This will be my first time running a 50K, and my first time running two marathons so close together. I’m a little nervous, but was excited to start training. The first three weeks felt great, and I was happy with my mileage.
But that 15-mile week was not supposed to be a cutback week.
I started having some pain in my foot, kind of on the inside of my heel. It would sometimes feel a little better after I warmed up, but it was still noticeable. It wasn’t stopping me from running, but it was concerning. I only ran six miles on my scheduled 12-mile day.
I took a few days off and went on a trial run the following week, but I cut it short after only one mile. I’ve run through my share of minor aches and pains, but this foot thing wasn’t going away. I was not only worried about making it worse. I also worried I might change my gait and hurt something else. More rest was needed.
Fortunately, I had a vacation planned. We spent all of last week on Hatteras Island — part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. While I usually enjoy my beach runs, this summer they were replaced by long bike rides.
We spend our days reading either on the decks of our rental house or at the beach, so I didn’t have to spend too much time on my feet. Walking on the sand was a bit painful, but fortunately not too long of a walk.
I’m hopeful that it’s starting to feel better, though I won’t know for sure until I try running again. I’ll go on a short trial run in a couple days, and then decide if I can gradually start running again.
Hopefully rest will be enough, but I’ll see a doctor if it isn’t better soon.
In my eight years running, this is the first time an injury has made me stop running completely. It’s hard seeing people out there enjoying their runs. I miss it!
By the ever-scientific method of picking names out of a hat, the Fitbloggin’ swag bag goes to Liz and the FitStudio pack goes to Michelle. Congratulations!
Please send me your addresses and I’ll get them in the mail this week!
Fitbloggin’ 11 was over a month ago, yet I’m only just sorting through the extra goodies I picked up for a couple of lucky readers!
For those of us who stayed until the bitter end, there was a room of freebies. I stocked up on some tastycereal for myself, but also grabbed some extra goodie bags to give away.
One person will receive a swag bag filled with with samples, coupons and an awesome iBEANi hat:
Another person will receive a sport pack from FitStudio:
To enter to win, leave a comment below and let me know your plans for the 4th of July weekend!
If you tweet about this giveaway, you’ll get an extra entry. Link to this page, and mention #fitbloggin and @merrymishaps so I can find it.
I’m paying shipping myself, so I have to limit this to U.S. addresses. Sorry international friends! Contest ends on Tuesday, July 5 at 2pm Eastern. I’ll pick a winner Tuesday night.
“I can’t hear you, my music is too loud,” said the girl to her friend during the Baltimore 10 Miler.
The running-with-headphones debate has probably been around as long as there have been portable music players, but it’s definitely been at the forefront the last few years.
I usually don’t run with music, mainly because I usually run with people. It feels antisocial to play music. We usually talk throughout our run, and even though I could always leave an earbud out, I’d just as soon run without.
I’ve gotten so used to running without music that sometimes I forget it when I’m running alone. I don’t mind listening to my footsteps, but music surely does make the time go by faster and help keep you moving. Whenever I’m running in roads, I only use one earbud to make sure I can hear traffic and people around me. Safety first!
Headphones are often banned from races, but I rarely see it enforced. (Though I have spoken with a race director who says she has disqualified people after giving them a warning.) I always go without during races — you definitely miss out on the atmosphere, especially if there are bands on the course!
Recently, a friend was trying to pace off me for a half marathon since she has a history of going out too fast. She was with me for the first four miles or so (that were downhill), but my pace slowed as we started climbing. She kept going, but didn’t realize she left me in the dust since she had her iPod playing. Later, she ran out of steam. I passed her walking near mile 10, and ended up beating her by eight minutes.
I’ve tried to start conversations with runners wearing Maryland shirts when I’ve traveled to races, only to have them not hear me. And in races twice this spring, I witnessed music-listening runners have to be grabbed by other runners to get out of the way of emergency vehicles. One time, it was a closed course and the vehicle was a cart transporting an injured runner. The other, though, the roads were open and she was running beyond the traffic cones. Very dangerous!
If you always run with music, give it a break one day. Sometimes it’s nice to listen to nature!
And if you must wear headphones on roads or in races, please be careful. Make sure you can hear what’s going on around you!
On Sunday, May 22, I joined my friends for a road trip to Mechanicsville, MD to go play in the mud!
I’ve never been one to like getting dirty, but when they suggested signing up for the Warrior Dash months ago, I just had to be a part of it. Hello, fuzzy warrior helmets to all racers? Oh yeah.
I wasn’t so sure how all the obstacles were going to go, and wasn’t at all prepared for running in the mud … but I’m happy to report all went well and I loved every muddy minute!
Before. My friends decided tutus would be a good idea.
We lined up in the corral before our 1pm start and waited for the countdown. When they hit zero and started shooting fire in the air, we were on our way into the woods!
It was dry for a bit and a little dusty, but the mud wasn’t far away. I giggled when a girl shouted “Ew, it’s muddy!” near the start. I don’t think that was even an intentional puddle! I wonder how she made out …
It wasn’t long before we were struggling to keep our shoes on in thick mud that one racer likened to cake batter. Only I had to comment that it wasn’t nearly as delicious. (In fact, the mud was rather stinky.)
Through the mud, and then through a nearly-dry stream bed (there was shallow water flowing — it actually felt great!), we wound our way through the woods until we hit our first obstacle — bungee cords above and below that we had to climb through. The runners were so packed together that it felt like a teambuilding exercise. We had to help each other out. It was easier being short since I barely had to worry about the bands, but an unfortunate guy next to me accidentally took a band to the head!
I managed to stay upright as we ran through sloppy trails, except for a little slip where I needed to put my hand down to catch myself. And touch the mud — ick! But only moments later we were crawling on our hands and knees through the blackout tent. It was constructed so you had to crawl or else you’d hit the beams (there were lights so you could see enough), though I found I could move quicker if I crouched and kept my knees off the ground!
There were also a series of barricades we had to hoist ourselves over. They were over waist height (for me!) so it took a bit of effort, and there were mud puddles to land in. Some with deeper holes. Everyone warned the people behind them about the deeper spots so I tried to land on on the shallow side for one of them. Only that plan failed. My right foot found the deep spot, and my left knee and leg hit the ground of the shallow side. It stung for a minute, and at one point I could see I was bleeding, but it fortunately was just a few minor scrapes.
Out of the woods, we had to climb over a cargo net. There was a bit of a holdup here. While it wasn’t that high, you could tell people were just freezing up and having a hard time getting over the top. Yes, it was a tiny bit scary but I had no trouble with it when I finally got my turn!
Then we had some mediocre obstacles — climbing hay bales, running through tires (though I walked, as I was sure my mud-caked body would be more likely to fall!), and a “cliff” to climb that included a rope to help us up … though it was just a wood ramp that barely needed rope assistance.
Running through the field of swinging tires was a little weird, but OK. We had some steep dirt (not mud, thankfully!) hills to run up (part of the race course was on a motocross track), where I did more walking. And at the top there was a water slide!
There was another holdup here, as the race staff made us all stop and wait while they fixed the tarp. After a short delay, I headed down the hill. Really fast! There was a large rut on the ride side that I slid into. I tried to stay seated but fell to my back, where I managed to chafe four spots along my spine. Ouch!
Some more hills, and then we had to jump over a few rows of fire. They were pretty low to the ground, so not too scary! And then the final obstacle — the mud pit! You couldn’t get out of this one clean as they had barbed wire across the top. We had to get on our hands and knees again! Though I found it was quicker to just pull myself through the water with my elbows.
Almost done!
Out of the mud, and the finish line was right there. Woo-hoo!
I saw my friend with his camera and made sure I finished strong!
That tutu will never be the same again.
That was so much fun. And actually, a bit easier than I expected.
