Reflection - Thoughts from Race Day

I have had a few days to reflect on this weekend and have gotten over most of the aches and pains that the TC Marathon graced us with.

Kelly finally started walking more smoothly today and for me it came a day earlier. Yesterday I felt pretty good with minimal stiffness and soreness, although after the marathon I could have been mistaken for a grandpa all wrapped up in a blanket at my in-laws house. That being said, we are alive, well and actually considering another run/race.

I have to thank our good friends for showing up and supporting us. Jen, David, Kris, Meghan, Amy, Pat, Jeff, Becca - thanks for the signs, oranges, and Gatorade. It meant a lot to us both to see you guys there and to hang out with you guys post race.

Also, a big thanks to our parents, Aunt Barb, and Grandpa Earl for showing up and supporting us. Jean put on a mean taco bar following the run and it was awesome.

Here are some random stories and thoughts from the run.

1) The rain really sucked. I was cold during and after the rain. Running with soaked shoes and socks was not fun. All the runners were corralled to one side of the street due to the huge puddles, which made things crowded for about 4 miles. It was too bad because most of the rain came while we were running around the lakes area of Minneapolis which is one of my favorite areas to run around.

2) The start was an awesome thing to witness. Just seeing a sea of people that were all setting out to do the same thing was pretty cool. The big sky way tunnel on Hennepin Ave was fun to run under as all the runners were yelling all the way through.

3) The hundreds of thousands of supporters who showed up in the weather to cheer on the runners was incredible. I can't imagine making it through the entire run without them. The music, the candy, the signs, and the general cheering made the run very enjoyable for both of us. Some group of people played the Rocky Theme around mile 7 in the rain. It was pretty cool.

4) For the first 15 miles I had a great time. I was high-fiving bystanders and doing the YMCA dance. By mile 15 I started to get sore and started playing games where I would pick out a street sign and run to it and repeat. This got me through to mile 20.

5) By mile 20, I was really hoping the next 6.2 miles would finish themselves. We were running along East River Rd in St. Paul and I didn't remember any hills. Turns out there are two of them before you reach St. Thomas hill. I thought the previous 2hills WERE St. Thomas hill. St. Thomas hill looked like Everest and we walked up it. We were actually walking up that hill faster than people were running. It was kind of a buzz kill to walk that hill while the DJ was blasting "Jump Around." In my head I was thinking, "why don't you run 21 miles and try jumping around, a$$hole."

6) Kelly pretty much pulled me through the final 4 miles. I walked more than I would have liked and more than I thought I would, but it was necessary so I could finish with a smile on my face. I honestly can say that without her there with me, it would have been tough to finish on my own.

7) Turns out you are not supposed to say "you're not there yet." A lady asked us if we had passed the 20 mile marker. I was still in a good mood and replied, "nope, you are not there yet." She repeated what I said and looked at me like I had just shot her puppy. My bad.

8) I was planning on drinking a beer on Summit Ave during the homestretch. It didn't happen. I didn't even drink a beer post run. I had cramped up pretty good between mile 24 & 25. My direct quote was "oh sh#t!" Kelly looked over and thought I had done just that. Instead, my right hamstring was cramping pretty good. I tried stretching but had a tough time balancing as I bent over. It loosened up as we went and I made sure to drink extra fluids at the next water stops.

9) The last two tenths of the run was very cool. The culmination of seeing all the people lined up, seeing our parents, the capitol, the big American flag...(I didn't even see it and it is twice the size of the ones at Perkins and we ran right under it) was truly amazing. The sights coupled with the emotion of finishing what we set out to do was a very cool experience.

Time to sign up for Grandma's.......

T-Minus 3 Days

Last night was our graduation from the ALARC Marathon Training program. It was actually kind of sad know it would be the last time we would meet before the big run. There were four different speakers. Each one of them had run multiple marathons and each had their own methods and style on preperation. It was great to hear their stories and made me even more excited for Sunday. My father-in-law was one of the guest speakers and he was very entertainng.

Our facilitators talked to us some more about expectations, what to bring, etc. they also presented each of us with a letter (not to be opened until the night before the race) and a goody bag for race day. The bag included some necessities like bandaids, hard candy, and chapstick. It was a nice gesture. The MTP has been crucial to our training success and I encourage anyone who plans on running a marathon to join the ALARC program. The knowledge we have taken from it and the accountability to our long training runs have allowed us to go into Sunday feeling prepared.

It is tough for me to explain how I am feeling today. I have butterflies in my stomach and I haven't felt this way since my last college football game. Very weird.

The schedule for the next couple of days consists of a steady diet of rest and carbohydrates. I am looking forward to Sunday!

Planting Seeds for Good Thoughts

That was the theme and the goal for today's run. We put in 11 miles this morning and started at the Shriner's Children's Hospital. We then ran past St. Thomas and down Summit Avenue to Dale Street. This is the final stretch of the marathon course and for us it was important to run this stretch while feeling good. The idea is to have good thoughts tucked away for marathon day. Numerous people have told us that the 50% pf the marathon is the final 6 miles and 385 yards. Summit Avenue is in that final push. The temperature was good and I think we accomplished what we set out to do this morning.

For me, it was the easiest 10+ run that we have had to this point. I can't say the say for Kelly. Her IT band and knees were pretty sore today. Hopefully things improve to make the marathon more enjoyable.

I am looking forward to this week as we take it easy. It will be a week to get some time back for ourselves that was normally dedicated to training. One of the big keys will be to eat healthy, stay off of our feet, and load up on carbs. The other key will be to get a lot of sleep, which shouldn't be a problem for either of us

Scaling Back Nicely

We have dialed back the distance in our training runs leading up to race day. The big key now is to get some workouts in and stay healthy. This past Saturday, Kelly and I put in a nice and easy 10-mile run. We took our time, enjoyed the nice morning and got it done.

It is amazing how easy it is to now prepare mentally for a 10 mile run after running 20 miles in one shot. It is still a chore for me to do 10 miles, but in my head it isn't as daunting as it once was.

Here are some words of wisdon. If you use a fuel belt and fill the bottles with Powerade, make sure to not leave it on the floor after you run. It turns out dogs like the taste of Powerade and may chew holes in your water bottles. Those bottles are $14 each to replace. Pretty sweet.

I have also been taking Duke, my hunting partner, on some runs during the week. My pace isn't quite as fast as he would like, but he should be in pretty good shape come pheasant opener.

Through Rain and Sweat

Mission accomplished. Our first (and only?) twenty-mile training run is in the books. We signed up for and completed the Bear Water Run this past Saturday. The run took us around White Bear Lake two times, with a good mixture of hills. It was a touch muggy and rained for a portion of the run, but for the most part, the weather conditions were optimal for running.

In regards to the run, it was the same story as most of my other long training runs. Everything hurt at one time or another and it was another game of mind over matter. This will be the farthest we run until the marathon and I am excited to scale back the training runs until the big day.

Up until Saturday morning, I was convinced that I wasn't going to be able to finish the run. My left knee had been in pain all week and didn't seem to get much better. I went to visit a chiropractor and she taught me about muscles in my legs that I didn't know existed. She almost saw a grown man cry but my legs were very, very loose after our session. I have to say it did wonders. I had some dull knee pain through mile 12, but after that, it felt better than it had all week. I can't explain it and it doesn't make any sense why it would feel better AFTER 12 miles of running, but it did. There has been zero pain following the run and I am pretty pumped about that.

I wrote earlier that I expect to be catered to following long races. The folks that set up the Bear Water Run know what they are doing. Once you cross the finish line, there is water and Gatorade within steps. They also had a nice spread of bagels, fruit, and coffee. I also tried a jalapeno pickle-sickle (jalalpeno-pickle flavored Icee) which was as bad as one would assume.

My favorite quote from the run was produced by my wife. We were around mile 18 and the dialogue went something like this:

Steve: "Do you want to chat?"
Kelly: "Not really."
Steve: "Do you mind if just talk, you can listen?"
Kelly: "I am too tired to listen." She was serious.

Thanks to Dennis and Jean for showing up and supporting us. I will make sure to add those photos to my modeling portfolio....Nothing hotter than rain and sweat-soaked clothes clinging to this girlish figure.

Three weeks until show time.

Running is 90% Mental, the Other Half is Physical

My knees are killing me, plain and simple. I am on day 2 of recovery from our 18-miler on Saturday and I feel like I need crutches. I need to start taking my own advice from my last post and start taking care of myself with ice and stretching. I did some icing and made sure to stretch more than normal, but it obviously wasn't enough. I even tried to make myself use the foam roller to stretch out my IT band. This week will be different. I will ice daily and I will stretch daily. My running partner is going to have to keep me accountable.

So the run on Saturday started out great. If you were in the state on Saturday, you know the weather was about as perfect as it gets in Minnesota. For running, it simply doesn't get any better, especially for the burly type. The lakes area in Minneapolis is a great place to run early in the morning. There isn't a ton of people traffic and there is something serene about running around the water. I am sorry to get all duckies and bunnies on the bit, but I enjoy that area.

This run was the most challenging physically and mentally than any other I have done. Eighteen miles is the farthest we have run, but I had high hopes from how I felt after last weeks 16-miler. Only two extra miles, right? At some point or another, every part of my legs was in pain. From my hips, quads, knees, calves, shins, ankles and feet, something always hurt. That is part of it and you need to run through it. So many people have told me that running a marathon was more of a mental challenge than anything and now I feel I understand why. It truly is mind over matter and Kelly and I both accomplished our longest training run ever.

So what does a guy do after running 18 miles? Rest? Nope, drive to Le Sueur to play a round of golf with some old football buddies and drink some beers. My kind of training program! To top it off, I ate about 4,000 calories in ribs that night too. I am sure a personal trainer would approve of my post-run diet regimen.

Next Saturday we are running the Bear Water Run in White Bear Lake. It is a 20-mile race and it will be the farthest run before the actual marathon. Kelly and I ran the 10-mile race last year and it is a nice run. Again, around water, we will be running around White Bear Lake twice.

Joint Care, Gotta Do It

So the knee issue had me worried enough to go to TRIA and have it checked out. After a laboring 10 minute visit with some old guy, we figured out that the pain was caused by an inflamed IT band. Some posts back I talked about having a class with super trainer Johnny J who warned us about the IT band issues and we even bought a foam roller for the purpose of keeping the IT band healthy. It turns out I haven't been using it enough.

So after a full week of doing nothing but gaining weight (I seriously put 9lbs. back on) I decided to do the group run today, which was 16 miles. I still can't believe by not doing anything for a week I put that much weight back on. I know most people do not usually eat healthy when they travel, but I don't think I over did it. I was worried about the knee for the majority of the run, but I did my best to stop and stretch often. It started to flare up around mile 8, but toned down for the rest of the run and I have found some new dedication to taking care of my knees. I made sure to ice and take some ibuprofen following.

I plan on mixing in some bike and water work outs now to take some strain off the joints. I am also going to make a commitment to stretching out my IT band daily. I have come way to far to not be able to finish this thing. Five more weeks until the show. That is what we call it in the biz, the show.

A couple of notes -

1) Today's run started at the Mendota Bridge, we went through Fort Snelling and into Minneapolis along West River Road. We then crossed over the Franklin Bridge to Saint Paul and ran along East River Road to Highway 5. We finished by crossing over the Mendota Bridge one more time for a cool run of 16.25 miles. It was a nice morning to get out.

2) I finally found a fuel belt, thank God. I could have used it today. The running store had 2 left in my size....I feel like I finally found the holy grail. No more stealing Kelly's water during our runs, I am sure she will hate that.

3) TRIA is a money hungry organization. After confirming my injury, they wanted me to schedule an MRI before sending me to a physical therapist. If we know my knee issue will not require surgery, why do I need to give you my money for an MRI? I was told it was procedure. I should have told him it is procedure for people to pay me $100 to look at my legs in shorts. I just may have to send him a bill.