New role

Cheerleader.  Not something I usually do but I don't usually watch races, usually I'm running in them.  I found myself this past Friday cheering for my son in his first 5k ever.  We'd planned on running it together this summer when he wanted to start running with me.  I promised that after the Columbus half that I'd run it with him...I hadn't planned on not being able to run it.  I was a bit bummed to say the least. 

Earlier in the week, I'd been inspired by going to the gym and even though my heel had been hurting all day the darn treadmill called my name and I managed to run a grand total of.... 1/4 mile.  Woo hoo! Limped the whole time and called it quits after 3 minutes.  I felt like such a loser.  Some chick was doing a run on one of the other treadmills and was going at a decent clip (although I'm sure I could have run faster if I were healthy) (I can't stand that I'm so competitive) and had to walk to the bike.  Grrrr.  The bike and I are not friends.  It sucks.  Anyways, the next day my heel was hurting like crazy again, so lesson learned...I'm not going to be able to run a 5k in a few days.

Back to the race.  It was a perfect night for a run!  damn, PF sucks!  My dh was out of town and even if I could run it no one was around to watch Buster so I guess it was meant to be.  Our friend, Kevin, was going to be running it with his oldest son (and classmate to Cub) so we planned that Kevin would run with the boys.  Thanks, Kevin!  Cub had dressed up as Harry Potter in his quiddich robe/uniform, we decided that running with a broom might be problematic.  A lip pencil made a wonderful lightning bolt scar to top it off!  We got there with plenty of time to get his packet, potty break, stretch and to be in a children’s costume contest.  There were some adorable costumes- I am just not creative. That and I never give myself or the kids time to design anything!  So time to go line up, saw some of the regular locals and could guess who was going to win (and they did). 

After they started, Buster and I walked back to the finish line, and it was getting a bit chilly so we went back to the car for about 15 mins. Buster loved it since he finally got to pig out on his candy that he’d gotten from a friend at school.  I managed to munch on a few candy corns as well… must remember that I’m no longer running so no need for those calories.  I felt a little bad that we weren’t on the course but it would have been impossible to get back in time to see the end.  We headed back to the finish line after our candy fix, cheer on the first finishers and wait…Finally they show up, Cub is looking pretty tired but when he hears the music and us (I hope) that he was able to finish.  32:35.  Awesome job for a 7 year old!   They had a great spread of food for the runners after the race- good since the race was over supper time!  We hung out for a while long enough for the awards.  Cub managed to get 2^nd place in the 0-8 year old age group!  His buddy got 1^st place.  They both were super excited- no doubt both boys will continue to run for years to come!  It was bitter sweet- I wanted to run that with him but I so happy that he did such a great job! 

Now I have a goal:  Jingle Bell run, Dec. 3^rd with Cub. 

On a completely different note:  Like my new design for the blog?  I could not for the life of me get rid of the brown box that went behind my title.  I tried all the templates that were offered to see if it would go away.  Nothing seemed to work, except for putting my own picture there.  It’s huge.  Sorry about that, really don’t need a huge picture of me, but I guess it does have my boys and me after a race so it’s fitting. 

Injury update

So the last I left you, I could barely walk after my half marathon.  My legs were shot, my heel was not happy at all with me.  I woke up Monday after Sunday's race and had to hop around the house.  I had a Dr appt at 1 so only a few hours of not moving around.  Here's a video someone posted and it's so true.  Totally felt this way.

Dr appt took a grand total of 15 minutes, with most of it me waiting for him to come in the exam room.  I told him that I thought it was plantar fasciitis and everything I'd been doing and about my race the day before.  His wife had run the full and was feeling just as stiff and awful as I was.  He basically told me to stretch more and that if I wanted a prescription to physical therapy I could have one.  I decided I might as well try PT and see if it would help.  I go back in 6 weeks for a follow up, if PT and stretching don't help he said he'd give me a shot of cortisone.  I've heard that it's extremely painful shot to get (especially in the foot- and I'm not fond of needles anyways).  So here's to PT!

PT people had an opening that day.  Score!  My therapist did the usual measurements for my ankle and calves. I always knew I had tight calves but I never know how tight.  Basically a normal ankle should have about 15 degrees of flexibility.  Both of mine were at 0 degrees!  granted that was a day after my 1/2!  So, after all the measurements, etc.  I got ultrasound to improve blood flow, a nice heel massage and ice. 
Went back on Wednesday, got to do all sorts of stretching and strengthening exercises.  Got warm up on the exercise bike- felt pretty good to do some cardio.  More ultrasound and ice.  Left feeling better.  No longer walking with a limp.  Ended up going to the gym Weds night to ride the bike since its better than nothing. I did 7 miles but man, my butt hurts still! 

Today, I braved not taking any Aleve and felt ok.  Not 100% but as long as a I walked slowly- only a little pain, but if I walked how I normally do- with a misson!- it still hurts.  I'm still walking more on the outside of my foot, since it acts up if I pronate.

GRRR this resting concept is awful!  What have you done when you can't run?

Race Recap: Columbus 1/2 Marathon part 2- the race

Boom!  The cannon next to the State Capital goes off and we're off.  I was in corral B (for the 1:35-1:45 estimated finishers) which was pretty close to the start.  We took off with the fireworks going off, church bells tolling.  It was quite impressive.  I keep nervously looking up where the fireworks were going off, afraid of getting singed by the ashes. (I know they have professionals who make sure that doesn't happen but I need something to worry about), my foot started to remind me it was not 100% happy (even after 2 Aleve).
1/2 mile mark (never seen that before) Carrie and I were right on target 4 mins.  I was feeling great.  I love running in big crowds as long as I'm not having to change my pace to get past someone or slow down.
1 mile 8:04.  Still feeling awesome, foot not bad, Carrie was to quote "not in her happy place".  So we separated a bit, I assumed she was just right behind me.
Mile 2-7:44 feeling great, ran past some DJ playing Pitbull, nothing like Mr. 305 to keep me going.

Between mile 3 and 4

Mile 3- 7:44 again, starting to feel a bit winded, pretty fast 3 miles ( 23:33), we were in Bexley so I took off my arm warmers and prepared to start looking for my family which we had planned to be at the corner of Maryland and some other street. (probably should know it- but I don't).  Ok- there is a water stop with people on both sides of the street, tons of cups flying around, avoided getting splashed. (In my my mind, I wasn't planning a H2O stop there) anyways made my way over to the left side of the road so I could throw my stuff at the fam- nearly cut someone off- sorry about that!  Then I see my mother in law and Buster with my dh's best friend, zipped over and throw down my arm warmers and was off again!  I didn't even see Cub or dh!
Mile 4:  8:05 Oh, heel, I'm sorry, was I ignoring you?  I feel you now...only 9 miles left...  Nice big Golden Lab was tied up in front of a house was barking furiously at all the runners- I just assumed he was cheering us on in "Bark".  I'm sure he was saying "go runners go!"
Mile 5: 7:55 Honestly, couldn't tell you what I was thinking here...on autopilot.
Mile 6- 7:53 there was a guy with a microphone screaming, "you trained for this", "so did you" "no, you didn't train" It was funny, headed under in inflatable start line and mat.  Yay, tweetmytime.com should I have posted an update for my friends- which they did!  So cool.  Anyways, 10k in 49:06.  Not bad, considering my PR is 46:45.
Mile 7- 8:21 Feeling sluggish, heel is bugging me, not happy...oh, I have my Cliff shots- i should probably eat those now!  and note to self:  practice running and eating them next time. 
Mile 8-8:25 still trying to eat, drink water, only 5 to go, come on heel...

Mile 9- 8:12 I think this is were I saw dh and his bff, who actually go me me to look  and got to pose for a picture. Also around here, I was passed my one of my dailymile.com friends- TaraB.  She looked so strong and it was cool to have someone on the course to tell you that you're doing a good job! 
Mile 10-8:34  We headed in to German Village and the crowds were amazing.  I was feeling sluggish and I knew my foot was starting to literally be a pain.
Mile 11-8:58  2 more miles to go, I can do this, I've trained for this, I can do this, I hate plantar fasciitis, this sucks, I can do this, is that a huge pace group surrounding me and passing me, yup, I can do this, I wonder if I walk, if I'd be able to start up again?, probably not, must keep going...
Mile 12-9:15, only one more mile...I wonder how obviously I'm limping? my right side is getting tighter, calf slightly cramped up twice.  Where did this hill come from? Passed the start, getting closer to the end. 
Mile 13-9:05 ouch, ouch, ouch, must keep going, I've gone this far.  I can see the sign pointing the 1/2 milers to turn off.  I might have to hop in to the finish line, this hurts so bad...craaaap.Where the hell is the finish line?  At least its down hill, maybe I could just roll down the hill...

.1 53 sec.  Done!  I actually cried when I passed the line, 1 hr 49 mins.  shit- that still beat my conservative goal that I set myself this summer of 1:50.   My goal before getting hurt was 1 hr 45 so not too bad considering.  Got my metal, space blanket, water, goodie bag, saw dh and his bff on the other side of the fence.  I limped out to meet them.  Then I got a tweet from another friend on dailymile congratulating me on my time and pr!  Love Tweet my Time!  so cool! 

Had to hang on dh for support, since I could barely walk after I stopped moving.  Finally found Carrie, she was only 2 mins behind me!

What a race!  What a year!  Amazing what we've been able to do in a year. Last year this time we were running local 5ks only and our long runs were 5 miles.  I definitely want to do this race again.  The course was beautiful, the supporters were amazing and it's close by!

Now, time to heal the heel.  And for those of you who care, My dr told me to just rest and stretch and go to PT to get it fixed up.  So I will do that, since limping sucks. :-)

Race Recap: Columbus 1/2 Marathon part 1

Saturday my running buddy Carrie and I headed off to Columbus OH for the Nationwide Columbus Marathon and Half-marathon.  Not that it was too far of a drive, only an hour.  Managed to get in around 5 and go swing by the expo to pick up our packets.

They had little stalls for the bib numbers, which you just had to get in line for your bib, and then swing over and get your shirt.  For some reason, for the Half numbers 10,000-11,999 had a line that was about 300 people that winded its way through the expo.  All the other stalls were mostly empty...and guess what my number was?  10,840.  Crap, so we waited in line for awhile, people were getting out of line when they realized it was for the bibs not the shirts or they realized that their bib number was something else.  Eventually we got our bibs, then off to check out the expo.
  Maybe I got spoiled with the Air Force Marathon's expo, but I figured the Columbus marathon would be way better considering how many people run in it, but it was disappointing.  Not a lot there which was good on my wallet, at least.   We did like the One More Mile display.  I bought a shirt for my dh last month from them.  We had fun reading the shirts.   

Dinner of champions!

So after the expo, we decided that we'd stay in for dinner.  The idea of walking around Columbus with my heel reminding me that it hurt every (other) step (thank god for aleve) was not sounding appealing so Carrie brought spaghetti with her.  THE BEST IDEA EVER.  We warmed it up in the hotel restaurant and ate out in the lobby and people watched.   Some guy stopped to talk to us and told us the hotel restaurant had sold out of all pasta.  Score!

  Then we just chilled out in our room. One of my coworkers was running the full and is beast of a triathlete, came down and we just talked for a good hour.  She'd run Columbus a few times so I asked a zillion questions.  She gave me great pep talk helped me during the race.  Thanks Jenny!

Finally decided we should go to bed around 10:00.  Had the worst night of sleep possible...woken up by drunk, laughing people in the hall, dry heat in the room, potty breaks, finally it was 5:15 am.

Breakfast of banana and cliff bar and 1/2 cup of coffee, got out of the hotel around 6:30 and walked with the masses of runners the 3 blocks to the state capital.  I about threw up on the way.  I have a super sensitive nose when I'm nervous and we kept walking by Ginkgo trees- whose leaves smell like throw up when they've been step on. Anyways, coughing and gagging I finally got away from those damn trees.  So the first "mile" long portapotty line...decided to skip it and look for others.  We turned the corner and in a dark alley there was a whole bunch that no one had really discovered yet.  So, clean and no smelly porta potties are a good thing (especially if your nervous like me-see Gingko trees above)

We stretched (sort of) and listened to the band and waited before getting into our corrals.  My heel was feeling great.  Finally, we entered our corral, and waited to get started on the race.  Which I will post later...

Pre race jitters

I posted my running log from dailymile so you could see why I'm worried...7 miles last week, none this week, only 19 in October!  My race is THIS Sunday. 3 almost 2 days away.  Am I ready? Well... maybe...If anything I need a confidence builder, a good strong 3 mile run where I feel great. But I can't.  I can't risk my foot hurting again.  Tonight, I feel the best I have felt in 2 weeks.  I have to confess, I've been taking Advil and my running buddy told me to try Aleve instead- popped 2 of those suckers and I'm feeling way better!  I'm such a dork- I hate taking medicine and Advil hadn't been working so I gave up instead of going stronger!  It could be resting and ice and now Aleve... anyways, as much of a confidence builder as I'm going to get! 

So as for my injury report: seem to be on the mend.  Yay! and if I'm not, trusty Dr. appt on Monday to fix me up.
Edited this part below- photo uploader would not work last night!

What to wear? What to wear?

Can't wait to wear my new running skirt (see previous post for link).  Also, my newish brooks Run Happy shirt.  I'm hoping I'll be happy. My only think I'm kind of worried about is the arm warmers- since I use an armband for my iphone and if I want to take the warmers off it's going to be tricky.  Good thing start time temp is going to be 32 degrees!  Brrrrrr.  At least I won't be able to feel my feet the first mile!  I'm wearing my CEP compression socks that have brought me PR's every time I wear them- and I'll PR on Sunday (as long as I finish!-since it's my 1st 1/2)  

Injury update parte deux:  Heel felt good again this am with taking Aleve before going to bed, started hurting again during the work day but not as bad as before.   Doesn't help I'm on my feet all the time for work! 

Plantar Fasciitis be damned!

My big race that I've been training for is next week!
I signed up in April for the Columbus Marathon, got my hotel room at the start line, planned out my training for 13 weeks.  I added weight lifting to my routine, cut down on zumba, convinced my running partner to sign up, my dh and kids are on board to travel the race route to cheer me on, got my adorable running skirt (and actually test-wore it so it's definitely a go), I've run training races (doing surprisingly well- I might add!) now we're down to 10 days away.

Then came my 12 mile run last Sunday

I had a great 6 mile run, but my heel was starting to bug me, it wasn't too bad so I figured I'd ice it later.  Well, let's just say it kept getting worse by Monday, I was limping around work.  I iced when I had a chance.  After work I ran drove to the running store in the area that carries the Strassburg sock.

(NOTE: I am an internet hypochondriac when it comes to running injuries but I do realize I have all the tell tale signs of Plantar Fasciitis.) I am following all the recommended stuff:  ice, stretch, Advil, wear shoes at all times w/ support (I have custom orthotics in my shoes already), night splint.

So this sock helps pulls up on your toes and helps you stretch your plantar fascia (tendon on the bottom of your foot that attaches to your heel) and your calf.  My running partner swore it helped her with it. I tried it for 2 nights, had to take it off after a few hours since it was pulling my toes which was pushing in my big toe nail- I don't need an ingrown toenail on top of this injury.

Took a "test" run around the block on Tuesday (managed to feel pretty good after 1 mile-so ended up doing 3.5 miles), then more pain- I'm not talking the typical hurts a bit after getting up but loosens up, but ouch every step on Wednesday.  Went out Wednesday to my fav Target and got another Night Splint, this one is cheaper, doesn't make my toes dig in to my flesh and pretty comfortable.  Felt great with my first few steps this am, then about the 10th step it hurt again.  Damn. Damn. Damn.

Anyways, as much as I shouldn't have, I ran again today.  I tried KT taping.  I did 3.5 again, but this time it didn't really ever stop hurting, it just wasn't stabbing pain but dull- it was hot outside too, so generally a crappy run.

My logical side says well, duh, Heather, take time off- a few days won't be too bad. I'd tell my running partner that- in fact I did, since she's been sick.  But my illogical side says " You have a race next week- you can't take too much time off- at least keep in shape!"

And YES, I did call the Dr. but I can't get an appt until Oct 17th- conveniently the day after the race. 

So, I here I am, ready to race,  I've been waiting how long for this race? Now I'm wondering if I'll finish...I could cry.  I've never thought about dropping out of a race before, and I'm definitely going to start it but I think my goal time of 1:45 is probably going to be a goal for next year. 

So, what would you do?  Start it and try to finish  or  rest and try again with another 1/2?

PS- I'm not sure what happened with my title...looks like dog poo on the grass!  I'll figure that out at somepoint! :-)

To do list

1.  Get through evening meetings on Thursday
2.  Get through morning meetings on Friday
3.  Drive to Detroit, MI after meeting w/ friends
4. Go to Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull concert
5. Drive back to Dayton
6. 12 mile run on Sunday
7.  Grocery shopping
7.  Work week w/o soccer practice (only good thing when child gets his tooth nearly knocked out)
8. longish run next weekend
9. 1/2 marathon