The woods are lovely ...

... dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep. ~ Robert Frost

We started out this morning at 6AM on the Rail Trails into the woods. It was dark with a heavy wet fog. The fog was so dense that we were all damp before running the first step. Visibility was no more than a couple of feet. So we ran into a deep dark foggy morning unable to see where we were going or where we had been.

As the sun rose, the fog lingered leaving water droplets clinging to spider webs in the trees.

Two things I learned from this morning's run:

1). I am not a long distance runner. If I make it to and through this marathon, I will not run another. The half marathon will be my longest distance from then on.

2). The ITB compression wrap does not work. I need serious rest and recovery ... starting now.

Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon

This is a training run. This is a training run. This is a training run.

I kept repeating that to myself before the race. I still started out too fast. The 1st 3 miles were too fast. It was humid and warm. I knew when the sun came up it would be humid and hot. I wanted to be done before that happened.

I realized that wasn't going to happen, and I slowed down.

The run went OK until about mile 8. Jesse's knee was bothering him some. We slowed down some more.

By mile 11, my ITB started to ache; and, the heat was getting hard to deal with. I wanted to be done. Forever.


At about 12.6 miles the course took off across an open field and then off into the woods. It became a true Cross Country course - deep sand, rocks, branches, all things cross country. All I could think I that point was, "I can't run this - I don't have my trail runners on."

We came out of the woods to finish on the track.

This half marathon was not that much fun.

I'm glad it's over.

A short, cold run

This morning's run was only 7 miles. The half-marathoners in our group ran farther (9 miles) than we did. It was a COLD run! It was 32° this morning with a windchill of 30. I couldn't even feel my feet for most of the run.


Our head coach, Chris, and his 10 year-old son ran with us today. The run was by the River and across 2 bridges. Chris kept our usually fast Group 7 on pace.


After resting, stretching, icing, and rolling my IT band this week, I did not expect any problems with it. I was wrong. At about mile 4, it started to hurt. When we finished the 7 miles, it was really hurting. I am hoping that part of the problem is the cold weather.


We'll see.



Yes, that is the moon. It was up when we started running. The rest of the city was still asleep.

ITBS

ITBS (or iliotibial band syndrome) is bringing me down. This is one pain that I just can't run on. Well, that's not true. I have run with it. But, not for too long or too many miles. It kicked in at about mile 8 of my 20 mile run. I made to mile 15 before I felt like screaming. I did make it the full 20 miles ... slowly and painfully.

I went in search of a cure. A miracle drug or brace to take the pain away. I thought I had found it - something called an ITB compression wrap. I was advised against it. Something about how it really doesn't work.

So I bought an innocent looking white foam roller.

Rolling an ITB hurts. A lot. It better be working.

Sometimes races don't go so well ...

Festival of Lights 5K – 12/07/08

Tonight was an annual 5K and 1 mile fun run that is usually a very fun family event. It was the 1st 5K I ran in last year. I ran it then with my older son. My husband ran the 1 mile with our younger son. The races are run after dark. Luminaries line the race course, Christmas music plays throughout, and the runners all have jingle bells tied to their shoes. It is really a fun night.

Not this year.

This year the boys decided not to run. Jesse and I signed up to run the 5K together. But, due to the 20 miler yesterday, I opted not to run and just rest my ITB for a few days. I went with Jesse to the race to cheer him and the other runners on.Things seemed more chaotic before the race this year than last year.

1st of all, I think the number of runners had easily doubled from last year with many trying to register at the race site. They were just not prepared for that many people.


Secondly, they started the first race (1 mile fun run) at 5:30 BEFORE any paramedics had arrived. True, it's a 1 mile run and usually nothing happens at those... especially when the temp is in the low 40's. Then there was tonight.

Jesse and I stood at the finish line area to cheer in the kids running the one miler. The 1st runner came in right at 6:30 min. He looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. WTG!!! Then a few more kids. Then at around 8 min a Dad (early to mid 40's) came in running with his 2 kids.

More kids coming in. The Dad and kids walked out of the finish area where the Dad collapsed. Apparent heart attack. No paramedics! The ambulance showed up a FULL 5 min later then couldn't get through the crowd. Just too many people. They had to leave the ambulance on the other side of the finish line, take the stretcher out of it, run through the finish line past runners still coming in, then through the crowds of people who wouldn't move for anything (because they are trying to take pictures of THEIR kids, you know) to get to the poor guy. I have no idea whether he made it or not. I hope so.

It was such a nightmare, I thought they might call the race. Nope. The 5K started at about 6:15. I stayed at the finish line to cheer Jesse in. The 1st runners came in a little over 15 min. Then, a weird thing started happening. Runners would cross the finish line then stop. Just stop. Some would bend over and mess with their timing chips; some just turned around to look for their friends. As more and more runners came in, the crowd started backing up before the finish line! By the 28 min time, runners were having trouble running across the finish line. It was ridiculous!

FINALLY, the race coordinator got on a microphone and started yelling at everyone to keep moving and clear the finish line area. By then it was too late. It was backed up way before the finish line. Jesse said someone shoved him from behind trying to get past him to the finish. What was the point of that? He couldn't move either. His gun time was 38:32. But, that means nothing. He was standing still watching the time go up and not moving.

Really, it wasn't like this last year. I am glad I didn't run it.

20 miles!!!

This morning's run was a 20 mile run out on the "Rail Trails". After the 18 mile run where I basically fell apart, I was NOT looking forward to it.
At. All.

The Rail Trails are a good 45 min from my house. That meant leaving by 5AM for a 6AM run. Which meant getting up around 3:30 to eat and get ready to go.

This morning it was 52 degrees, 93% humidity in fog and light rain. The temp and humidity remained constant throughout the run. The rain slowed to an intermittent misting under an overcast sky. At 6:00 for the start of the run, it was dark, really dark.

Both Group 7 pace leaders were there today along with 24 others of us in Group 7. My friend, TJ, and I had decided that we were not going to repeat the 18 mile fiasco. TJ had completed the 18 mile run with the group, but had felt so bad after that she was ready to quit the marathon training altogether. Last week's 7 mile run at the correct pace convinced her to stay with it. So, we told one of the pace leaders that we would be sticking to the correct pace regardless of what they did.

And we did.

Running the correct pace kept me from dehydrating and getting overly tired. The only difficulty I had today was ITB related. The outside of my left knee started hurting around mile 8. I ignored it and kept going. At mile 15, it was pretty intense pain. So, I walked about a quarter of a mile. While walking, my knee felt fine. Once I started running again, the pain came back immediately. I knew then it was ITB. But, I decided to keep going, pain or not.

I finished the 20 miles. Yes, it hurt physically. But, mentally, it felt great!