Update

Hi all; Sorry I haven't posted in a little while. Work and running are often complimentary. I have achieved my weekly goals for the last few weeks and am up to 22 miles per week. On Wednesday morning, I finally joined the Double Diamond Athletic Club's Wednesday morning run. This is led by a professional runner, Kristi Arthur. She is FAST. She and I ran ahead of the pack for the majority of the run, and through the speed training, I was doing some 5 minute miles. I was tuckered by the end of the run, as well as by the end of the day. I wasn't significantly sore the following day, so I take that as a great sign. I have a easy 6 miler scheduled for Friday the 17th, and then am registered for the Run for Education 10K on Sunday the 19th. I do not believe I can win, so am shooting for a personal best time in the 37 minute range. My previous 10k best is 39.55. I'll let y'all know how it goes. Steve

So Far So Good

Hey All; Whether I would participate in any of the events of the Lake Tahoe Marathon this past weekend was always questionable, as I didn't want to push any limits and re-injur myself. On Friday I felt great after a decent 6 mile run on Thursday, so I registered for the 10k (6.2 miles). The course starts at the top of Emerald Bay and loops down to Hope Beach. If you know the road, you remember the hairpins and steep road (all downhill) for the first 1.5 miles. I got pretty close to the front (mostly so I wouldn't trip over people who invariably have a different pace than me). I went out with a pretty normal pace, fast, but not flying. I didn't want to exert all I had too early, and the hills are notoriously painful to run down if they are that steep. I swear I thought there were a bunch of people in front of me, so I was running my own race, laboring as I am not quite in the shape I'd like to be in. I also knew that at the high altitude, the breathing would be more difficult. I settled in, enjoyed the view and ran... I would say I passed 5-6 people, all breathing harder than I, exchanged a "good job, keep it up" with each one. Down along the waterfront, in the trees near Valhalla Estate, a passed one more individual and just kept going. This is where things got strange. I still thought there were people ahead of me (for I had no reason to suspect otherwise). The course wound back to the main road, in front of Camp Richardson, where there were tourists wandering about. The course markings got a bit sporadic for a moment, so I guessed and plowed forward as there was no one in front of me "in my sight". I took a left down the entrance towards hope beach, where spectators were walking down the left side of the road (there was yellow tape in the middle). I kept my pace at that point, because I knew I had a little ways to go. Rounding the corner, people started cheering, so I sprinted towards the finish line (as I am inclined to do at most races). The cheering escalated, so I ran faster. The announcer said over the loud speaker "and here we have our first 10k finisher". What? Then they held out the tape for me to break, and an older gentleman told me over the line as he handed me a water "you won". What? When I see that photograph, I will be surprised if there's not a look of confusion on my face. I wandered around, a bit stunned, as I spoke with the other top two about the course, our speeds, who'd passed who and where, etc. I remain stunned today, a day later, and am waiting for the results to post on the Internet as I'm sure they will change their mind. I was able to stick around and participate in an awards ceremony where I stood on a podium and had my picture taken with a trophy they gave me. So far, so good. I'm achy today (I did run an average 6.23 minute per mile pace), but don't think I did damage to my former stress fracture. I'm still waiting a few days before I run again to make sure. What's next? I have to be careful. I had one successful (relatively short) race. Now I need to build mileage. The last two weeks, I've done about 20 miles over the course of the week. I need to increase this ever so slightly over the next month and keep an eye on my leg. Running is AWESOME!!! Steve

After doing my research on Tibial Stress Fractures (i've seen plenty of Doctors); I started a run/walk program about 3 weeks ago. Last week I abandoned the walking part. My running friends were running up Mount Rose Highway. Probably a little early for me to do a 10.8 mile run, straight up a hill, but I decided that with the uphill component, it wouldn't be as pounding as a flat run would be. Of the 5 of us who ran it, I came in second, doing it in 1:46. This was wicked hard, but SO much fun. Mount Rose Highway takes on a completely different perspective as a pedestrian. Overall, I put in 20 miles last week. I have a slight ache in the region where my stress fracture was, but since Ben Gay and a hot soak in the tub seem to relieve it, I'm determining that it's a soft tissue issue. I will change my sneakers this week, back to my Asics 2130's. The podiatrist had given me orthotics to deal with my flat feet, and overpronating. I never really knew if that meant I should also have a shoe that corrects for the overpronation, or if my current shoes (2130's) would be fine, given the orthotics. I've been running in the corrective shoes as well as the orthotics for two weeks, and have a slight ache on the inside of my tibia. I've nearly had every injury known to man, and simply need to recognize them coming on before I do damage that lays me up too long. This is a more expensive sport than one would think. If you read my prior entry, you'll note all the Doctors visits. I also go through lots of shoes, trying to find the perfect fit. Some running stores will take your shoes back after you've run in them for a while, but that seems gross to me; so i suck it up. I intend on doing a weekly post, so you'll not hear from me until next Monday, so here's this weeks' plan.

• Replace shoes in the next day or two.
• Run 3-5 miles two more times this week. If successful (current aching doesn't turn into an injury); I will run the 10k this weekend at Lake Tahoe. It runs from the top of Emerald Bay to Pope Beach. My non-injured running buddies are either doing the half-marathon or full marathon on Sunday the 28th.

Waddle on.

The Story Starts

In August of 2006, I was invited to join a running group that was raining for the 2007 California International Marathon. 25 people ran 7 miles that day. I loved it, and kept with the group through the Autumn of that year. A woman named Amanda had developed the schedule that included the 2007 Journal Jog, the Meridian Gold 10k run, several long runs on the weekends and weekly runs on our own. Having been a non-racing runner all my life, I adapted quickly and loved the camaraderie of the group. The usual injury of some form of tendinitis started to set in, so I went to a physical therapist, an acupuncturist, a podiatrist, as well as a masseuse. These measures got me to the starting line of the big race on 12/02/2007. My training pace had gotten down to a 7:30 minute mile, running comfortably, so I envisioned I might finish the race in about 3 hours and 20 minutes or so. Qualifying for Boston (required a finish time of 3:15 for my age at the time, was not on my mind. It was my first marathon after all. What I had not accounted for was the elevation training I had been doing. I had also been running up and down the hills by my house in the south part of town. I hadn't included the hill training for any particular reason, except that my house is on a hill. The California International Marathon (CIM) goes from Folsom to downtown Sacramento and has a net elevation drop from about 400 feet to 20 feet. I had no expectation that the elevation training would give me any benefit. I hardly slept the night before, I was so excited. I got up around four, met my friends (the group was down to 5) and we got on the bus for the hour-long ride from downtown to Folsom. I placed myself among the 6,000 runners and the gun went off. Within the first 15-20 minutes I felt completely comfortable and guessed I was running a 7:30 minute mile. I looked down at my GPS watch and was running at a 6:50 pace. My heart skipped a beat, "I'm gonna have a great day". I decided then and there that I would keep my pace at 6:50 doe 26.2 miles. Having no experience with this distance, it may have been a naive thought, but it was worth a shot. I crossed the halfway point (13.1 miles) in 1 hour, 30 minutes and about 46 seconds. HOLY COW!! and i said to myself "I could break 3 hours. This meant I needed to make up those 46 seconds. I knew i needed to pick up the pace, but was feeling comfortable at the time, so I kept my new pace around at 6:48 or 6:49. This race has pacing groups. This means there is an experienced runner who will carry a sign (the whole race, amazing) and finish AT the groups target time. At about mile 20, a spectator yelled out that I was closing in on the 3 hour group. I picked up the pace again, but had long since stopped looking at my watch, too much energy. I was plucking off racers left and right as I continued to pick up my pace. Back at mile 18, my quads started to hurt. I decided that I was not in enough pain to slow, but man, they hurt more at the faster speed. I was NOT giving up. In front of the hotels along the park (where the capital is on the other side of the green); I saw the 25 mile marker. 1.2 miles to go and I looked at my watch. I had 8 minutes to get to the finish in under 3 hours. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do high math at that moment and calculate a "safe" pace to get me there, in this distance at that time, so I sped up again. I am NOT taking any chances, not now. The course turns two 45 degree corners to reverse direction to the finish. I rounded those two corners and saw the finish line. The time on the digital clock above the finish line read 2:59.46. "are you kidding me?" I broke into full sprint and crossed the finish line in 2:59.59. Unbeknown st to me, my partner had taken a poll of all my running friends, who all though I would cross the finish line in 3 hours. He found me immediately to whom my first words were "I'm never doing that again". At the same time, I was so elated that I just lost it. There was such a feeling of accomplishment that I cannot even describe. Wait a minute... "had I just qualified for Boston?" Yes I had... I got food, drink, my warm up clothes and went back to the finish line to greet my running buddies. My friend Kristen crossed in enough time to qualify for Boston as well, under her required 3:35.00 time. Awesome. Over the next month, I walked every day on the treadmill on the gym, working out the soreness. I'm not sure y'all know how much your quads are responsible for going downstairs, but it was tough for over a week. It took me over 3 months to learn that I had developed a tibial stress fracture from the marathon. It is now 5-6 months since I took 4-6 weeks off all weight bearing exercises (I did laps in the pool); September 2008 and it looks like I am healing appropriately. Stay tuned for entries regarding my training.