Proof is in the Pudding

I have continually been amazed by the administration of the 10K I ran on Saturday.  Not only was it an awesome course and very well executed, but to top it off they had many different people taking pictures and apparently even an unmanned aerial vehicle taking photographs and video from the sky!  The aerial stuff isn’t posted yet but I’ve looked through literally a few thousand photos of the event……… and all of them are posted for free!  How awesome is that? 

As I mentioned in the post race report, it was a tough course and even had a river to cross, well guess what?  They got a few pics of me crossing it.  So here’s the proof this was not your ordinary 10K.

 

Tomorrow I have my first speed workout.  4 X 800.  The weather is supposed to be in the 80’s making a decent day for sprints.  I plan to run them at the track at work, probably around 3:00.  Wish me luck!  I foresee some sore legs on Friday!

Army 10 Miler Training Schedule

Today starts my training program for the Army 10 Miler.  I developed my own routine based mostly on a cross between the novice and intermediate versions of Hal Higdon’s 15K program.  I’m posting it here as a way to keep myself in check and stick with it.  I may alter my speed work to do 400s instead of 800s though, We’ll see after the first set. 

A Great Race and a Challenge for Next Year.

First off, HAPPY 100th POSTING!!  I started this blog in the hopes that it would help me stick with running.  It’s been a long and struggling haul to get to the pivotal 100th post but I made it!  Now on to push for the 1 year mark.

Today’s run was great!  The course takes you winding through hill country up and down rocky trails and along several river banks.  The scenery was amazing.  Apparently it is considered the 5th best 10K trail run in the country.  That being said, I also heard it was the 4th toughest!  Yeah, I was totally not prepared for this race.  A lack of running for the last month, no hill workouts, and not knowing it was really a trail run, I’m just glad I finished the race!

It was such an amazing race though, I’ve already told Jen that this will be one of next years challenges.  So now what everyone is waiting for…… THE RACE REPORT!

To begin with, I have to start of with yesterday.  It was a full travel day home from Phoenix.  a 4 hour flight, 20 minute lay over, then a 1:15 flight.  Getting me back to Baltimore at 9:15.  I finally made it home around 10:30.  Then I couldn’t sleep because of the time difference and anxious about the race.  I didn’t fall asleep until after 1:00.

Then we were up at 6:00.  I knew I needed a pick me up so we stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got our coffee/sugar fix then on to the race.  It took place at this cool ranch in up state Maryland settled in some rolling hills.  There was a western theme to the area.  We grabbed the registration packet and got ready to go.  Here are my splits:

1 Mile - 11:03 - Feeling pretty good, started with the 4/1 intervals but the first big hill I had to walk more, It was an extremely steep incline that lasted about 1/4 mile. I was very winded and had a stitch in my side (which I rarely ever get).

2 Mile - 14:20 - Lots of hills, the beginning of the rough terrain, but with rolling elevations.  Still struggling with being winded.

3 Mile - 14:19 - Finally got to some plateaus, mostly exhausted from the climbs.  Dropped my interval down to a 2/1.

4 Mile - 15:08 - The beginning had rocky inclines and declines from hell, actually had to use my hands to help get up.  This leg of the race was PURE EVIL!!!!  I wasn’t as exhausted/winded but the trails made for extremely slow moving with lose rocks and steep inclines.

5 Mile - 14:20 - Along the river, two river crossings, the first one was a narrow bridge, the second had two options, narrow bridge or a cut across the river.  I took the river and it was about 20 feet across with water over my calves.  It felt great but now my socks and shoes were soaked and I still had about 1.5 miles left.

6 Mile - 12:22 - Finally some flat areas!   I was able to catch my second wind and kept it steady with intermingled walking (gave up on the interval timing a few miles back). About midway through this, the kids 1 mile race started and as we merged I thought it would be awesome to run with Paige. I slowed and actually backtracked about 50 feet to meet up with her.  She was thrilled! 

6.2 Mile - 2:33 – We made the last turn and it was a straight away through the frontier town with a finish coming across a covered bridge.  We ran it in hand in hand.  A great way to finish a race!!!

Even with the lack of sleep/running, I felt great at the end, better than some of my previous 5K’s.  I was totally exhausted but not in any pain.  My feet are feeling good, but I took some ibuprofen just in case.  Now it’s nap time then off to do something with the family.

I’m glad to finally be home after two long work trips!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the race.

Gout, Tai Chi, and a Treadmill

My conference is going well.  Phoenix is a great town with beautiful scenery and a much slower pace than the Baltimore-Washington area.  My feet were still fairly sore when I got here, so I wasn't sure what my plan was for this week, running-wise. 

On Monday afternoon I attended a 4 hour workshop on Tai Chi, where we learned some basic moves and did a lot of practice.  Right before the workshop started, I was hobbling over to the room, at the end, the pain was nearly gone, and has been gone since then.  When I get back I'm going to have to research it more and maybe find some classes.  From what I understand it is great for blood flow and inflammation.

I've been busy with the conference and visiting with my sister, but last night I hopped on the treadmill and got in 45 minutes.  A SLOW pace, but didn't want to push anything since I haven't run much the last month.  It felt great, but I was sweating like a pig and as read as a tomato when done.  Afterwards I felt awesome!

I plan to get another run in tomorrow morning, then a long day of travel back home.  I get in late and have the River Valley 10K saturday morning.  I hope I can get enough sleep.  It's going to be hard as hell trying to get up early on Saturday after being 3 hours behind. 

My next post will be my 100th!!   Wish me luck on Saturday so I can have a great race report for it! 

Between Trips Check in

I’m back from the Jamboree and head out to Phoenix on Sunday.  The Jamboree was AWESOME!  Most of my time was spent between our onsite tick pathogen testing lab and assisting the installations pest control division with complaints (mainly yellow jackets, wasps,  and hornets).  The days were long, hot, and tiring, not leaving much energy for running.  Alas, I still haven’t returned to a normal schedule.  Here are a few pics from the jamboree.

My daily obstacle course.  It took forever driving anywhere.

Patch trading is a BIG thing with the scouts

 

Scouts having fun on the lake (The whole reason we were there!)

The awesome pest management team.  Most of the soldiers were reservists and they did a hell of a good job.

The pest group with our equipment.  It was fun driving the off road vehicles around.

Mass vespid carnage!  With yellow jackets, we removed the nests instead of just spraying them.       

 

Digging out a yellow jacket nest.  You can’t tell but they were flying all around me and nope, I didn’t get stung once!

This was one huge hole, nearly 4 feet down to get the nest.

On the health front, My last day I came down with a bad cold.  I’ve been fighting it off and trying to recover since then.  Mostly better but tired.  My feet are still bothering me.  I haven’t been incapacitated again, but dull pain continues to bother me.  it seems like it’s deeper in the joints than before.  I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not.  Right now, both big toes are sore and I’m unsure about this next week.  I have a 10K to run a week from now and hopefully I’ll be able to get rid of this pain by then.  I’ve returned to daily use of the NSAIDs to try and push it off.  Once I’m back from phoenix, I will be consulting a podiatrist regarding the best medicine for my gout and going to stick with it.  I think it’s time to give up on the alternative methods and go with the prescription meds. 

I’m looking forward to this week.  The conference isn’t packed full of relevant stuff for me, it’s mostly for military doctors, so I should have some free time to relax and do some things around the city.  A few of my coworkers (Army Captains) and I talked about doing some early morning runs this week.  I really hope I can do them!  

I hope everyone in the Blog O’ Sphere are doing great.  I plan to catch up on everyone this week as I’ll have my laptop with me. 

Catch ya later!