully light out and the world was still mostly asleep, there was an eerie quietness in the air as well running up Commonwealth Avenue today.

I was early enough that the running clubs weren't out enmass yet. Every so often a pair or so of elite runners would glide past and there was the occasional dog walker, but the first half of my run was mostly me and my soundtrack for the morning.

Because I went for time instead of distance (I really only had an hour before I had to shower and get to work), it was interesting to hear that voice in my ear call out 5 minute intervals instead of mileage calls. I did manage to cover just over 4.5 miles in that time - I'll take it.

Now off to shower so I can get to work. After a serene, surreal start to the day, I'm in a good frame of mind - so it all works for me.

Two Against My Will

There were a whole lot of reasons not to run today:

- I have to be to work by 1
- It's snowing
- It's below freezing
- The bulk of my running clothes are in the laundry
- Do I really want my neighbors to see me
- I haven't eaten
- I really have anything to drink
- I haven't been eating well this week
- I over slept

and the list goes on and on. Yet the thought of a double digit week for the first time since Labor Day was just so enticing that I knew it would trump all the reasons not to. So I put on the running tights, the compression shirt and the oversized Dice-K shirt and strapped on the shoes for 2 miles.

That means this week I logged 11.5 miles and it feels good.

Up the Hill, Down the Hill, Up the Hill, Down the Hill

There is a big mambo hill outside my house. I really needed to get a 3 mile run in today so I went to the trusting distance tools at map my run and the nike+ sites and mapped out 3.1 miles. Essentially it was up the hill, around the cul de sac, back down the hill, around the little park, back up the hill and back down the hill.

It was around 40* and drizzly out, but I sucked it up and did it. While my times still aren't great, I'm feeling better about getting out there especially when my inner loser decided to pay a visit. I came down the hill and was heading around the little park at the end of the road when my legs began to feel heavy and the voice started.

"I'm tired," it said, "the house is right there. You got a mile in on a day you weren't even gonna run... c'mon."

I'm not sure where I found it in me, but I did. Next thing I know, I'm cresting the hill and thinking, "Wow, that was fast."

That gives me a 10k run and a 5k run on the week so far - more mileage than I've done in a long time. It feels good. Maybe it's being able to run outside again, maybe it's just time. No matter what the reason, I'm running and it doesn't get much better than that.

I'm a New Soul

Ever since Apple announced the new Macbook Air, the song "New Soul" by Yael Naim has been in the background of most of our hearing ranges. It's a lovely little song and the video is such a joyful little romp.

You can watch the video here.

It was the theme song for today.

The other day I downloaded the "Apple Commercial" mix from iTunes which included that and Feist's 1234 (from the Nano commercial) and Perfect Timing (This Morning) from the iPhone ad. Basically, it's just over 1/2 an hour of really good music.

Realizing I'm running in a 10k in 3 weeks, I went out for my longest run since Labor Day - I went out for a 10k run with the Apple commercial songs as my soundtrack. To encourage myself, I did my run on Heartbreak Hill.

Since all the songs are around the 3 minute mark, I decided the best thing to do was run for one song, walk for the next and then run again. It took 90 minutes to cover the 10k distance, but I did it. The carriage road was filled with running clubs doing their training mileages for Boston, Sunday runners, dog walkers, you name it.

When I started out and at the 5k mark the song "New Soul" popped up. My run finished to "Perfect Timing (This Morning)" and those two songs say it all. It was a perfect morning. The weather was warm enough to run outside, the sun felt good and it was just a nice feeling to run outside for a change.

10k - not too bad. I feel renewed for the first time in a while.

Happy Birthday Mr. Pi

I can't believe Mr. Pi is now 16. He wanted a rock n roll cake, I ran out of time, so I ended up buying a cake at Stop & Shop but I did decorate it. All it took were some guitar swizzle sticks for the sides, some Little Debbie Cosmic brownies for the stage, drum kit and amps and lots and lots of Teddy Grahams for the musicians and audience. There were bears crowd surfing, laying out for sun, stage diving - you name it.

It was a truly inspired cake. :D

It was a busy day - running here there and everywhere figuratively and literally. I really didn't want to run yesterday. The treadmill is just really depressing no matter how spiffy it may be. But I made myself run the 5k loop program on the treadmill and pushed myself through the mileage. I want to run outside again but the weather is just too funky these days.

I did run the distance, so I'm giving myself a lot of pats on the back. I feel a bit sore. I also think I figured out why I stopped wearing the white socks I used to wear running as I now have a small, but annoying, blister on the bottom of my foot on the pad just below the big toe. I'll probably go and run a couple of miles on the treadmill today as well because sometimes you just have to suck it up and run.

I forgot about the hills

Today I took advantage of the January thaw and went for a 4 mile run up Heartbreak Hill. Having spent the past few weeks on a treadmill, I realized I forgot about how hard it can be to run up hills... but even then, it was a good run.

One of the advantages of a treadmill is you can be a little lazy. If you start to run out of gas, you have the motor and the belt moving at a constant pace and it can pull you along. When you're on the road, that doesn't happen. You're on your own power the whole way.

But the thing I like about running on the road, there's a lot to distract me. The treadmill is the same scenery and it's not long before I'm checking my watch and waiting for the numbers to count down. On the road I get lost in sights, sounds, smells and colors. I love looking at my watch and realizing I just ran 2 minutes longer than I thought and want to keep going.

It was a good run. It was enough to keep me going for a while until we start getting real thaws.

Oooo! New Treadmills!

Today I headed into the gym to run, in spite of the January thaw, since Mr. Bear is nervous that I'll hurt myself outside. When I got there I was surprised to see 2 and a half rows of new treadmills.

They are sleek, brushed aluminum beauties with a built in fan, instant read HR monitors, 1 button 5k course setting - truly a thing of beauty. I pushed the 5k loop button and pushed the speed to where I wanted and I was off. The fan kicked on by itself at a certain point (even with it, I was a sweaty mess at the end but I was loving that it was there) and the whole thing was a smooth, enjoyable experience. How cool is that?

They also got a tone of new cross trainers in that look like that thing I see advertised on TV where you can combine an elliptical motion with a stair climbing and treadmill.

I'm glad I pushed myself to go in because I really didn't want to run today. Having a new toy was just a reward for doing what I was supposed to do, and I'll take it.

Land of New

New day, new week, new month, new year - it's all part of the land of new.

Basically it's been a rough fall due to injuries, life and everything else that often gets in the way. But I'm planning on running the 10k race at the Hyannis Marathon (there's a 26.2, 13.1 and 10k race) in 7 weeks and this was week 1 of a 10k training plan.

I'm looking at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler the first weekend of April and figure on the Ras Na Heirann on St. Pat's weekend and the Doyle's 5 miler in the spring. I'm keeping my eyes open for the Harpoon 5 mile registration because I really enjoyed that run.

So far this week I've logged 8.5 miles on the treadmill - not bad for a first week back. I realized I really enjoy intervals of walking/running and have gone from 5 walking/3 running a couple of weeks ago to 4/4. I did up my paces to 3.5 mph walking/11 min mile pace running (5.5 mph). I know I'm starting to feel comfortable at this pace as I went long past the 4 minutes I usually run and after a couple of minutes of walking I'm antsy to start running again. When I get to the 3 min walking/5 min running mark, I'll probably stay there until I'm comfortable enough to push the pace again.

In the meantime, happy new year all.

One for the money, two before snow

I wanted to get a quick run in this morning, which usually means a mile up a big mambo hill and a mile back down. Not a happy thing as it's a big freakin' mambo hill.

OK let me put it to you this way, I usually train on Heartbreak Hill and this hill basically goes up the same height, only in a shorter distance so the grade is much steeper than Heartbreak.

I wanted to get out early because it was supposed to rain around noon time, so by 8 am I was in my tights and under armor shirt and running up the hill. I got to the top, turned around and came back because I had a 9:30 appointment, I still have to pull together the turkey day shopping list (even though I bought the turkey yesterday) and meet with the teacher of my tutoree to see where she is vs where the student is and prepare this weekend for our first session next week.

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm also learning some ASL because apparently this girl had some speech problems at one point and sometimes uses signs as she speaks to make sure she's understood. So in order to understand, I guess I need to learn some basic ASL that doesn't include obscene gestures.

It was cold out there and I was worried that it wouldn't rain, but rather snow and sure enough, by the time I got home, showered and went back out the door for appointment #1, the snow was starting to come down. By 10:30 it was starting to tick. While it shouldn't be a significant snow fall, it's still covering parts of the ground. Welcome to New England.

In the meantime I discovered something new and interesting today (and to the RWOL folks that actually read this - my apology for carping on this discovery yet again) - we have a Narnia lamp post in the woods between our house and the neighbors' house.

How cool is that? I never noticed it before because of the leaves. I'll take a picture of it later.

The not cool discovery... OK, well maybe it's cool sort of: the squirrels started eating the pumpkins on my front step. *sigh* Not little bitty bites but ginormous chunks of my pumpkins are now gone.

Well, we'll see what the weather does. Tomorrow is suppoed to be close to 60 and I have a 3 miler planned. I survived today's hill and the cold, so hopefully tomorrow will be more pleasant (and less steep).

Four More Down

Yesterday I was scheduled to go for a 4 mile run and a tight schedule. The compromise was to head into the gym first thing in the morning to run on the treadmill. Not ideal, but at least I'd get a run in and a steady pace.

Worst of all, because of scheduling it means the health club where I'd get the 360 degree view of my ass. How joyful!

Well, that was not to be because all the treadmills in the women's gym were taken, leaving me to head into the main room where all the jocks use the various machines with lots of groans and sweat (and never wipe anything down when they're done... ick!). I took up the open treadmill in front of the set with CNN on and push the buttons to get going.

I was surprised at how easy it was to just keep running on the treadmill. That whole sort of motorized steady pace really does help, but I also began to feel certain changes in myself as well. I'm remember how to breathe again when I run, something you think would be somewhat innate but apparently isn't. That leads to being able to run longer with less walking breaks.

My legs are starting to feel stronger again and I've noticed my calves seem to be strengthen up again and that shivery feeling I get when my legs are feeling weak seems to be going away.

I'm going to up my mileage a little this week - squeezing in an extra, but shorter, run on Wednesday. Gazelle Boy and I are thinking about doing the Fried Turkey 5k on Thanksgiving.

Which reminds me - remember to do something nice for the police and fire fighters that will be working on Thanksgiving while we're gathering together to feast. In fact, these will be the same people helping to put out the fires caused by idiots with no clue trying to deep fry turkeys. About 11 years or so back, Gazelle Boy decided we needed to make cookies to cheer up the police that had to work on Thanksgiving and it's become an annual tradition ever since for our family.

A better run

Today I went out for a 3 mile run and ended up going a little extra to make it closer to 3 1/3. I ran the same route as Sunday, but this time rather than feeling discouraged, I felt energized. I have to admit part of what helped was today's mix on the new iPod.

Now because the old iPod worked mostly, I had no idea that there were certain things that I was missing out on, like a fully charged battery and being able to listen while it was charging. Who knew? Apparently not me.

Unfortunately iTunes is not communicating with Nike+ right now so my challenges will be missing a run (or more) until they find a way to talk again.

But while I was running, the "Running Inspired" play list made a difference. Now I know there are lots of folks who don't see why folks run with music. I get it, really I do; however, I need that steady beat and lyrics to grab my attention and lift up my spirit. It is who I am.

Sometimes the beats carried me through, sometimes the lyrics, sometimes my thoughts as I filter everything else out - that is often the case when I'm running. What makes it even easier is that, since I'm currently running for 6 minutes and walking for 3, I can keep track even when I do things like forget my watch (as I did today). I can say to myself, "I'll walk when I get to the end of 'Tessie' and run when the song after that is winding up...."

The bottom line is that it got me through today and today was the first day where running wasn't a scary chore but rather something I love to do. It was a good feeling.

I don't know if I'll race next Thursday, if not I will at least go out for a 5k run. In the meantime, I'm planning a long run Sunday morning and maybe a quick run tomorrow.

It feels good to be back.

The land of almost new

The other day I did go out for a 3 mile run. It was a tough one too. Not in terms of terrain or anything like that, in fact it was one of the flatest runs I've done in a while. It was hard work and I'm not used to 3 miles being hard work. I'm used to going out for 3 without really thinking about it but to have to really push through that second mile made me want to cry.

When I passed the Johnny Kelley statue, I could almost hear him telling me to stop be such a cry baby. I pushed myself to jog along as the dog walkers, marathoners and others passed me in both directions on Comm Ave. Because I tend to leave my iPod in shuffle mode these days, just as I was contemplating walking the rest of the way, the song "Don't Give Up" by Moshav Band came up for play.

It was what I needed to hear in that moment. It also made me realize I probably need to put together a play list of songs that make me happy or inspire me to get through the next month or so as I rebuild my base. I know 3 miles will be easy again and maybe I just needed to remember that it wasn't always the case.

When I got home, I couldn't turn off my iPod.

So today I made an appointment at the local genius bar where I ended up going through the process of swapping out my old Nano for the same generation/model as before. (The new ones are just a hair too seductive and I think if the Apple genius had said something like, "Well, we'll upgrade you to a new one for only..." I would have said, "OK.")

At least now I have a "new" iPod to keep me in sync with my new running. It meant postponing today's run because by the time they were finished going through the paperwork and such, it was time to get home for boys. So I cleared my slate for tomorrow morning and will go out first thing and try for 3 again instead of the 2.5 I was going to go for today.

Yesterday's 2 miles

This is what a 2 mile run looks like to me these days.

I did it, I survived and tomorrow I'll do it again. My ankle and I had a little chat last night about what is expected of it from now on and it seems to be cool with things. In the mean time, I'm trying to find a Thanksgiving race to do.

Braving a Single Step

When I started this blog a couple of years ago, I called it "Working out With Tek" because I thought of Jason Varitek as my imaginary trainer. At the time, my son's bedroom was off the living room and I could see Tek looking down on me from the wall from the spot where I'd work out. I could imagine him telling me to quit whining and keep going. When the going gets a little rough or challenging, I can see him in my mind's eye pushing me through to the end.

Yesterday I was brave enough to run again and I again needed my imaginary trainer to help.

The PT gave me the OK to run 1 mile only and to wear the brace when I did so. Finally the one thing I had been pining away for was about to become a reality - but I couldn't do it. There was this lingering fear in the back of my head: what if I roll my ankle again? There's uneven pavement, curbs, potholes and other hazards... can I bear to go through all this again so soon?

I couldn't bring myself to lace up my shoes and head out the door - so I figured maybe if I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill: no pot holes, curbs or uneven pavement. In fact I would even have the belt to help me along. But even that has it's own set of fears as well.

It took me a couple of hours to get to the gym as I decided I needed to run errands first. In fact, it took an awful lot not to say, "Screw it, I'm getting a pedicure!" when I walked past the nail place. Because I delayed things the way I did the gym was empty when I got there. I changed up and headed for the treadmill behind the pole - my usual station. Once on there, it was a matter of what playlist was I going to opt for and I ended up going with my baseball music.

Setting off, I walked for 5 minutes as a warm up through "The Star Spangled Banner" and "The Ballad of Yankees Suck." But then I started running to Jonathan Richman singing "As We Walked to Fenway Park." It's easy to run through songs like "Centerfield" that are designed to get the blood pumping and for 5 minutes I was good - but my fitness level has really declined over the past 6 weeks and it was almost painful pushing myself through the last part of the 5 minutes - which should be no big deal.

After walking a little more I was thinking about bagging it. I had run 1/3 of a mile and maybe that should be enough for a first time out and that's when I saw my virtual coach hitting the 2 run homer against Cleveland the night before as the song "Heart" from "Damn Yankees" came on my iPod. I could remember the look on his face as he stepped into the batter's box and faced the pitches. I remember the look on his face as the ball kept going as he rounded first base and the arm pump as it bounced off the top of the wall.

If Tek could reach down and find hope, well maybe then I needed to as well.

I punched up the speed to my 12 minute pace and promised myself I'd hold it for at least 2 minutes until the end of the song - that's when I got a cosmic push to the song "Dirty Water." For those of you who know the Sox, you know the home win ritual is they play "Dirty Water" by the Standells and followed by "Tessie" by the Dropkick Murphys - which was written as an anthem for the 2004 Sox early on in the season long before there were any thoughts of the post season playoffs and World Series. To be a Sox fan and hear those songs back-to-back can be an inspirational thing when your determination is flagging.

Yesterday they played just that way and kept me running for the additional 7 minutes I needed inspiration.

In the end I probably ran a hair more than a mile broken up by a bit of walking in the middle and I ran for 10 minutes solid in the end. It may be small in the grand scheme of things, but it was a major feat in overcoming my fears.

Rehab

If only that word meant a vacation in Antiqua or riding horses in Utah... alas, I'm no celebrity, just a regular person coming back from tendon and (it turns out) minor achilles damage.

For me that word means doing exercises with resistance bands, icing and, starting today, rehab walks with a lace up brace.

I went out for a 2 mile walk today, my first real exercise in quite some time.

I'm still planning on running my first 5k on Thanksgiving and hopefully I'll be able to think about half marathon training again about that point. Gazelle Boy would like to run the Sarasota Half Marathon and promised he'd actually train for it (unlike last year's Hyannis Half Marathon). Nini is thinking about putting together a relay team for the full marathon and I should be able to handle that if I'm not up to training for a half.

I'm grateful that, even injured, I walk faster than when I started a year and a half ago. Running is still a week or two away (at best) and I'm able to do most things without the brace on.

But tonight will be about kicking back with an ice pack and watching the Sox while dreaming of the beaches of Antiqua.

Letters in the air

Physical therapy is an interesting thing.

Right now is the "easy" part to rebuild the basic strength - flexing and stretching to build up the muscles in the ankle and rebuild the spacial relations/memories of the nerve endings and where things should line up ... or something like that.

My set of exercises for the week include drawing the alphabet with my foot - upper or lower case, my call - a couple of times a day. I also have a red elastic thingie for resistance when I flex the ankle and stuff.

The good news, I can start going for walks of increasing lengths. For example, today I can go out for about a half mile or so and see what happens. If I'm not sore or swollen, then I can go longer tomorrow and so on.

But for now, I'll write my letters in the air with my foot three times a day while I anxiously wait for the word to run again.

Bad news, good news

The orthopedist gave me the word today. The bad news is I did manage to give myself a pretty good sprain and it will require at least 8 weeks of healing. The good news, I can start running again in mid-October in small, controlled spurts with low mileage.

OK, it may not be a lot to some, but for me it means I can run again starting around Columbus Day. I can't do the Tufts 10k this year, but I can go for a mile run along Comm Ave. By Thanksgiving I should be able to run a 5k and I should be able to do the 10k at the Hyannis Marathon this year.

If I weren't wearing the air cast right now, I'd be doing the happy pika dance.

I do have my first physical therapy session this afternoon and I should only need a couple of those and they should be teaching me a set of exercises I can do at home. As the old Joni Mitchell song goes: you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. But it will be back soon and I'm happy for it!

Feh!

Turns out I have a ligament injury that has now been referred to a physical therapist. Excuse me while I scream.

When the PT place calls back, I'll book my appointments and take it from there. In the meantime I'm starting to think that there is something cosmically linked to me running 6 miles in a stretch.

Just when I was comfortable doing that last year, bronchitis laid me low for over a month. I get to that point again - turned ankle during a 5 mile race. Recover from that, up to a decent mileage again, another turned ankle this time with ligament damage.

I have come to truly love running and I'm wondering what I did to mess with the cosmic order to have to keep fighting these obstacles.