Posts Tagged ‘Richmond Marathon’

This is my final pre-marathon post. It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been a year since I made this commitment and now it all comes down to a surviving a bum knee. Whether I finish in less than 4 hours or more than 5 hours, I’m determined to do this. I’ve come close to backing out a few times in the past couple of weeks, but there’s no stopping me now.

With just a day or so to go, here are some other thoughts:

* To Tweet or not to Tweet — I’ve taken my phone with me on most of my long runs since July and captured some cool photos along the way and documented some thoughts on Twitter. It’s been fun doing that. I’m undecided whether or not to take my phone with me on the marathon. I’ve thought about taking my phone with me too to listen to music on the stretches of the race that get a little quiet. As friendly as the Richmond Marathon says it is (or Runner’s World says it is), there are a few parts of the course after the halfway point that might need something. I’m not one to get motivated by music, but who knows how a Dave Matthews Band song might pick me up if I’m feeling down.

* The weather continues to look awesome: high 30s/low 40s at the start; temperature around 60 mid-day. You can’t beat that.

* I’ve been very impressed with the marathon folks and how they’ve communicated on Facebook in the past couple of weeks. I hope other big races out there are taking note. Answering other people’s questions, posting contests, providing links to important marathon information … they’ve been doing it all. Now comes the challenge of not being so quiet the 11 other months of the year.

* I have no idea which shoes to wear. I have two Brooks Ravenna that I’m wearing with totally different mileage: one pair is just under 250 miles and still have a good 100 miles left in them. The other pair has less than 50 miles. The newer pair was going to be the marathon pair, but cutting back on mileage has drastically reduced how many miles I hoped to have in them, and the type of running has been totally different. It’s been the slower, injured miles in those shoes, complete with no run longer than 8 miles. I think I’d be fine with either choice, but I’ll probably pack both pairs tonight. Maybe I’ll just flip a coin Saturday morning to make that decision.

* There’s a Daily Mile meet-up planned tomorrow. I hope I can make it; it’ll be nice to put real faces to people I know only virtually. The support on Daily Mile has helped get me through this year and even more so in the past few weeks.

* This is non-marathon related, but #runchat returns to Twitter this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET with me and @iRunnerBlog (aka Scott). The chat includes another giveaway this week from Zensah. Scott has all the details on how you can become eligible to win this great prize on his site here.

(Speaking of giveaways, check out my post from yesterday about winning an entry to the Blue Ridge Marathon in Roanoke, Va., in April.)

I should be excited that the Richmond Marathon is just 3 day and 12 hours away, but I’m having trouble getting jazzed up about it.

After getting over a fever pretty quickly last week, a major headache and another fever came back Sunday, lasting much of the day. That was after a run that went horribly wrong when I ran without any KT Tape and had some knee problems. I finally went to the doctor yesterday only to perplex him when I gave him the full story. In the end, it sounded like I had signs of a sinus infection and he gave me a Z Pak.

Then last night, a fever came back — the highest so far at 101.4 — and was still lingering slightly this morning. However, I’ve gotten a lot better as the day as gone along, so I think my body has finally fought off whatever it was fighting off.

So that leads me to feeling very blah about the marathon. Being sick doesn’t make me want to do anything, but I think with a couple of more days of getting better, I’m going to be pretty set for Saturday. I haven’t ran nearly as much as I had planned to in the past few weeks, but I really think that doesn’t matter too much considering how much I’ve ran all year.

The biggest issue should still be how my knee does. There’s been part of me that has thought of dropping out — I didn’t train to just get through the marathon this time. I trained harder and longer this time around. But the more I think about it, the less I care about a time goal. That doesn’t mean a sub 4-hour marathon won’t happen, and it doesn’t mean I’m going to approach it any differently, but I know going into it that some things are just out of my control.

So as I try to focus on the marathon, it’s nice to know that the weather looks perfect — upper 30s/low 40s at the start with a high in the low 60s Saturday. The sun should be out in full force. It’s a nice happy-medium from the drastic heat I ran in this summer and the recent cold conditions the past few weekends.

I passed 960 miles for 2010 today — the most since I started logging my runs by mileage in 2007. I doubt that I ran more from 2004-2006 when I ran by time. So after 3.1 mostly pain-free miles today, I am at 961.8 miles for the year.

I should be jumping for joy — don’t get me wrong, I am happy about this — but with knee issues and being sick this week, my focus remains on getting things right for next week’s Richmond Marathon. (A week from now, things will be just under way!)

With all these things going on, I haven’t lost sight of 1,000 miles either, but I know it’s not going to get here as quickly as I thought it would. At one time, I thought I’d hit the mark around this week or even during the marathon, but it looks like it’ll come later this month. I’ll be patient about it and make sure I run it healthy.

Taper time doesn’t mean running comes to an end, but in my case my body has had other plans. First it was the knee issue; today it was waking up with a temperature of 101. While I have had my fair share of sicknesses, I haven’t been sick with a fever in a long time. So today has been a day of laying around, getting in a solid nap this afternoon and very likely falling asleep on the couch very soon.

The good news is the fever has gone away (for now), but that doesn’t mean I still feel that great. I’ve been thinking a lot today about what all this means: with less than 9 days until the Richmond Marathon, I feel like my body is resetting itself.

While I would never want to have the past couple of weeks go like they have, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When I get to race day next week, what I have or haven’t done in the recently probably won’t impact my performance too much. The 10 months leading up to it are what will make a difference. The 960 miles I’ve ran — probably 970 by then — the PRs I’ve set in other races and my attitude are what will matter come Nov. 13.

It’s not the perfect situation right now, but there’s nothing else I can really do … except rest up!

It was only about 3 miles, but tonight’s run was one of the happiest runs I’ve had in some time. After a horrible weekend with the knee bothering me, I took nearly three days off before running again. Sunday morning to Wednesday night felt like forever.

It’s been an interesting few days having to do things I’m not used to: I’ve foam rolled for the first time in forever — it’s painful, yet satisfying; I’ve stretched several times at work; I walked about a half mile before running tonight; and I’ve thought a lot about what I need to do after the marathon to improve my running. This knee issue has been eye opening with realizing how poorly I’ve cross trained and focused on my core. I can’t keep doing that.

For now, though, all signs are pointing to doing the Richmond Marathon no matter what.

Yes, there are other marathons.

I could drop out now and then wonder “what if.”

I could drop out now and rest.

I could run the marathon and then take months to heal … or be completely fine.

But first …

I’m testing out a foam roller I bought today.

I’m icing.

I’m doing new stretches.

I’m resting a least two more days, if not more, before I run again.

You see, nearly a year ago I made this commitment to the Richmond Marathon and for most of that year I’ve had the best running of my life. If I stop now, it sort of becomes “what’s the point.” I’m this close (-) to the marathon and to my goal of 1,000 miles for the year, so I’m not going to throw in the towel yet. Not this week anyway.

I know there’s a lot at stake here. Could I save myself from a long-term injury by not running? Maybe. Who really knows. I do have experience on my side — before this blog ever began I had the same exact knee problems in my right knee. Exactly the same. Two weeks before the Virginia 10-Miler, I had pain so bad that I had to stop and limp my way a mile to my car. Two weeks later, after icing, stretching and resting, I ran that race with very few issues. I took some time off afterward, but was running just fine a month later.

Maybe this time around is different; maybe I can’t get over it so quickly; maybe I’ll start the marathon and have the worst pain of my life.

But I have to try things over the next week and a half first. If I continue to have major issues, then yes, I’ll back out. And if that happens … well, let me worry about that later if that happens.

So go ahead and accuse me of putting a lot on the line for my second marathon. I might not have this opportunity again for a while, so this is just something I have to do.

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This month is ending horribly as knee problems having plagued me all weekend. This is coming off two pretty good runs earlier this week. It’s left me mad, sad, confused, frustrated … nine and half months of great running and now this?

I can’t hang my head too low. This month is the fourth straight month of 100-plus miles in a month and I’m now less than 50 miles from 1,000 miles for the year — those are big things and I’m thrilled at those numbers. But …

… with less than two weeks to go to the marathon, I’ve got to figure something out. Tape that seemed to work just fine mid-week didn’t work this weekend. I even took my first two-day break in several weeks. I’ve iced; I’ve stretched; I’ve walked extra at the beginning to get myself warmed up better.

All is not lost with the marathon. I can rest more; I can get another wrap or brace to try out; I can manage this.

What does an Inn in Covington, Ga., have in common with me? A simple number: 2119.

I got a special piece of mail today - my bib number for the Richmond Marathon. I looked it up on the Internet and didn’t find too much … except a bunch of addresses, including 2119 The Inn - Covington, a bed and breakfast in a town in George that I know nothing about. 2119 is also House Bill 2119 in Washington State, a bill introduced last year on “expanding dual credit opportunities” that was eventually signed into law.

After looking up more on my race number in my last race, I am growing more and more intrigued about looking into race numbers. Part of me wants to dig up old numbers and find a bigger meaning behind them. Maybe it’s weird, but to me it’s part of making sure I continue to have fun with running.

Now is not the time to ask me for advice. Simply put, I’m not following my usual own advice very well that I give to others. But with three weeks to go until the Richmond Marathon, I have to figure out this knee issue if I’m even going to be able to run it.

So that leads me to what I’m doing right now: testing things out … and I may have figured it out.

On Monday, I stupidly ran through some pain after it set in after a couple of miles. Very stupid. I iced and stretched afterward and things felt fine soon after. I took Tuesday off and did some cross training push-ups, sit-ups and more, including some squats during the first hour of “The Biggest Loser.” During the squats I had no pain, so I decided then to run on Wednesday.

Before running Wednesday, I took the advice of some Twitter followers and bought some KT Tape. Major failure. It would not stick to my leg well at all. Long story short, I need to trim the hair on my legs for it to work. I did manage to have some tape around my knee for about a mile and things felt pretty good. All in the all, the run was going fine until about 3 miles in. I stopped as soon as the pain set in.

Once again I iced and stretched. Today, things felt good with just walking around and on steps. Through various comments on Twitter and through an email of a friend, I remembered a TruFit wrap that I had. While it is made to go below the knee, I wrapped it around the top of my knee. The result? A pain-free run of nearly 4 miles.

So maybe it’s ITBS, runner’s knee, post-long run soreness or the fact I’ve put more miles on my legs than ever this year … or maybe it’s a combination of all this … I don’t know. I know that I ran without pain tonight and I’ll try it all again this weekend.

If this was a countdown for Christmas, it would seem so short, but the countdown to a marathon is one of the toughest things to wait for. All this talk and preparation for 26.2 miles seems to last forever.

In what has seemed like a perfect running year, I’ve had a couple of rough days with my left knee following Saturday’s 20-miler. At the end of the run it felt a bit stiff, but then again I had just run 20 miles. The rest of the day and the morning after weren’t perfect, but not completely bad either. Then today I didn’t have any issues … until a couple of miles into my run.

It’s nothing I haven’t felt before. I need some rest and some ice and I should be OK. It’s too close to the marathon to play around with something hurting, so I’m glad it’s happening now and not way earlier in the training or a few weeks from now. In the big picture, there’s not too much else I can do to get ready for the marathon except get in a couple more longish runs. If necessary I’ll dust off the bike to get in some workouts.

To sum it all up, I’m just frustrated with having any kind of pain after such a great year. I haven’t had to force rest on myself in a long time, but I know it’s what I need to do. I’ll try running again in a couple of days to see how it feels, but I’m certainly not going to run through any pain.