Returning to the Scene of the Crime

I really began running last March, and my first run was the Broad Street Run. This is a great race. The course goes straight through Philadelphia for 10 miles and is downhill the whole way. It is not a steep downhill but it is downhill. I feel like I have come full circle in a way. This weekend the Broad Street Run is here again and this will be the first time I have run a race a second time. It is exciting.

This was my first race ever. I think for that reason it holds some special meaning for me. The excitement and atmosphere was electric. There are thousands of folks with bands and well wishers. It was amazing. I think my real love of running was born on this course.

I am really looking forward to breaking my record from last year. This should not be a major feat as last year my pace was 14:26. I would like to blame it on the sprained ankle I had at the time. But the truth is that I was very fat and very out of shape. This was my start and since then I have dropped about 70 pounds and I generally run about 3 and1/2 to 4 minutes faster per mile. More than the marathon, this one means something to me.

I have learned a lot since last May. I am hoping to have a great time and hope to run a good race. This is great.

Here is my Last year's Broad Street Run race report.

Injury news:
-- After the stretching from my martial arts class last night, my hip feels about 25% better today than yesterday. I think my odds of running the marathon are now about 85%, if this keeps up I see no trouble. I will hold off on any running until Thursday to foster healing but I will continue to stretch and cross train. I have to hit a couple of times a week or I don't feel right. I am a strange man.

20 Miles .... is far

This will be a short post, mostly due to my own uncertainty about things. I did my 20 miles on Sunday as planned at an 11:15 pace for the entire run. I am happy about that. After the run was over my hip was barking again, even after doing the whole thing on trails. It was much worse this week than it was previously. I am a bit concerned over my ability to deal with this injury over 26.2 miles. It is concerning me. I will do my taper and see what I think in three weeks. However, there is a chance that I will not run the Marathon on the 18th of May due to injury, not sure. If I had to lay odds I would say there is a 75% chance of running and 25% against. I will let you know as time goes on.

Injury Progress

I know that everyone was worried about how my hip might do on an actual run after the massage I had on Tuesday. Well I was told to not do too much activity for the next couple of days post massage, so I didn't (well I went to martial arts class on Wednesday night ... but I did try to take it easy). On Thursday night I went out for a 4 miler on some trails near my home. The plan ... Do four miles. I did not have a speed in mind and just wanted to get the mil age going in the right direction.

Mile 1: Just tried to work into a flow. I could still feel the hip but it was just a ever so tiny little voice (I would guess it is about 90 to 95% recovered. First mile 10:38

Mile 2: I was trying to just keep the pace of mile 1, I didn't want to push just to maintain the pace. I started to go a bit faster and the tiny voice turned into a little voice. There does seem to be a speed component to this injury. Second mile 10:29

Mile 3: Mile three has some ups to it. It is no massive thing but you have to do some climbing and I am not the best at this yet. I am much better than I was though. Third Mile 10:40

Mile 4: I was just trying to maintain my pace and not push too hard on this one. Fourth Mile 10:38

I ended up at an average pace of 10:38 over 4.10 miles. It was good and the hip was fine, I am sure everyone was worried, but I am fine. I do believe that this is a manageable injury. I just have to be smart about it. The rest of the week holds 4 miles tonight and 20 miles on Sunday. Yes, I know 20 miles but that is really it. Starting on Monday, the beloved taper.

Take it and Run: 13 Words or Less

Tom and Amy at Runner's Lounge have asked for our best running advice in 13 words or less. Well the good news is that no one will get eye strain reading it all.

Success in running is all about getting out the door

I have been running now for more than a year. In that time I have not taken time off but for injuries and I believe that the way that I did it was that early on I made it a point to just get out there. It did not matter how far I went or how long. It just mattered that I showed up. I started walking a few minutes and running a few minutes. I entered a race just so that I would be responsible to myself for my actions regarding running. Slowly but surely I built up my endurance, and slowly speed. It all started with showing up. Early on showing up is the hardest thing to do but if you can get the showing up part down the rest is gravy.

A massage story

I mentioned that I had scheduled a massage to try to work the kinks out my lower back and hip from overuse due to this crazy marathon schedule. I will say that it was affecting my spirits a bit. I was a little down, no, no, its o.k., now. So I went for my massage on Tuesday after work. I will start by saying that I am not much of a comfort person. I have a deep seeded belief that too much comfort is a bad thing. So, for me to go for something like a massage is a remarkable thing in its own right. I did go, so maybe I am overcoming some of my innate stubbornness, unlikely.

The masseuse was a good and did a top to bottom sports massage. I had a few muscle spasms in the small of my back and buttocks during the massage. I took this as a sign that things were being worked out. Nothing good ever came without a little pain along the way. I think all told the whole thing lasted about 50 minutes. I hear some people, mostly at my office, talking about how awesome a massage is. I suppose it is fine and as long as it is useful for you who am I to argue. I can't see myself as a regular. I was a bit looser after than before and I think within 2 hours my hip and lower back were 50% better than when I went in. That is what I wanted. Yesterday, I think that total was up to 65% and today I would put that at 85%. My hip is still a small bit of trouble; however, it is 10 to 20% of the problem that it was. I will call that a success and I thank the fine woman who helped me out with that. I can see myself doing it again for this type of injury but as I said I am not the type of person who would be doing this on a regular basis.

To minimize the chance of injury going into the home stretch, I have decided to switch to trails. There are some gentle trails close to my home with little challenge in terms of rocks. This will give my hip and lower back a chance to recover more fully before the marathon in Mid-May. I have my 20 mile run this weekend and this will also be done on trails. The time will be slower but I will be recovered for the marathon and that is the point. Start the race healthy and leave it on the course, no regrets no what ifs. I read in one of the runners magazines from one of the top runners, better to be under trained and healthy than over trained and injured. I will keep this in mind over the next month.

Speed comes to those that wait

I still remember last year when I was trotting along at 14:00 miles. I knew I wasn't going fast but it was hard work at 280+ pounds to get my freight train of a body going at any kind of speed. I guess that is why we don't see many bulldozer races. These days I am flirting with a kind of respectable speed.

I did not post a week in review over the weekend. But I will do an abbreviated version, NOW:

Thursday: 3.65 miles, 10:09 pace
Friday: 4.10 miles, 10:25 pace
Saturday: 3.65 miles, 10:19 pace
Monday: 7.00 miles, 10:34 pace

I can see over the last month that I have gotten steadily faster. My miles over 11:00 are the rare occurrence on these shorter runs, this is a nice feeling. On my quicker days I seem to get a mile or two below the 10:00 mark. It is strange to see single digits on my Garmin at the mile mark. I am not going so fast as sometimes I try the talking drill to see if I am going too fast. I will sing a little to check how hard I am working. If I can belt out a few bars I know I am not pushing too much. I make sure I am alone before I do this. I have respect for my fellow man and wouldn't want to expose anyone to my dreadful renditions of what could loosely be classified as music. So I am not pushing too hard and I have been slowed down a bit due to the stiffness I have been experiencing in my left hip. I hope it can be worked out today during the massage.

Will Ferrell Rocks

I thought I noticed that Will Ferrell was supposed to run the Boston Marathon today. I could not find his time, I could have been wrong on that. I am not sure what happened, but I did find something on when he ran in 2003. I think Will is funny and I love most of his movies, although 'Blades of Glory' was a bit unfortunate. However, I did not know he was a runner. This changes him in my eyes a bit. The performance I did find, 3 hours, 56 minutes and 12 seconds, was a great time for Boston.

When I saw that his name was listed for Boston, I thought, "well another celebrity got a pass." Not true. A 9 minute pace over 26.2 is legitimate for his 2003 run. Good for him, here is to you Will Ferrell, way to go. I think I am more Katie Holmes in NY Marathon speed (5 hours 29 minutes 58 seconds). I think I might beat her we will see.

In other celebrity running news, Lance Armstrong finished at 2:50:58 or a 6:32 pace. Lance is awesome. I can only marvel at what he can do.

Listening to your body

I have been having a bit of pain in my hip and lower back as of late. I know it is just over use. I did something this week that most people will cringe at. To be truthful, I don't care. You have to know your own body and what is best to do for yourself at times this will fly in the face of conventional logic. So I took my long run off this week. I was scheduled for a 12 mile run on a down cycle week. In short, I was hurt and I need to recover. My back and hip were becoming issues in everyday life and not just when I ran. I could have run through it but I knew I needed the rest. So I took the time off, it was necessary. So now this weekend when I have 20 miles staring me in the face I won't be as concerned.

I feel better today. I did not have any wincing moments and even though the hip is stiff it is a workable situation. Most people might have said to just take the 12 slower than usual. You know, I don't think I could have done that. When I warmed up and started to feel fine on the run, I would have sped up. The best remedy for me was rest.

Help I am overused

My back and hip have been giving me some problems this week. I did some reading and found that this is most likely an overuse issue. I don't like to go to the doctor unless I am convinced there is no other way around it (co-pays are just outrageous I have to look into another plan). From what I was reading it suggested that a massage might help. I thought, now that sounds like the type of remedy I can go for. So I made an appointment close to work for next Tuesday afternoon. I will let you all know how it went.

I am looking forward to it. Smiles.

What is with all this deadline stuff?

This week has been a tough one work wise. I work for good people but they have their demands as well. I usually can get things done on 9 to 10 hours a day, usually. I had a last minute thing to get done for Wednesday which meant that I spent my normal 10 on Monday followed with 14 on Tuesday and another 10 on Wednesday. All work and no play makes Rob a dull boy, but what can you do, work is demanding sometimes. So, I was not able to run until this morning for the week. The good news is that I did it in new shoes and this is a cut back week.

Quick funny: When I went into the store, Philadelphia Runner, I love that place. I told the guy that I had burned out my shoes and I had a marathon coming up. He said: "Boston?" I said, "Not really" and laughed a lot. Boston, what a funny man.

There is nothing more exciting than new shoes. My Brooks Adrenaline GTS7's were burned out. I knew that during the 18 mile jaunt last weekend. I needed to step up to the plate this week and replace them. It was sad we had been though so much together. It was like moving away from a friend. But what can you do, my little buddies were broken down and out friendship was hurting me, literally. So I bought some new friends, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8. These shoes look fast and that makes all the difference. The silver trim makes the difference. I am sad about my old shoes being gone but the new ones are outstanding. I can feel the difference.

This morning: 3.65 miles, 10:09 pace, 37 minutes 3 seconds -- see the shoes are fast.