Tag Archive for 'marathon'

26.2

Published on 1/22/2010. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Alright! Race reports!

Let’s start with the kids’ races on Saturday. It was rainy and cold on Saturday but we headed to the Wide World of Sports Complex so the kids to take part in Mickey’s Marathon Kids’ Fest. Cameron was scheduled for a 100 meter run and Lily had a 200 meter run. I can’t go so far to say the kids had a good time but I think there were parts of the event that they liked. Overall, it seemed like things were pretty disorganized which really surprised me since it was a Disney event. I don’t know how much the weather had to do with it though. The different age groups were lined up at the appropriate start lines around the track; 100M, 200M, 400M. There was a lot of confusion about when a particular group should start and they had to restart some groups a couple of times. Had the weather been typical Florida weather I think it would have been better.

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Race numbers!

Waiting for the 100M dash to start

Lily and Grayson lined up for their 200M race

Victory!

We spent some time at the Magic Kingdom that afternoon and all turned in early because…

Jason and I had to get up at 3:15 IN THE MORNING to catch a bus from the resort to the race at 3:45 IN THE MORNING so we could be on time for the marathon. It was kind of an odd thing to leave our sleeping kids in the hotel room when we headed to the marathon. We had connecting rooms with Nate and Kelly so we just opened the doors between the rooms so the kids could go in there when they woke up. But STILL…totally weird to leave your kids in basically the middle of the night.

Moving on…

We got to Epcot at 4:00 and settled in the pre-race area to wait for the start. It was a little surreal that morning. Again, I think the weather played a huge factor in our overall experience. There was loud music and one of the Green Army Men (from Toy Story) was trying to get everyone PUMPED UP! Most of the race participants were just huddled together trying to stay warm. I know I was despite my running tights, sweat pants, tech tee, two long sleeved tech tees, long sleeved t-shirt, trash bag, gloves and headband I was still shivering too much to take part in any of the pre-race fun.

(Please note: that is NOT a giant roll of belly fat just beneath my race number. It’s my race bag that is filled with my phone, Shot Bloks, etc)

We were herded from the pre-race area about a half mile to the actual start line. Quite a cattle like experience. Jason and I kind of screwed up with our registration and ended up being placed in the last start corral. When we registered for the race back in August we anticipated finishing the marathin in about 4 hours 30 minutes. Since we entered a time less than 5 hours we were required to substantiate this time by turning in results from another race. I had yet to run a race long enough to qualify but expected to do so during the fall. After I had the stress reaction my plans to run another race got scrapped and we never did submit substantiation. So, we were placed in the last corral. Quite a bummer, really but we ended up starting about three corrals up. I think they were being pretty lax on things due to the weather.

After about an hour in the corrals they started releasing the racers in waves. First the wheel chairs and then the elite runners. We finally got started at 6:05 which was about the same time the elite runners were crossing the 4 mile mark…about 22 minutes after their start gun. There was a general feeling of, “Well, obviously they’re going to TOTALLY smoke my ass.”

Mickey and the gang saw us off at the start line.

The first 4 or 5 miles were pretty congested and we kept about a 13 or 14 minute pace; just barely jogging, really. It was too crowded to do much else. Epcot was the first park at about the 4.2 mile mark and the feeling came back to my toes around then.

I ditched my trash bag right as we were getting into Epcot and there were a few times over the next couple of miles that I regretted it. The next few miles took us along the Disney road system (highway) en route to the Magic Kingdom at mile 10. Not much exciting for those next few miles. There were several spectators out on the course and they were fantastic at cheering for the runners! We started to fall into our pattern of walking through the water stations even if we weren’t getting anything to drink at a particular station.

The sun came up as we made our way to the Magic Kingdom which is where the fun really started! We entered the Kingdom through a back stage are and poured on to main street. We ‘lost’ a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom because we stopped to soak it in and grab some pictures with the characters.

Captain Hook and Smee

Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen and Louis

We even got to run right through the middle of Cinderella’s castle!

After leaving the Magic Kingdom we started our 4 mile trek to Animal Kingdom. Much of this leg of the race seemed to be on more behind the scenes roads. Not too much exciting here either. I remember seeing some accordian players and a piano player (not at the same time) and there were more ‘cheer stations’ for spectators to shout encouragement. We went past the half way point feeling pretty good and our pace had picked up to more like 11 or 12 minutes per mile. Pretty soon I shed my long sleeved tee and my sweat pants so I was down to respectable running gear!

I was really liking the walking through water stations strategy and we grabbed some bananas at around the 14 mile mark to try to sate our increasing hunger. Overall, it felt like the miles were ticking by pretty quickly at this point. We made our way into the back part of Animal Kingdom which was open to the public by this time. It was kind of funny running past all of the vacationing families!

Shortly after Animal Kingdom is where I started to really feel like I was running a marathon. I suppose that makes sense given that we’d
already completed about 18 miles which made this my longest run ever. Around mile 20 is where I really started to feel it. My left knee really started to hurt during the 4 miles between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We did a two mile out and back near the Wide World of Sports that felt endless and then we shifted our walk break so we were walking up and down the highway ramp. This was a very flat course except for those damn exit ramps. Not only were we running up an incline but the pavement was ramped which really messed with our gait. We kept running to the top or bottom of the road to try to find a more level surface.

Mile 22 brought us to Hollywood Studios but I don’t have any good pictures to share from that park. By that time we were in ‘finish this’ mode and just concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other. I’m pretty sure that the course measurements were screwed up during the last 4 miles of the race because those miles seemed A LOT longer than the first four miles. Obviously a measurement error on the course. Right? Anyway…

We left Hollywood Studios and headed along the walk way to Epcot. I was dealing with dueling pains now. My knee felt better when I was running but my muscles felt better when I was walking. And those first few steps running again after walking for a minute? HOOOBOY! I was a little bit afraid of my knee just deciding to stop working and leaving me in a huddled mess on the course. We finally made it to the World Showcase are in Epcot and ran through several countries though I can’t really remember which ones. I know we ended at Mexico and went to the front of the park. All along the way people were telling us “Only 1 more mile!”, “Just around the corner!”, “You’re almost there!” It was nice for inspiration but I was craving something more exact. Tell me how many more steps I have to take or how many more minutes. We had passed the 25 mile marker not long after entering Epcot and were were convinced that there wasn’t going to be a 26 mile marker…they would just do the finish line at 26.2. Wrong. We finally came on the 26 mile marker and got energized that we only have 2/10 of a mile to go! My muscles and mind wanted to pick up the pace but my knee wouldn’t let me.

We rounded the final corner to see the finish line and bleachers filled with spectators cheering for us. A pretty cool feeling really! I gave Goofy a high five on my way to the finish and Jason and I crossed the line with our hands together and arms in the air! We collected our medals and headed straight to the medical tent for some ice for my knee. Victory was ours! Well, kind of. Depends on what your definition of victory is. The ACTUAL victory went to a guy from Brazil who crossed the finish line at about the time we crossed the half way point. Maybe even before we were half way. We finished in 5 hours and 57 minutes which is good enough for me. Here are our split times:

5 Mile: 1:10:08
10 Mile: 2:10:28
Half Split: 2:59:59
20 Mile: 4:29:55
Finish: 5:57:08

Our goal with the race was to complete it. It was our first marathon and given my injury and lack of training for the 10 weeks leading up to the race I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. As we rode the bus back to the resort Jason turned to me and said, “I know we just finished and I’ll give it a few days but I’m never running one of those again.” At the time I completely agreed with him but a few days later I know I heard myself saying that maybe I would try the Goofy challenge next year (half marathon on Saturday and full on Sunday). I am curious to know what kind of time I could get if I was able to complete a marathon training program. We’ll see. Maybe next fall I’ll try a local marathon and see how that goes.

Five for Friday: Marathon Musings

Published on 12/11/2009. 4 Comments Tags: .

1. I’m pissed off about my leg injury. Mostly pissed at myself because I think I may have overdone it last week when I started running again after getting out of the boot.

2. Only 4 more weeks to prepare at this point. I’ve only done one week of running since October 24th. I’ve been cross training on the exercise bike but am I even going to be in shape to run a marathon in 4 weeks? The 18 miles from last weekend would suggest that my fitness level is still sufficient. It wasn’t all that difficult and I felt fully recovered (except for my shin) within a couple of days. Not too bad for having been basically off of running for the previous 6 weeks.

3. Frustrated that I have to make a decision about whether or not to run in the marathon. At this point, my leg doesn’t hurt so badly that it wouldn’t be possible for me to run but it might not be advisable. I’m scared that if I start the race I either won’t finish (which would just be depressing) or I’ll finish it but in the process I’ll injure myself even further and ruin our vacation and/or cause a serious injury that will result in even more time off of running. I guess the good part is that I don’t have to make a decision until Saturday, January 9th.

4. I know this is stupid, but I’m frustrated at how my injury will impact Jason’s marathon experience. He’s been training so hard. If I do decide to run I know I’ll be holding him back SEVERELY. Admittedly, I would have been holding him back anyway since he’s so much faster than me but now it would be even worse.

5. I know there will be other marathons and if this was just a local race I don’t think I would be so worried about it. But it’s not a local race. It’s Disney World! We’ve planned an entire vacation around this! I feel like everything has worked out with the planning and the kids and this is really my one chance to run in THIS marathon.

Return to Running

Published on 12/1/2009. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

I have three runs under my belt since taking off the boot after my stress reaction. I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving Day, 3 miles on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the exercise bike. So far, so good and I’m digging my new shoes. I’ve been keeping my pace slow (though I don’t know exactly how slow…thanks very much SportBand for deciding to crap out on me right now)(BUT..Nike is sending me a new sensor that will hopefully get me back in business). We did the Turkey Trots at around 11:30 pace and I’ve done my other two runs on the treadmill at level 5, which is 12:00 pace, I think.

I haven’t had any pain other than the normal ‘I haven’t run in a month’ muscle pain. My shin feels a little bit achy sometimes but my understanding is that is normal after an injury. It definitely doesn’t hurt like it did a month ago. For now, I am going to go with it. I’ve modified my training plan to give me a couple of weeks of lower mileage but I’m hoping to rejoin the original program starting with 14 miles on December 12th and 20 miles the following Saturday. I feel like if I can get in those long runs in addition to the mid-range runs during the week I’ll be pretty well prepared to finish the marathon.

Stressed

Published on 11/5/2009. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

We’re just over 9 weeks from the marathon and I just learned that I have a stress reaction in my left shin. I’ve been instructed to wear a boot for the next three weeks and if I’m pain free that entire time I could consider running again around Thanksgiving. Until then, I’m stuck on the bike and doing lots of ice massage.

Let’s back up a few weeks. Things were going well when I ran the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K at the end of September. I was very happy with my time in that race and decided that I should try to pick up the pace a little on my training runs. I did and it felt pretty good! Shortly after I picked up my pace I started to notice a little bit of achiness in my shins. That probably should have clued me in to back it off a little but I chalked it up to needing new shoes. The achiness never persisted for more than the first 5 or 10 minutes of my runs and never bothered me after my runs.

My new shoes arrived and I tried them out on a couple of my shorter runs and things were feeling pretty good. Jason and I did our 12 mile run on Saturday the 24th and it was a rough one for me. I had an upset stomach the entire time but didn’t notice anything bothering my legs. I was a little sore on Sunday but not too bad and, really, I would expect to be a little sore after a 12 mile run. I planned to run after work on Tuesday but called it before noon since my left shin was sore even while I was sitting at my desk. It was pretty sore when I walked so I decided to start riding the exercise bike in place of running. At first I assumed that I was suffering from shin splints but the more I self-diagnosed my injury via Google the more I became worried about the possibility of a stress fracture.

I scheduled an appointment and met with a sports medicine doctor last Friday. Thankfully, no stress fracture was revealed on the x-ray but I had been off of running for almost a week at that point and had been icing regularly and taking ibuprofen and there was no improvement in the leg. The doctor checked my legs and that’s when I realized that there really was one point on my left shin (inside about a couple of inches above my ankle) that was definitely more painful. He decided to send me for an MRI to rule out a stress fracture.

The MRI is an interesting experience. I had no idea how long it would take but I assumed I would be gone from the office for about 90 minutes. Turns out it was more like 2.5 hours. The MRI itself took more than an hour. Thankfully, it was an open ended deal so I wasn’t mashed down in a tube for that long. I had been asked several times if I’m claustrophobic. I just circled ‘no’ each time but really felt like writing in, ‘I guess we’ll find out.’ No problems at all though. Since the injury is on my lower leg my chest and arms were completely outside of the machine and I was very comfortable. As the nurse was prepping me for the scan she gave me the option of listening to the radio. I chose NPR since I thought there might be some kind of talk radio on or something. Nope. It was some jazz program that nearly drove me crazy. I know I could have asked her to turn it off but I didn’t want to be THAT lady so I just endured. Truthfully, I started to fall asleep a few times but without fail, as soon as I would start to doze off the bed would slide in our out of the machine and I would jerk awake convinced that I was falling. After about 40 minutes the nurse returned to inject me with something (I pay LOTS of attention when I go to the doctor…I think it was iron and something else) so they could get contrast images. She apologized for how long it takes and I reminded her that I have two small kids at home so being forced to lay still for an hour in the middle of the afternoon isn’t nearly as bad as it might seem. I did ask to have the music turned off for the second set of scans so I just laid there and listened to the buzzing and rattling of the machine.

That was Monday. The doctor and I played phone tag for most of Tuesday before finally talking on Wednesday afternoon. That’s when I got the diagnosis of a stress reaction in my left shin. It’s basically a precursor to a stress fracture. Not the best news I’ve ever received but WAY better than a stress fracture. After my 3 weeks is up I’ll still have about 6 weeks until the marathon. I feel pretty confident that I can start training again and at least still attempt the marathon in January. I know I won’t be able to pick up my training right where I left off but it shouldn’t be too hard to modify it. I’m going to continue cross training on the bike and we’re very seriously considering purchasing an elliptical this weekend. The boot isn’t nearly as bad as I feared. It’s not all that uncomfortable and I get to wear a tennis shoe to work on my right foot! Footwear WIN! I haven’t really noticed any pain since yesterday so I’m hoping that things will get completely healed in the next three weeks. Stay positive and all that jazz, right?

Intimidated

Published on 8/12/2009. 3 Comments Tags: , .

I’ve been running again for awhile now. I started the Couch to 5K program last November and have pretty much kept it up since then. In May I started using the Nike+ thing and I haven’t taken any long breaks from running except for the two weeks that I rested my sore ankle. This week I decided to change up my training plan to include tempo and interval runs. This scares me for some reason! It’s just easier to go out and put one foot in front of the other for a few miles than to actually think about. Maybe I’m afraid that if I have to actually think about stopping and starting and changing pace at set times my brain will be too involved in the whole running process and I’ll start to hate it! I’m hoping that I actually enjoy the change of pace that the tempo and interval runs will provide. It’s can’t hurt, right?

Also, apparently Jason and I have gone completely crazy! We’ve decided to run the Walt Disney World Marathon in January 2010! That’s, like, less than 5 months from now! Last night I revised my training plan to include an 18 week marathon training program. Talk about intimidation!