Playing blog catch-up AGAIN. Here's a recap from the past week and a half...
The October adventure run was Halloween themed... so of COURSE my husband and I had to be zombies. Fast zombies. (You know, like World War Z zombies and not Walking Dead Zombies.) Get all the tickets!! One guy gave us extra tickets because he said we looked awesome! Sweet.
Here's a pic of our gang... although my husband and I are the only ones in the Halloween spirit!
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| Epic. Me the freaky zombie with Cheetah and her wife.
My husband decided to run with me for this one so he pushed the stroller with our daughter and our 9 year old son came along too. I was going along with my headphones in at a 10 mile pace and my husband was ahead of me and I thought my son was right behind me. I looked back and he was way back there and looking like he was about to cry because he couldn't keep up with me! Aww. Poor kiddo. I thought he was right there. So I stopped in my tracks and ran backwards to attempt to make him laugh. Well, my calf cramped up when I did it... like a giant tight charlie horse. I spent the rest of the run speed-walking.
So instead of a 10 mile run that weekend, we went on a 5 mile family hike with my son's boy scout troop. I know it wasn't the same as running 10 miles but it was relatively hilly and I was carrying a big backpack so it was a decent workout. I was going to try to get in another 5 mile walk the next day but I came down with a weird flu, or food poisoning or something. It was weird, and sucky.
Here's just a couple pics from our hike:
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After getting over my flu or whatever it was, I waited until Wednesday to do my next run. I did 4 miles on the treadmill at the gym with no calf problem. So Thursday was a 3 mile run. My husband and I did our run together. He's been sneaky training to do the Rock n' Roll 1/2M in Vegas with me. I don't know why it's a secret but the secret is out now if you're one of the people who read my blog. It was fun running with my husband. He has crazy long legs and is built for running but he doesn't have the endurance that I do. So he runs and walks and I chug along at a jog and we kept the same pace. We ran down to Seahurst Park, and then back up the hill to get some oatmeal and a restaurant near by, and then set out to jog back home. That last mile or so back home was when my calf started bothering me again. Ugh. So I walked back.
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| My husband and me. Happy runners. |
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| Still loving my shoes |
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| Check out this tree! The sun hit it just right so it looked like it was on fire. |
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| Beautiful morning on the water |
Then Sunday was the Biggest Loser Half Marathon. This was the first time I went to a race completely by myself. My cousin and cheetah had already signed up for another race so it was just me, myself, and I who drove an hour up north to Lake Stevens. I was supposed to get 15 miles in so there was parking at the high school a little over a mile from the start/finish, with a $10 shuttle that would take you there. I thought this was perfect! I'd save myself $10 and get my 15 miles in!
I got up at 5:30am, stopped at Starbucks, and made it to the high school parking lot at 7am and jogged to the start line. I paused my garmin, picked up my race packet, gear checked it, and started the pre-race warm up with former Biggest Loser Contestant, Jordan. Only a mile in and my calf was already aching. I thought, "Well, at least this is a run/walk and I have 5 whole hours to finish this thing. If I have to crawl I'll still make it." After the warm up I went over to a vendor tent and bought this really cool race belt called The Tube Waistband with all these pockets for your phone, etc. I LOVE IT. Go get one. Anyway, I took a quick selfie...
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| Ha. This is a bad pic of me. I was trying to get the Biggest Loser sign in the background and didn't pay much attention to what my face looked like. |
And got into the start corral....
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| Dan and Jordan, former Biggest Loser contestants |
The race started out amazing. Usually all these crazy fast people keep passing me when I start a race and I feel super slow. This one was totally different. Everyone started out at my pace. I'd pass some people, and some people would pass me. I thought, "These are my race people!" I jogged along happily for 3 more miles (So about 4 miles on my watch) with my calf aching but not TOO bad, and then all of a sudden it was like someone hit the back of my calf with a baseball bat and it felt like my muscle snapped like a rubber band. OWW. I think I gasped out loud. So I slowed and walked/limped. Awesome. I text my BFF with "Help! Google chi-running techniques for calf pain!" and she text back, "Googling" right away. Sweet. She found that I should shorten my stride and keep my ankles loose. So I tried that. Baby jogging steps. It felt ok when I jogged downhill but uphill was impossible. It was very small hills but any slight incline hurt. After another mile or so, it was achy to walk but I didn't limp anymore. I limped when I jogged though. I just did my best. Chugged along for miles and miles this way. I kept a positive attitude the whole way though. It was a gorgeous day, I was nowhere near finishing in last place, and everyone passing each other high-fived and said encouraging things.
I saw this guy at the first turn-around....
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| Says, "I lost 50 lbs and put it in this pack. It reminds me how far I've come. Today is your day. Join me next year with your pack." |
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| Bracelets at the half way point |
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| Pretty day on the lake |
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| Almost to the finish line over there! |
When I made it to the finish line, I grabbed my medal, snacks, and water and headed to gear pick up to grab my bag and headed towards the car. The whole mile back to the high school was at a slight up-hill so I walked the whole way back. I was wearing a backpack too so that didn't help.
Phew. I made it! 15.2 miles. It took me almost 4 hours to do it though. I was really hoping this 1/2M would be a PR and I'd feel amazing and the extra 2 miles would be no problem. The calf said no such luck. 2 weeks ago when I did the Snohomish River Run 1/2M, I felt great after. Not too sore and went to a party right after. Today is a different story. Because I was compensating for the calf, I ran really weird and I'm sore everywhere.... quads, hams, my hips, and of course my calf. I'm limping around today.
My husband found me an article on how to heal a torn or pulled calf muscle faster. There's this weird alternating jog/walk/run strategy... and a lot of ice and massage. So I'll try that. I'm supposed to keep off of it as much as possible for a week first. That'll be hard for me. I'll do spin classes instead of my training schedule. I hate to do that though. It bugs me not being able to check off my runs.
On another injury notw... I finally scheduled my cortisone injection for my low back for Thursday. EEK! I really doubt it's going to help much but I really can't keep running with a numb foot. I guess it's just the steps I need to go through to find a more permanent solution. Wish me luck... I'm totally freaking out about it.
We go to Dallas this weekend to visit family. My husband and I will get our miles in there hopefully! All of my weekend runs are long now. 10 miles, 16 miles, 1/2M in Vegas, 20 miles, 1/2M in Seattle, and then a 6 mile taper, and then 26.2!!! Down to the wire!
