Mississippi Blues Marathon Has Great Age-Group Awards!

Friday, February 24, 2012:

I received mine today - third of eight in 70-74. It’s a little smaller in diameter than a DVD, but a quarter of an inch thick, solid metal, with my name, the award, my time, race name, and everything on the face. It weighs three quarters of a pound! There was no awards ceremony - they mailed ‘em out. That’s a good way to do it.

I used the elliptical machine today, maximum resistance, 27:14 minutes, 404 calories, 68 RPM. I found this a little harder than usual, I think because I did the elliptical after an hour and a quarter of core and upper-body resistance training. So I stopped the elliptical at 400 calories - enough for the day. Now weary, showered, and ready for bed - I love that feeling.

Thursday, February 23:

We three went to the Stillwater Bubble, where we walked together for an hour, at a fairly brisk pace but probably not quite as fast as 15 minutes per mile. The good news is that the abdominal wall strain (sports hernia) didn’t bother much. That’s no real surprise, though, because it usually hurts only when I’m running. The bad news is that the hip flexors on that side did hurt, quite a bit toward the end. That’s not a good sign, with a marathon only 10 days away. Only 3.5 miles or so, and I couldn't even travel at the slowest-allowed marathon pace of 13:44. I’m just a little concerned.

So what’s happening to the hip flexors? My theory: The abdominal wall is healing, and despite my regular stretching, it's tightening up a bit as it heals. Then, as I walk, it pulls the hip flexors a bit farther than it used to do. I’ve changed the stretch to include the hip flexors as well as the abdominal wall. I hope that works.