One Bad Ass Runner

 On April 21, I finished the London Marathon in a PW by more than an hour. I almost quit a gazillion times due to blisters on my feet that were so painful I had to power walk most of the race. That's the summarized story of this saga that started 10 years ago and that almost didn't happen. Long AF Version Training As you know, I've run quite a number of marathons (53 and counting) in the last 14 years, starting in 2010. My best marathons occurred in 2012-2013 and later in 2015. After 2015, my quest to finish 50 marathons took me on a ride of perfectionism and obsession, DNFs, and later triumph. Then the pandemic happened and for some reason, my drive, paces, endurance, etc. hit an all time low. I managed one marathon since late 2019 and that was in 2022. Perimenopause drove my endurance and will to run another marathon to the lowest level ever while also driving my weight to an all time high. I felt like even running a mile (or even run/walking it) was a huge task. After th...

I wasn't going to write an RR for this race as I was just running it for fun, but I think I can take some good things from this race enough to write them down. As you know, I had a good late Summer/early Fall races, with times I wasn't even expecting. So it was frustrating to get injured after a fall and to still be dealing with this issue 3 months in. But such is life. A few weeks ago, I ran the Donut 5K Holiday Run and it was not an easy race. I ended up walking it with some friends for a good chunk of the race and couldn't breathe well enough to run it. I've also been having issues with my right leg (the good leg) where I start scuffing the inner toe during my runs. I think I have changed my stride/gait somewhat to accommodate the injured leg. And it has been happening more and more often and during the race it got annoying. For a heel to mid-striker like that, that is weird. My retired shoes normally look pristine on the sole but lately all my shoes are already scuf...

I did not write a race report for my 10K at Fort Ben in October, as it ended up being a bad (and painful) race for me. But since I have some more races done and/or planned, as some updates of this weird injury, I thought of putting those thoughts here. The Injury Two months before the 10K at Fort Ben race, I took Sasha to the vet. Sasha was a COVID adoption that was returned to the Humane Society two years later. She does not do well with other cats (at least she didn't until now) and freaks out whenever we put her on a carrier and take her anywhere. Understandable, as she might think she is being returned. Anyway, I took her for her one year checkup, vaccines, and to discuss medication options for Ms. Freakout. The vet thought Prozac would help her and we got a plan. But for this visit, Ms. Freakout freaked the fuck out. She pooped on the carrier on the way in, and worse, she peed the carrier and herself on the way back. When I opened the carrier, she ran like a bat out of hell ou...

The title pretty much summarizes the race. I just came out of a great race last weekend where I beat my expected time by 1:48 minutes so I didn't think I should race this one. However, it's a race literally in my running route, my running group (FRC!) shows up in droves and the weather was perfect so I couldn't say no. My plan was to either to race it by effort or chill, as per my coach instructions. I wasn't sure what I would do even as late as when I crossed the start. This course is hillier than the one I ran last week. But it also contains some nice rollers with nice downhills. Mile 2 is mostly at a slight uphill so I wasn't sure how to race something that goes up half the race and then goes slightly up and down at the end. My left leg has been pissy for a few weeks but between my upcoming trial (tomorrow) and busy with other cases, I haven't had time to visit the massage therapist again. A staycation is upcoming and I can't wait. The race starts at 7am ...

I've been racing all summer but with mixed results. The weather has been much hotter this year in Indiana than the last 4 years so it's been a challenge. I did sign up for one race a month to get me out there and not be on the TM 24/7 and I think it's been a success. Last weekend my ITB started hurting, along with my knee, not sure why since running didn't hurt it. I tried everything from my knee brace (since this has happened before with my operated knee every so often so I'm well prepared), and even Rock Tape but the pain was still there. I had no time for a massage therapist appointment since we had our regional gathering Wednesday and Thursday and I've been preparing for two upcoming trials, but finally managed to grab an appointment on Thursday afternoon with one of my massage therapist favorites and that helped. The pain was gone by the time I left his office. Having said that, I've been exhausted all week. First, not having our normal two WFH days too...

 After my 10K where I surprised myself and ran faster than I thought I could at this moment, I set my sights on my next race, a 5K. I wanted to sign up for one before it gets too hot here in Indiana and since we had a couple of days where we hit 90F but still had days in the 30-50F range, I wasn't sure what race to sign up for, as I didn't want to risk having to run in 60F which to me feels like 100F now. Then we cooled down a bit and the race for the Choose to Move 5K was looking fine. I have run this race a couple of times before and this is where I tried and finally succeeded to break 30 minutes in the 5K once again (for reference, my PR is 24:07 but it's from 10+ years ago). In 2021, my fastest year in 5 years, I broke 30 minutes at this race and two weeks later ran a 2:36 half marathon (my fastest in 5 years). Then all turned to shit and I finished the Carmel Marathon in 2022 with a 6:15 and hardly any training due to the injuries and other menopause issues I mentioned...