Bird In Hand Half 5k & Half Marathon - 9/5 & 9/6/14

The 5k was a 5k. The plan was to run it with Bren, but we ended up passing on her bib number to a friend, who ran it as her first 5k.

As usual, we were driving over on the day of the race from Michigan, just a wee ~8hr jaunt. We just managed to get there on time, but on time we still were. Packet pickup was a breeze as usual. The forecast had been for some nasty weather, but it ended up really quite nice, if a little warm. I wanted to come in under 30 minutes, which I just managed and although my PF hurt a little at the start I ran it off and rather enjoyed the whole evening. I had foolishly signed up for the Firefighters challenge, which means I had the half marathon the following morning. I spent the evening carb loading at a local bar and playing 'Pass The Pigs', all in all a fun day overall.

Time: 28:19.12; 247 out of 762 & 21 out of 41 in my age group.

And so, onto... the half...

Got up in plenty time, our hotel was only a couple of miles away from the start, left in plenty time but traffic got backed up. We got parked I headed for the portajohns, of which, as usual, there were plenty, but I had no time, so off to the start I went.

How bad was it

In 2012, I finished in 2:06, last year I managed thirteen minutes less than that at 1:53, this year, jeez, 2:37, almost 45 minutes slower than last year, and 15 slower than my previous worst in Denver, and Denver included two bathroom stops, while this one had only one.

Let's look at some numbers

Criteria	2013	2014	Which means..?
Field	25%	67%	I finished in the bottom third of the race, no hiding this one, I sucked
Age Group	50%	71%	Wow, finished in the bottom 30%; of the field, again, not so bloody good
Top 25% time	1:53:11	2:05:42	Top 25% of finishers were 12 minutes slower, kinda interesting
Top 50% time	2:06:45	2:23:12	Top 50% were 17 minutes slower, again, interesting
Top 75% time	2:26:49	2:48:14	Top 75% were 25 minutes slower, again, interesting

Bottom line, last year I had trained hard and it showed in my race this year I've been injured, so much less training, conditions sucked and it showed. Still loved the race though, great shirts, even better medal than last year, we'll see what next year brings.

Three years of running

Three years ago, I decided to go out for a run one morning after starting a regular 'walking at lunchtime instead of eating out' exercise regime, see the posting here. It was ugly but I went and due to the persistence of a very good friend and some bloody mindedness on my part, I still want to run, only further and faster.

Just re-read this part and it seems a little bitchy, but I'll let it stay;

So this is the year where I was due to crank it up a notch and where it all went horribly wrong. As I sit here on 2nd June 2014 I have managed a whole 135 miles, which is 285 miles behind where I wanted to be by now. I haven't managed a single run in almost a month and that was on just under 2 bloody miles, my last significant run was the Passion For Life 5 miler almost ten weeks ago, bloody hell, now I see it actually written down, it really pisses me off.

I've had to cancel my proposed ultramarathon, and missed many races I wanted to do. I have all bought and paid for a 5k/ half marathon weekend in the fall and I just hope I can be ready for that, as it would be my third year doing it and myself and Bren like to make a fun weekend out of it. There are another couple of races that I'll be very sorry to miss, but right now I'm not very confident, just kinda really crappy about the whole thing right now.

The Highs

Jings, so many, where to start;

• Dropped a helluva lot of weight, some due to my getting divorced diet, but the rest due to running.
• Ran a marathon, aye that's right, a whole 26 miles 385 yards, on a damn hot day and I managed a 4:36, not what I wanted but not too shabby, and I just found out that it is a Comrades Marathon qualifying time, so there...
• Ran multiple other half marathons, 10km's, 5km's, etc, giving me a selection of snazzy medals and some rather tasteful and a whole lot of other really ugly running shirts.

The Lows

F&%ck#%g injuries, and that's about it.

In Summary

Onward and upward, shake this bloody injury and get my arse back in gear and get out there, the world is waiting for me...

Plantar fasciitis sucks...

Ok, so my sore foot at the Passion For Life 5 Mile turned out to be full blown plantir fasciitis, which is easily the worst crap that has happened to me during the running phase of my life and it is bloody annoying as all hell...

So here's what those lovely fellas at the Mayo Clinic define it as;

Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) is one of the most common causes of heel pain. It involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes

My definition is 'bloody ouch...' I could barely walk after the five miler and I'm still suffering about six weeks later. I read up all about it online, spoke to several people that know about this kind of thing, spoke to other suffers both online and in person and everyone pretty much said various things.

So what have I tried

• Not running - hmm, really don't like this one, but I'm avoiding running, I've missed a few races I wanted to do and I'm pissed about it.
• Frozen water bottle - rolling the bottle under my heel and the various sore spots, doing this lots, both at home and at work, it hurts a bit and I'll keep on going.
• Tennis ball - again rolling this under my heel and the various sore bits, ho hum
• Ice water bath for 8 minutes - jeez, this bloody hurts
• Kinesiology tape - I'm trying a couple of brands right now, both KT Tape & Rock Tape. I changed to the Rock Tape as I couldn't find the waterproof KT Tape. The KT Tape is pre-cut strips, whereas the Rock Tape is a roll. Both websites have video instructions on how to put the tape on, which Bren has been doing for me.

So what happens next

One of the most annoying things about this is that I ran all bloody winter, in all kinds of crap and just when the weather started to get better, this crap happened, so my plans for a > 1,000 mile year, an ultramarathon, a couple of marathons, etc, are all buggered.

Passion For Life 5 mile

This race was pretty much planned well in advance, then cancelled, then, when it became apparent that Gordon wasn't going to be able to run, due to injury, I decided to do it afterall. This was going to be my third year doing it. It is a small race & takes place very close to home, so packet pickup and parking, etc, are no big deal.

This was the first year that they were going to have chip timed start & finish as well as the 5k & 5 mile runs starting at different times. it made for a much quiter starting area, but on the whole I think it was a good idea. I had done as much running as I could beforehand but what with a crappy winter and a niggling pain in my foot, I wasn't holding out too much hope.

It was a cold morning, but not as bad it had been so, not too much to complain about although I was one of a very few that had decided to brave shorts on the day.

I split of from the pack fairly quickly and found a nice gap to run in. My splits while gradually slowing, are pretty good for me, especially as I hit the hilly section in the second half. I finished strong and I'm, on the whole, pleased with the resut

Summary
This race has left in a kind of bitter sweet taste in my mouth. I PR'd the Walled Lake circuit, yippee, I done some serious damage to heel and I am now fighting pantir fasciitis, which has put my running in jeopardy for who knows how long...

Sucks

2013... another year of running

So here we go, how did 2013 look...

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Miles	41.70	7.49	40.73	59.74	20.83	70.09
Kilometers	67.11	12.05	65.55	96.14	33.52	112.80
# of Runs	13	3	10	13	9	15

	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year Total
Miles	102.61	118.02	73.67	70.30	74.32	73.91	756.50
Kilometers	165.13	189.93	118.56	113.13	119.61	118.95	1,217.47
# of Runs	20	32	18	22	18	15	188

12 races; 2 x 5km, 1 x 5 mile, 3 x 10km, 1 x 10 mile, 4 x 13.1 miles, 1 x 100km team relay

The year started quite well, considering how cold it was, I still managed to strap on the Yak Trax and pound the trails, really rather enjoyed it. Bren was still working on her Couch to 5k program so we were also running on the indoor track at Lakeland High School where I managed a 5km PR. There wasn't really any running at lunch time, due to the cold, but lots of walking. Unfortuately the wheels came off the bus in early February, what with the whole bloody rolling my ankle on Superbowl Sunday, while sober, thing. I still managed a couple of much smaller runs, even although I really shouldn't have. My running then settled down, with a couple of small stutters, peaking in the summer with my forty day running streak. I continued to bang out fairly consistent miles every month, but I was never going to make up for the crappy winter/ early spring, c'est la vie.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Two new 5k PR's, one on the inside running track in the late winter and another at the Superhero 5k in the early summer, taking it down to 23:40, a total of 39 seconds off. I ran my second best half marathon in the fall at Bird-in-Hand, which also took ~13 minutes off my time from last year. I managed a 40 day running streak, which really helped set me up for my, previously mentioned, second best half marathon.

Injuries killed my springtime mileage, and not respecting them and letting them heal over time wasn't my best idea ever either. I did manage to grind out a trail half marathon with a sore ankle, groin strain and a couple of very sore achilles tendons, glad I did though.

On to 2014...