One Bad Ass Runner

 It's been a while, I know, and lots has happened since last I wrote my RR from London. A month or two before London, I started having issues with my right foot dragging while running. No pain or any indication that anything was wrong. Just before Easter, I had a run outside with hubby when I noticed my toe was feeling weird and when I turned the shoe, the whole big toe area had scraped off! It wasn't happening all the time by then, but this was the turnaround point of the issue. While it was happening once in a blue moon, now it started happening on and off during the runs. I only had two long run weekends left for London (back to back LRs on both days, like 16/12 and 18/14) and I still ran them well but shortened the run/walking to 30/30 seconds to accommodate the issue. And as you read, I finished London so success on that. The week before we left for London, I started seeing a chiropractor and PT for the issue. Both and many friends kept telling me that it was the back and ...

 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...

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...

On Saturday, I ran the Choose to Move 5K, a race benefitting the Indiana Parkinson Foundation. Although the race has been around for 4-5 years (except for 2020 which was virtual), I had not heard of the race until a week before the race. Ironically, the race course is part of my daily running routes and the same course as the Gobbler's Jog 5K I ran in 2019. The race was very well organized, with packet pickup the morning of the race only, and with Covid-19 requirements, like masks when no social distance is possible, as well as all outdoor events, packet pickup, etc. The race was chip timed. My PR for the 5K is 24:02 but those times, I feel, are sadly gone. Between my asthma, my medication-related weight gain, and age, my 5K times have been dismal in the last decade and they have only gotten slower as I do more marathon training. However, since arriving in Indiana, I have been doing more shorter races (first because the weather here is not the surface of the sun and second because ...