One Bad Ass Runner

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

I've been struggling with a 2mm slower pace than even last year, some injuries until December, etc. I feel slow AF. Some runs outside have been 14-15mm, 13:30-14mm on the TM. I've been run/walking more often than not as I cannot run more than 1-2 minutes without walking. The menopause athlete groups says it happens to some of us, where the VO2 Max takes a dive, etc. In any event, I canceled my Carmel Half because of that, and decided the 10K was short enough that I could run it by fun or race it depending on what my coach says. My coach retired at the end of January and I thought of doing it myself but in the end, I hired another badass woman coach Caolan that I've known for years and that trains some of my running group friends (ladies). She started me at 4 days of running, low mileage, and no speedwork for 2-3 weeks. Then we started doing speedwork. It was nice to be able to train even at the slow paces without breaking again (never been injured as I have mentioned before

This last Saturday, I ran the Carmel Marathon. It was a PW or close to that, but it also marked my return to marathons a my comeback after a rough year and a half. The Two Year Saga Carmel was the race I was training for in 2019-2020 and my first canceled race due to Covid. The race was nice enough to defer the runners to its 2021 race. However, after I hurt my knee (not running related) and my dad got severely ill, I decided to defer the 2021 race to this year. As fate would have it, my dad passed away during the race and I am glad I wasn't out there running when I got the news. The rest of 2021 did not get any better. In July, I had an almost-fall on my bike and hurt my glute/SI joint. I had months of PT and massage therapy, and the pain went away for the most part but it wrecked my marathon training for both Chicago and Monumental in October and November, respectively. I deferred Chicago and continued training for Monumental, but the long runs were sporadic as I was still dealin

It's been a while since I've added a race report to my blog. That's mostly because I haven't done many races since the ones I ran in May/June. 2021 was a bad year for me, dealing with three non-running related injuries, the death of one of my cats and to boot, the death of my dad. After training for two marathons in the Fall, I chose one due to it having better weather (Indy Monumental) and ended up having a calf tear at Mile 5 of the race and a DNF at mile 9. Fortunately, after the race, I took time off to move us into our new home (nearby but still stressful) so by the time I was ready to start training for my next marathon (Carmel in April, which I am still debating whether to run or not), my calf was completely healed. Knock on fucking wood. I was hoping 2022 would get better but the first thing I did was fell during my first run in our new house but fortunately, apart from a bruised shoulder, nothing major hurt. My miles until February were dismal and I feel like I

On Saturday, May 8, 2021, I ran the Chase the Checkers, Kiss the Bricks Half Marathon in Indianapolis, IN. The race was a one and only race created by one of our local race director companies, Racemaker Productions. It was created solely to substitute the Indy Mini which was postponed once again due to Covid. After my dad's sudden illness and death from Hodgkin's, I was glad I had deferred the Carmel Marathon and that the Indy Mini was not happening this year. I had barely run since February and my knee had been injured after jumping on a step during a Tabata workout. I started PT in late April to work on the scar tissue and other issues with the knee and the knee had improved substantially. After noticing that race day for this half marathon was going to be gorgeous and after running two 8 milers as long runs, the crazy Docket Rocket returned and thought a half marathon wouldn't be too crazy, so I signed up for the race last minute. Coach and I arranged the week a bit to m