Make It a Masterpiece

Sports Hernia Advice & Treatment

2012-02-02T20:51:00.003-06:00

I went to see Dr. Y last September, and he then suggested some time off from running, or very easy running without pain, to see if the sports hernia (abdominal wall strain) would heal. It sort of DID heal, and then a couple of weeks ago I decided to see if I could push it, ran four miles at almost a race pace, then another at a slightly faster pace, and the pain was back again, just like that. Oyeah. Hence today's doctor visit.

From Dr. Y, two choices:

Consult with a surgeon. This is "general surgery," not orthopedic; or
Try therapy for four or five weeks first.

Surgery is not the most conservative treatment right now - therapy is. Unfortunately, the therapist that the doctor prefers is not available at the moment, because she had a baby girl yesterday. Congratulations KL! However, I got an appointment with another therapist, two weeks from now. Huh. Wish it were sooner. KL is very good - I hope this therapist is.

Other information from Dr. Y:

The sports hernia is most likely not pulled muscles but pulled tendons. I assume that tendons take longer to heal.
Sports hernia is a "rule-out" diagnosis - it's a sports hernia if no OTHER problems are found, such as a real hernia or hip problems or whatever else, and there is still pain in the right place. He found nothing except the tender abdomen.
The first step in conservative treatment is to stop the injurious activity (running) for a while and see if the injured abdomen heals. I did that, because I was able to run nine marathons since September, mostly without pain. So, on to therapy.
Be sure to get back to him if the therapy hasn't helped within four to five weeks. Actually, it'll be hard to know, because I have a marathon in four weeks, so I'll be doing a longish marathon-pace walk/run in a week and then tapering. I'd expect the injury to get better during the taper with or without therapy, so I may need more than five weeks.
I asked how quickly I might expect to heal from the surgery, and he obviously couldn't give an exact answer, but I think I heard him say eight to ten weeks before running again. Less, perhaps, because I'm in good shape, but more because I'm 71. I'm surprised at that length of time - it seems like I've seen people bounce back from a real hernia repair much more quickly. If surgery is required, I want a doctor who has done a LOT of hernia repairs and can do them laparoscopically.
This doctor advised ice and Tylenol for pain control, not ibuprofen, "as it may inhibit the healing process." I don't use much pain control anyway - I'd rather know what's going on in my body.

Up to now, I've been able to keep the pain at bay by simply walk/running very slowly, so slowly that a marathon takes 5 1/2 to 6 hours. Training has been at that same speed. The run part is at a good pace, about nine-minute miles, but only for 30 seconds at a time, followed by a rapid walk lasting at least that long before the next run. The result is a pace of 12 to 13 minutes per mile, and the walking somehow prevents re-injury to the abdomen even though I do end up running lots of miles at a nine-minute pace.

This morning I ran in the Stillwater Dome, walking only the corners to avoid re-injury to the adductors. The resulting pace was about 10 minutes per mile, and that amount of walking was not enough to keep the sports hernia happy. It hurts. Next time I'll try running the long sides and walking the corners plus the short sides, see how that goes.

The photo has nothing to do with anything, but I like it.

Painful Runs

2012-02-02T20:20:00.004-06:00

Thursday, February 1, 2012:

Stillwater Dome. I had an appointment with the sports doctor later in the morning, so I wanted to run hard enough to make the sports hernia hurt - it’s easier to diagnose an injury when it hurts. Therefore I ran most of the way, walking only around corners, to spare the adductors. Sure enough it hurt, right from the start. It didn’t get much worse though, so I didn’t have to slow down, and I made a pretty good pace considering the walking.

Later, at the doctor’s office, it did hurt enough for diagnosis. More in the next post.

Splits: 10:12, 10:04, 10:08, 9:59, 10:10, 9:40, total 1:00:15, six miles, pace 10:03.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012:

In 42-degree temps, we three ran in the park today, on the mostly-dry paved trails. Nice - I wore shorts, and a long-sleeved shirt under a runner’s wind jacket - perfect. Running wasn’t perfect, though. I started running 60 seconds and walking 30, but my sports hernia (abdominal wall strain) was painful from the beginning, and got worse. At about 4.5 miles, it hurt enough to make me walk more and run less. Later I was able to go back to the original pace, but not without pain.

Six miles in about 65 minutes or so, and I’m calling the sports doctor tomorrow. February will be a new month.

Simple breakfast:

Two Domes

2012-01-26T21:55:00.003-06:00

Thursday, January 26, 2012:

The Stillwater soccer dome is open for walkers, runners, and fly casters (!) from 6:00 am to 10:00 am every weekday morning. We three ran for an hour, and I tried something new - run the straights and walk the corners. That’s a LOT of corners, actually about 22 per mile, thus a lot of slowing to a walk and starting up to a run again, but the result was good - I heard nothing from the adductors at all. I did reverse direction every mile, as I would if walking.

Nothing was heard from the knee or the adductors, at all, but the sports hernia hurt all of the way, enough to make me happy to stop after the 60 minutes. In the past, it has usually calmed down after the first quarter mile or so, but no such luck today. Evidently I really did re-injure it Tuesday in the Metrodome. Oh well, it will get better, but I’m disappointed that I can’t run any kind of short race without reinjury. The conventional wisdom is that the only fix is surgery - oh my, I hope not.

Splits: 20:38 (2 mi), 10:04, 10:30, 10:14, 10:08, total 61:38, pace 10:16. That’s fine for a walk/run.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012:

We three picked up Jim and headed to Minneapolis to run in the Metrodome. I like running there, and so do 100 to 300 other runners every Tuesday and Thursday evening. The curves are gentle, the company is good, and the only problem is that the running surface is hard cement. So I won’t do a 20-miler in there, but shorter runs are fine.

Jim and I ran together for the first four of my six miles, which means that he loafed along while I was breathing hard. But that’s OK with me - I needed to find out whether my injuries would raise their ugly heads if I pushed beyond marathon pace. In fact, after the four miles, I alternated walking a lap and then running even harder for a lap, just to push it a little more. The bad news is that I felt pain in both the right knee with PFS (runner’s knee) and the abdominal wall strain (sports hernia), much more pain than in any recent marathon. The good news is that neither was bad enough to limit the running in any way. It’s probably good that we were done at six miles, though.

I didn’t bring my watch, but it took about 60 minutes to run the six miles, and that includes three laps (more than a mile) of walking. I suppose it’s not a masterpiece, but it’s fine. I’m happy.

Oatmeal peeking through. There are blueberries under there too. Berries were frozen. Most everything is organic:

University of Wisconsin River Falls

2012-01-22T21:03:00.002-06:00

Saturday, January 21, 2012:

University of Wisconsin River Falls. It’s almost a half-hour drive, but on the weekend the UWRF indoor 200-meter track is about all there is. It’s pretty nice, though, even if there are 16 turns in a mile.

I had a good time, running the straights at a fairly good pace, and then walking the ends of the oval as fast as I could walk, to avoid re-injury of the adductors. Did you know that the curved ends of a 200-m oval track are longer than the straightaways? Anyway the run went well, and I finished 4+ miles in 48 minutes.

Thursday, January 19:

Dome Running! We hadn’t been to the Metrodome in several years, but I wanted to run where there would be the fewest and most-gentle corners. The dome is the longest indoor track that I can think of, two and a half laps per mile. and the corners are very easy.

I had a wonderful run. I was worried about the adductor injury that I had felt Thursday at the dome, but after a few laps of warmup there was no pain. Just to be extra careful, I walked most of the corners and ran the straightaways. Almost five miles, pace about 11 minutes per mile. Great run, and I’m so happy that the adductors are not going to be a problem.

A regular breakfast, a couple of days ago. There's oatmeal in there somewhere. Mostly organic:

Adductor Strain

2012-01-18T19:54:00.002-06:00

Rats. In the winter I go indoors to run on rectangular tracks. I like them much better than treadmills, but the problem is that indoor tracks have many, many more turns than the outdoor trails that I’ve been using for three fourths of a year. Each turn puts only a very small stress on the adductors, which are used to pull the legs together, but the stress of hundreds of turns can add up to a strained adductor. I know this - it’s happened before - but somehow I forget when I’m having fun.

We ran on oval tracks Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of corners, and Tuesday we ran in square loops in the Stillwater Soccer Dome. At first I thought that my shorts were bunched up on the right side - a sharp, small pain. One lap later, it hurt enough that I realized what was going on. Luckily, I was done with the five miles anyway.

If I try to run on this injury it will soon hurt enough to make me stop, so I’ll have to be satisfied with walking, the elliptical machine, stairs, and upper-body resistance training until the pain is gone. In the past this has taken about two weeks.

There is good news - I did have a very nice 5-mile run otherwise. The pain showed up in the very last lap, but until then I ran the whole way, no walking, no other pains.

Splits: 10:19, 9:54, 9:25, 9:40, 9:39, total 48:57, pace 9:47.

This morning's breakfast. Gluten-free oatmeal cooked with organic raisins and cranberries, frozen organic strawberries and blueberries, kiwi, and organic yogurt:

Indoor Tracks

2012-01-15T21:33:00.003-06:00

Sunday, January 15, 2012:

After a run, I shower and put on an all-cotton shirt, a running shirt received at a race somewhere, one of hundreds. Cotton pants help too. I love that feeling: clean, worn out, warm, and cotton all over.

Today we ran on the Knowles Center 200-meter indoor track, at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. It’s a very nice facility, open to the public much of the time, $5.00 per visit. I had intended to run 5 miles, but I’m not accustomed to running without walking and had enough at 4 miles. I had a tough time slowing down, actually, or I might have gone farther. Several times I deliberately slowed, by shortening my stride, but the moment my mind went somewhere else I was back up to a pace that I couldn’t sustain for 5 miles today.

Muscles are tired, which is one of the desired results. There are plenty of other reasons for muscles to be tired today too, including a marathon a week ago, snow shoveling this morning before the run, and more. No significant pains. It’s all good.

Splits: 9:35, 9:05, 8:54, 8:46, total 36:20, overall pace 9:05. I’ll do better as we get farther from the marathon.

Saturday, January 14:

North St Paul Community Center track, 13.5 loops per mile. This track makes me want to run fast, and today I did. Two miles at a decent pace, followed by one mile in which I walked one lap and sprinted the next. Splits: 9:01, 8:36, 10:30, total 28:07. This run felt very good, and afterward my legs were appropriately tired, which also feels good.

Thursday, January 12:

25 minutes on the elliptical machine, 360 calories. I think the machine equated that to about 2.5 miles.

Grilled organic chicken, organic spinach with a little goat cheese, organic cherry tomatoes with a little hot sauce:

Recovery Run in the Park

2012-01-10T22:02:00.002-06:00

Minnesota enjoyed record high temperatures today. Our thermometer said 51, and the car said 54. So we three went to the park for an afternoon run. I thought I could run on the grass trails, but they were way too wet, so I used the paved trails. A nice run, first one since the marathon, 3.6 miles in 38 minutes for a pace of about 10:33.

The sports hernia hurt a little at the start, then went away. No other pains - looks like I really did get away with another marathon! I felt strong throughout the run.

This car was parked along the Mississippi Blues Marathon race course, with the stuffed animals watching the race:

Mississippi Blues Marathon, Jackson MS

2012-01-07T21:48:00.006-06:00

Marathon number 62, state number 43. Seven left: Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, West Virginia, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii. We have a plan for running a marathon in each of those states in 2012. Lots of things can go wrong though - we’ll see if it all works out.

My race:

No injuries! HOORAY. More below in the "whining" section.
I explained my situation to one guy, that I was running with cancer, seeking to finish the 50 states while I could still run, and he congratulated me on that active lifestyle, complaining that too many people with incurable cancer are too busy dying.
I’m not sure that I know any of those people; the ones I know in the support group are pretty busy living, but he may be right.
I started a little slowly because the race course was hilly, so it’s possible that I could have gone a little faster, but not much.
For the first seven miles I ran with Elvis! He liked to talk, so he ran my pace, but he was breathing pretty hard and I eventually left him behind to talk with some other folks.
One man in the race ran 113 marathons last year. By comparison, I ran 13 and thought it was a lot. He ran more than two a week.- I’m not even sure how you do that! It must be a logistical nightmare just getting from one place to another.

The Marathon:

Organization was great.
Volunteers were wonderful! We drove the race course the day before the race, and Sunshine commented that it would take a million volunteers to keep us on course and guard the side streets. Yup, it did, and there were a million of them!
Mile markers were nice, and hard to miss (though I missed a few anyway).
Aid stations were plentiful, with both water and energy drink, and there were at least three gel stations.
It’s hilly! We spent more time and distance going up or down than we did on the flat. No complaint - they said it would be hilly.
There was music here and there, and I enjoyed it.
Food after the race was great.
Complaints:
- The course was entirely on city streets, and not more than a mile of those streets were closed to traffic. A lot of the race was in residential neighborhoods, and traffic there was light, but some was on more heavily traveled roads with traffic moving faster. That’s never very comfortable.
- The running lane was always coned off, but on most streets this put the runners on the edge of the road, where the running surface was usually sloped sideways. I’m very happy and a little surprised that I didn’t have any knee or hip problems, as I have in the past from this kind of course.
- The streets of Jackson are in very poor condition. Runners definitely had to watch their step to avoid tripping on a bump or stepping into a pothole.
- I know that it’s hard to lay out a course, but this one didn’t take us past the current state capitol building or the Supreme Court building, and I’m not sure about other landmarks. I don’t remember many city parks, or any other scenic areas (rivers?), mostly residences, including a few burned-out ones. I did see lots of churches, though.
- Bottom line: I didn’t like the course. I have no other complaints about the race at all.

Whining:

The PFS (runner’s knee) showed up by mile seven but never really bothered. Hooray!
Similarly, the abdominal wall strain (sports hernia) also showed up around mile seven but never became a problem.
At one point my left leg went a little numb for a while, then slowly returned to normal. It happened while I was walking. I hope this was an anomaly and not a new problem.

Splits: 37:16 (3 mi), 38:04 (3 mi, chatting w Elvis), 12:19, 11:49, 12:11, 25:39 (2 mi), 12:58, 11:50, 1:30 (0.11 mi, half-marathon point 2:43:37), 10:52 (remainder of mile 14), 12:37, 25:21, 12:12, 16:40 (potty stop), 12:54, 12:53, 13:42, 12:34, 13:03, 12:30, 14:37 (1.22 miles to finish). Total 5:33:33, according to my watch. Official results are not up yet and may be slightly different.

This was a city street, and a lot of them were as rough as this half mile:

Last Runs of 2011

2012-01-01T21:29:00.005-06:00

Saturday, December 31, 2011:

St Croix Valley Runners. We meet every Saturday morning at the Northland Tennis Courts along County Road 12. This morning there were seven of us, two walking and five running. I started out with Dave, but then left him and shortened the usual 5-mile route down to 3.5 miles, because I was feeling some pains and have a marathon coming up in a week. I finished the 3.5 miles in 33:22, though, for a pace of 9:32. I’ll take it.

Whining: The right knee with PFS did hurt a little, most of the way. I’ll have to do something about that.

Wednesday, December 28:

One more winter run in the park. I can’t remember when we could run on the grass trails after Christmas, but today the ground is almost bare. The ground was frozen, though, and the grass matted down, so the trail was a bit harder than usual. 4.8 miles in 49 minutes, for a pace just over 10 minutes/mile. OK for today. I ran most of the way, except a few of the downhills.

Whining: The sports hernia hurt a little, mostly in the beginning. The right-knee PFS (“runner’s knee”) squawked more than it has for several months. I hope it goes away again.

You can almost see the oatmeal under there:

Recovery Runs

2011-12-24T21:26:00.002-06:00

Saturday, December 24, 2011:

Temperature reports from the assembled runners varied between 10 and 15 degrees this morning. I wore a balaclava on my head, then four layers on top, all technical, with a running-style wind jacket outside, and running pants with foam knee covers, and finally my rubber-cleated running shoes with long, heavy socks. Perfect. I might as well have been indoors.

I hadn’t run with Wayne for quite a while, so we took the Lake McKusick route (a.k.a. Wayne’s Route) and chatted away the five miles. A very enjoyable run. I walked a few steps downhill, but otherwise ran the whole way. Not too fast, though. We got a half inch or so of snow last night, which takes a little extra energy, and winter clothing is slower too, so the run took us 49 minutes. That’s a pace of 9:48 - good enough for today. No pains.

Thursday, December 22, 2011:

The marathon in Delaware was last Saturday, and then we enjoyed Cape Henlopen for a day, plus two days driving home and one more shoveling snow and scrambling to get things back to semi-normal. So today was the first run after the marathon.

With only a little snow on the grass trails, I went for a 3.7-mile jog in the park. I love running in that park. This time I was able to run up most of the hills, but walked downhill because there were some slippery spots. The “sports hernia” (abdominal wall strain) hurt a little, but that resolved after a bit and nothing else hurt. I got away with another marathon without injury!

A lovely run, about 43 minutes, pace abut 11:37, not very fast but I was pretty careful on that snow. Next time I’ll wear my cleated running shoes perhaps. It’s a masterpiece.

Christmas Eve day lunch, all organic. That's broiled chicken:

Fortitude for First Descents Marathon, Lewes, Delaware

2011-12-17T18:22:00.007-06:00

This sweet little marathon was scheduled for August in Cape Henlopen State Park, but was rescheduled because of a hurricane that came by exactly at the wrong time. That was our good fortune, though, because we couldn’t make it in August.

The mission of the marathon is fund-raising. "First Descents is committed to curing young adults of the emotional effects of cancer and empowering them to regain control of their lives by experiencing outdoor adventure therapy through kayaking, rock climbing and other outdoor adventure sports." We didn’t contribute much to the fund-raising, just the entry fee, but we definitely enjoyed their marathon.

Good Stuff:

It wasn’t a certified race, but I think it was at least 26.2 miles. All three of us agreed that we worked just as hard as we had in the recent rainy and hilly Seattle Marathon, and we needed just a bit more time to finish this one than we needed in Seattle.
The spark plug of the race is Elysa, I think, who is also on another mission: www.racethestates.com. If so, then I think that Lynne (at run the day dot com) was the engine. She did LOTS.
The course is relatively flat. I can think of three places where I was glad to get to the top, but actually the top wasn’t very high. It’s not quite flat, but it’s not really hilly either.
The course was a combination of roads, paved trails, and crushed-rock trail. Honestly I loved that rocky trail, winding through the woods, up hill and down dale. It was well made and I would have been delighted to run the whole 26 miles on it. Alas, that piece was probably only a mile long, but we did it four times!
Cape Henlopen State Park is a pine forest, with the forest floor covered in brown pine needles. I saw some junipers too, but mostly is was pine, whatever kind of pine will grow in sand.
Marathoners ran the 6.55-mile loop through the forest four times, while the half-marathoners ran it twice. In addition, another quarter mile or so was tacked on the front of the race, because, perhaps, the race organizers wanted to be sure that the course wasn’t short. I didn’t ask about that though.
There were three aid stations, placed a little over two miles apart. Each had water, energy drink, energy gels, and delightful volunteers.
The U.S. Army shares part of the park, and assisted at some of the aid stations. Also, along the way, are relics of the armaments of World War II, with 8-inch guns (I think) for taking out ships and submarines, and 3-inch guns (for sure) for air defense, along with many well-spaced mostly-underground munitions bunkers.
German submarines actually sank 400 vessels off the East Coast of the U.S. during that war. Delaware bay gives access to several major ports, which would have been vulnerable to attack, hence the formidable defenses.
A German sub surrendered off Cape Henlopen, after hearing that the war had ended. No shots fired.
Considering the pine forest, the rocky trail, the war history, and splendid views of the ocean, I didn’t mind repeating the same loop four times. Delightful.
Weather was pretty good, considering what it could have been. Average temperature was probably between 40 and 42, with sunny skies for the first two loops and cloudy for the last two, but no rain. The only problem was wind, which was muted by the pines much of the way.
Also, according to the race web site, the horseflies are fewer at this time of year! Indeed, there were none.
Not so good: They had soup and other food for race finishers, but that shut down early, probably about 5 hours after the start. Really, if it’s a six-hour marathon, the finishers’ area should stay open for six hours! If the aid-station volunteers can tough it out in the wind, then so can the people in the warm building.

My Race:

Marathon number 61, state number 42, finish time 5:32:40, probably third of three in my ancient age group of 70 and up (results are not up yet).
Early on I thought I was running short on energy, but that didn’t happen. The last loop was only a little slower than the others.
I ran and walked, as usual. Most of the time I ran 30 seconds and walked about 50, but often cut the walking part shorter. I suppose that I actually ran more than half the distance, though not half the time.
I passed our car four times on the course, so I used it as a private aid station, dropping a shirt after the first loop and picking up gels three times.
The temperature was right on the edge for shorts, but they worked out fine. For most of the way I wore a wind jacket over a single long-sleeved wicking shirt, plus ear cover and gloves.
Interesting: Our car remotes worked very poorly in the parking lot, and even worse near the finish-area building. We thought something in the car had failed. However, I suspect that a nearby radar installation was interfering with the tiny radio signals from the remotes. They work just fine now, away from the park.
Six gels (with caffeine, the only legal performance-enhancing drug), eight or nine ThermoTab salt tablets. I took one or the other at every aid station.
Because of the interesting multi-loop course and a few out-back segments I bumped into my sweeties running the half marathon at least three times. I like that.
Whining: The right knee hurt just a little, but that went away. The “sports hernia” (abdominal wall strain) hurt a bit toward the end, but was never a limiting factor. The left hamstrings got sore, up near the top of the muscles, but were not limiting. Calves threatened to cramp, but didn’t. All in all, pace was limited by energy and nothing else. I probably couldn’t have run it much faster.

Splits: This was partly a trail marathon, so there were no mile markers, but I recorded a few times passing the finish line: 1:24:22 (one loop plus maybe 1/4 mile), 2:43:13 (two loops), 1:25:04 (one loop), total 5:32:40, overall pace 12:41. Again, though, I believe that the course might have been at least a quarter mile long. That’s OK - better long than short!

Sunshine and Don discussing the course during the race:

Team Continuum Run

2011-12-12T13:20:00.002-06:00

At the conference of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Diego, we held a small run to get publicity for Team Continuum and Tackle Cancer. Both charities were started by men with myeloma. Patrick Crayton of the San Diego Chargers came to see us off, in honor of his friend Elijah Alexander, who has died since starting Tackle Cancer. The press was there, especially some of the foreign press covering the ASH conference.

We had a very nice 4-mile run along the waterfront. I suggested 10-minute miles, and I think we went a bit faster than that because I was dragging toward the end, but I needed it and felt good afterward. San Diego is a great place to run.

Before and after the run, the reporters interviewed me about running marathons with cancer. I’m surprised to find that I enjoy those interviews.

Thanks again to Patrick Crayton, a great guy and friend of another great guy.

Charities Challenge Indoor Races

2011-12-04T21:51:00.002-06:00

Gary Westlund’s Charities Challenge hosts a Sunday morning indoor track event at Bethel University several times during the winter, and today was the first. There are races at 60 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m (sometimes a mile instead), and 5km. This time a 5k racewalk was on tap, and a 400 m relay as well.

Usually I race when I go there, but today I mostly just wanted to log a few miles on the outer perimeter of the track and enjoy watching the races on the inner lanes. I ran 3 1/2 miles, and then decided to do an 800 m race after all. I finished that in about 3:40, which is not a good time, even for me.

Leg muscles felt weary, though, even before the race, possibly from a marathon a week ago, and undoubtedly from running a 3 1/2 mile warmup at a pretty good pace.

Wild Alaskan sockeye salmon (canned) with peas and cheese, strawberries, dills, and heritage cherry tomatoes. All organic but the salmon and the cheese:

Stillwater Dome

2011-12-03T19:55:00.002-06:00

Stillwater Dome, otherwise known as the St Croix Valley Recreation Center. I used to run in cold weather, but since we discovered the Stillwater Dome we like to run indoors when it’s below 32 degrees. Friday we went to the Dome for the first time this winter. Not a lot of people there yet, but the crowds will build as the temperature drops.

This was the first real run since Sunday’s marathon, and it felt so good. I ran, without walking, for at least 35 minutes, and then walked one short edge, running the rest, for another 10 minutes. I think the pace was 10-minute miles or faster, so the distance was probably at least 4.5 miles.

The runner’s knee is back, though. I don’t know if it’s from running with no walk breaks, or from all of the corners in a soccer dome. Anyway it wasn’t bad and we’ll see how it goes.

Oatmeal with organic raisins, organic yogurt, frozen organic blueberries, fresh organic strawberries, kiwi, chocolate:

CNN Story Good News Bad News

2011-12-02T10:27:00.001-06:00

Good News:

My little story about cancer man running marathons is on Headline News today. I've seen it twice, at about 9:13 and 10:13 am.

Bad News:

A longer version was scheduled for the Sanjay Gupta M.D. show, at 6:30 am this Saturday and Sunday. It has been slipped one week, however, because Dr. Gupta will focus on AIDS this weekend. So it should appear December 10 & 11, both days, at 6:30 am CST. Maybe?

Online Version:

It is already available online at CNN Blogs. This version also includes an article which I wrote.

CNN Story

2011-11-29T09:07:00.006-06:00

While I was in Washington DC a month ago, CNN interviewed me for their "Human Factor" segment - a guy running marathons with cancer. The story aired Tuesday morning, Nov 29, on their American Morning show.

It is available on CNN's blog pages: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/category/human-factor/, along with a short written story.

The video is also available without the text here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2011/11/29/hf-don-wright-marathon.cnn.

It will probably air again at least once on Headline News, sometime during the week. Finally, it is likely to be included in the Dr. Sanjay Gupta MD show, which airs at 6:30 am CST on Saturday and Sunday.

Seattle Marathon

2011-11-27T21:13:00.005-06:00

It rained every drop of the way. After all, this is Seattle in November! I asked one person who had been involved in a decision to keep it in November, and he said that the Board of Directors wanted it that way. Personally, I think it’s part of the Seattle mystique: This is Seattle and you get the weather that you are dealt, even if it IS usually rain.

Actually, though, it wasn’t so bad. The temperature was within a degree or two of 50 throughout my race, actually dropping slightly, the rain was never more than moderate (with less than 1/4 inch total accumulation during my race), and there was no need for sun screen! The only fly in the ointment was the wind, 10-15 mph SSW gusting to more than 20. In a few places this mattered a lot, making a flat run seem like uphill and a lovely downhill seem flat. But that can happen in any city and any weather.

My Race:

Finish 5:26:23, roughly a half hour faster than the most-recent two marathons, making me second of three in my 70-74 age group. Marathon number 60 since diagnosis, and Washington is state number 41, a total success. Nine states left - I can easily tick them off on my fingers now. Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii.
No pains worth bitching about, isn’t that nice? Sometimes my speed is limited by a pain somewhere, but today it was just muscle fatigue, which happens in any marathon.
According to the published results my second half was three minutes slower than the first half, which is about right. I don’t believe in negative splits any more - small positive splits give the best time.
I shot for a 5:30 finish. I wonder if I could have gone a little faster if I had aimed a little higher (lower?). Hard to know.
I wore shorts, a technical (wicking) LS t-shirt, a runner’s wind jacket, ear cover, and gloves. Perfect. I was never cold until after the finish.
There were lots and lots of Team in Training (TNT) runners to thank. TNT raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which funds research on blood cancers like mine. I like to tell thm how much I appreciate it.
I ran with (sort of) the 5:30 pace team, which must have finished on time. Near the end I went out ahead by a minute or two, and now regret that I didn’t hang around for a couple of minutes to thank the pace team leader and tell her how important she was in helping me pace my race. She was a TNT runner, and I’m going to try to get a message to TNT.
As usual I ran for Team Continuum, which was started by a guy with myeloma and supports families overwhelmed by the costs of cancer.
As I passed one old Marathon Maniacs runner, I asked him if this was his second marathon of the weekend. He said that it was his fourth! After a bit more conversation I didn’t understand him and didn’t believe him, so I scooted on ahead.
Later in the race I came upon a young woman with a sign on her back (actually her butt) which explained the FOUR marathons in Seattle this weekend, starting on Thanksgiving day. She was taking it easy at that point, but in the last two miles she roared past me and finished in style.
Six Clif Shot Mocha gels, an equal number of Thermotab salt tablets.

The Seattle Marathon:

It’s a pretty good one, according to me. I definitely recommend it. To heck with the weather - runners can dress for it.
The course has its ups and downs, in both senses. There are plenty of hills, and there are a few places where it isn’t fun to run, but all in all the course is OK.
Part of the marathon course (not the half) goes across the I-90 floating bridge from Seattle to Mercer Island, using the express lanes, which are closed to traffic and well-separated from the regular lanes by a tall NJ median. The problem is noise from vehicles on the regular lanes. Apparently Washington State allows the use of studded tires, and those make a LOT of noise. Lots of people use them, even the cab we rode in yesterday. One runner from Wisconsin was quite upset and a more than a little grumpy about it. I scooted ahead. After all, that portion was only 3 ½ miles of a 26-mile race, and in my mind the noise was compensated by the uniqueness of running down the middle of a huge freeway which was floating on the water. I liked it, and besides, I wasn't wearing my hearing aids.
In several places only one lane of a small road was closed to traffic, though traffic was usually light and it never became a problem. Noise from nearby I-5 was a problem, but those segments were short.
Much of the course was simply delightful. We circled Seward Park, an island/peninsula in Lake Washington, on a paved trail totally closed to vehicle traffic. It smelled like pine or juniper, and the area was mostly inhabited by mallards who paid very little attention to us. We passed other parks as well. For at least 11 miles we traveled on a mostly-closed residential road along Lake Washington. Later we ran on a closed road, Interlaken Blvd, which afforded us views from high above the city. Never mind how we got up there! Finally, we finished in Memorial Stadium. Nice.
Police were perfect. no grumps.
Volunteers were perfect and abundant.
We saw more spectators than I expected in 50-degree rain.
We all noticed a lot of officials, on bikes and otherwise, checking to make sure that we were OK.
There seemed to be lots of porta-potties, but mostly these were singles - one porta-potty. I never saw long lines, but single porta-potties are not convenient for people who are running with a partner.
The expo was large and comprehensive, and there seemed to be another one at the finish area.
The finish area was in a nice, heated building.
Results were posted almost immediately. In fact, we got an email from the marathon right after my finish congratulating us and telling us how to access the results. Cool.

Splits: 12:12, 12:49, 11:32, 12:42, 24:20 (2 mi), 25:04 (2 mi), 24:12 (2 mi), 12:20, 12:04, 12:20, 38:39 (3 mi), 11:31, 12:20, 12:09, 13:18, 13:28, 13:15, 12:14, 12:16, 12:28, 15:07 (1.22 mi), total 5:26:23, pace 12:27. Mostly I ran 30 seconds and walked about 50 to 60.

St. Croix Valley Runners

2011-11-24T10:52:00.003-06:00

Saturday, November 19, 2011:

I hadn’t run for a week, doing yard word instead, but this morning the weather was fine for running, cool but pleasant, so I joined the SCV Runners on the weekly 5-mile jaunt. The abdominal wall strain (“sports hernia”) made itself known for perhaps 50 or 100 paces, as usual, and then quieted down, as usual. No problem.

Nice run, actually. I walked only a little, up a couple of short hills, and otherwise just kept jogging, finishing the five miles in 46 or 47 minutes (no watch), for a 9+ pace. It felt good. One week to the Seattle marathon.

Traveling to Seattle by way of Portland, Lookout Pass at the Montana-Idaho border was the trickiest driving. Slush on the road, but, happily, not a lot of traffic. We had chains along, but didn't have to use them:

Good Run

2011-11-12T19:58:00.003-06:00

I had a weary run last Wednesday, but felt a lot stronger today. The cold is still hanging on, so maybe that wasn’t the problem Wednesday - most likely that was just muscle tiredness from two marathons.

Today was a good day. I felt stronger at the end than at the start, always a good sign. 4.8 miles in 53 minutes, for a pace of about 11 minutes/mile, good enough on that hilly dirt & grass trail, better than Wednesday for sure.

The “sports hernia” (abdominal wall strain) hurt a little for the first 100 paces or so, then wasn’t heard from again. All of my recent runs have been like that, including the last three marathons; abdominal pain for just a short time at the start. I’m hoping it will eventually just go away entirely.

I had a nice little run with a 6-year-old yesterday, 1.5 miles around Lake Como, lots of spurts and stops, but we both enjoyed it.

Organic chicken with two cheeses, organic veggies, organic sweet potatoes, organic black grapes:

Pooped Out

2011-11-09T20:28:00.003-06:00

We three went for a recovery run in the park this afternoon, but maybe I should have taken a nap instead.

The run started OK, but I soon discovered that I was very tired. Not just my legs, but everywhere, just fatigued. I walked up all hills, down most, and sometimes even on the flat. 3.7 miles in 45 minutes, probably OK for a recovery run three days after the marathon. But why so tired? (1) Marathons three days ago and ten days ago; and (2) A head & chest cold that is sidetracking a lot of energy right now. Those are the only reasons I can think of, and happily those will (hopefully) cure themselves with the passage of time.

Despite the fatigue, I did enjoy the time in the park. Fall color is gone, but the park is still beautiful, serene, and inviting. It calls to me, and I am so glad when I can answer it.

This is a TV broadcast before the start of the NYC Marathon, as I stand behind the broadcasters holding up a Team Continuum sign.

New York City Marathon

2011-11-06T21:23:00.008-06:00

I finished in the dark! Well almost - I finished while it was still light, but spent a half hour or more collecting my race bag and then it was totally dark.

Anyway, the New York City marathon was the spectacular event that we all know it to be. When people ask me about my three favorite marathons, I always include NYC. Nowhere else have I experienced the crowd support and the incredible number and quality of volunteers. If you like bands, there are plenty of those too. There’s nothing quite like it.

Here are some more good points:

Roads are entirely closed to traffic, all 26.22 miles.
The entire event is totally organized: From the Expo to the finish line, nothing is left to chance.
The Expo was huge and, at least when we went on Thursday, there were no lines.
I’ve never seen so many police along a marathon route. I like ‘em!
The only places without spectators were the bridges, where pedestrians are not allowed.
It’s not really very hilly. In NYC, the hills are the bridges.
There WERE ENOUGH portable toilets at the start. I’ve rarely seen that before. I stood in line for maybe three minutes, and then when our corral was called we went past dozens of empty ones that I could also have used with no line.
The weather could hardly have been better, clear and cool.

They could fix this

The first few groups of portable toilets had only four or five in the group, and a huge line of needers. What the ...!? Everyone (EVERYONE) knows that many hapless runners will screw up and need a toilet in the first few miles (experienced runners plan to use one no more than 30 minutes before the start). Later in the race there were as many as ten toilets in a group, maybe more, and no line at all.
The huge crowd at the end, after the finish, is an embarrassment to the NYRR. Here you finish in your best possible time, and then you spend the next half hour or more standing in line to get your race bag. Arrrgh! That’s unconscionable. FIX IT!

They won’t. The NYC Marathon is what it is, take it or leave it. Most of us take it. If I ever do this one again I’ll arrange not to need a race bag (had a valuable jacket in it), and I’ll bug out right after getting the medal.

My race:

Wonderful! All in all, I had a very enjoyable race and a good enough finish time.
Time 5:51:58, pace 13:27, four minutes faster than a week ago, number 92 of 157 in my 70-74 age group, marathon number 59. I have completed a marathon in 40 states so far in the eight years since myeloma diagnosis, ten to go. I got faster toward the end, which is a very good sign - I was passing everyone. I really love that!
I was part of a group selected for enthusiasm (who knew?) as a cheering section behind pre-race TV interviews. This was fun, but it meant that, except for the bus ride to the start, I was on my feet from 3:30 am to 5+ pm. I was concerned about starting the race already tired, but I was OK. My back got tired standing, but was fine when I got going running.
Also, I had run a marathon one week before, three weeks before, five weeks before, and seven weeks before, so I was concerned about the toll from those escapades.
At bottom, though, I have no idea whether any of those significantly increased my time. Probably they all contributed. But who cares? I finished, and now have three weeks to rest up for the next marathon, in Seattle. Maybe I can go a little faster.
This was the long run for that next marathon, right? I’ll jog a little Wednesday, maybe again Thursday or Friday, and then run with my regular group of friends on Saturday. Take it easy on me you guys. After that it’s taper time already! I hope the trails in the park are still good.
Nothing hurts. I escaped injury, as far as I know. The “sports hernia” (not a real hernia) spoke up a little bit, but was never a limiting factor. The only limiting factor, actually, was muscle fatigue. That’s NORMAL. Yay!
I feel quite fatigued as I write this. That’s sort of normal too, but I am starting to catch a cold and that may contribute.
This morning I woke up with a scratchy throat, and the race didn’t make it better. I will take good care of it tonight, with plenty of sleep, warmth, zinc lozenges, and vitamin C. We don’t have access to chicken soup and liniment (for the chest) now, but we will tomorrow night.
My sweeties didn’t get to run this marathon, but they did meet me at mile 16 and again at mile 26. I love that. Turns out there were other friends at mile 26 too, but I was so focused on my sweeties that I missed them!
I did get cold. I tossed a long-sleeved shirt at about mile 5, as the temperature warmed, but could have used it again later as the sun dropped low in the west. My mistake - I could have tied it around my waist. But a hot shower at the hotel corrected the problem!
I met some new people who are important to me and the E-Race Cancer campaign and Team Continuum. Good people. I like them.
There may be a CNN piece about my marathons on their American Morning show, Tuesday, November 15. But maybe not. I’ll try to keep an update here.

That’s enough. Have a good night. I will.

Splits: 13:43 (up the Verrazano Bridge) , 12:17 (back down), 13:31, 24:35 (2 mi), 12:45, 12:14, 26:19 (2 mi), 17:22 (1 mi plus bathroom), 12:48, 12:41, 13:38, 27:37 (2 mi),, 13:03, 18:39 (1 mi plus video retakes), 12:45, 14:29, 26:08 (2 mi), 12:32, 27:35 (2 mi), 12:03, 12:57, 2:35 (0.22 mi), total 5:51:58, pace 13:25. S’OK.

At mile 16, coming off the Queensferry Bridge, spotting my sweeties in the crowd:

It Doesn’t Hurt to Laugh

2011-10-30T22:11:00.002-05:00

It hurts a little to cough, though. More about that below. The Marine Corps Marathon is a huge production, and well run, though this one may have been a bit unusual. A hard rain the day and night before the race, even snow, then temps below 32, made bridges treacherous both going to the race and early in the race itself. I slipped and nearly fell on an icy bridge in the pre-dawn darkness. I’m sure a few others were less lucky. The rain also turned lawns into 2-inch-deep mud, and some of the start-area essentials (porta-potties, charity tents) were on lawns. Nevertheless, the race committee and runners prevailed, and the race started on time and went well.

My Race:

I shot for 6:00 hours and finished in 5:55:56, 26th of 42 in the age group 70-74. Imagine 42 old farts out there! Actually, quite a few guys were even older, including a 90-year-old. That’s my dream, one of several. This was marathon number 58, state number 40 (Virginia, because the race starts and ends there).
I had a LOT of fun. This marathon was as much fun as the Hartford Marathon two weeks ago. Furthermore, I had energy left at the end. I didn’t try to spend too much of that, with another marathon next Sunday, but it felt great to be passing almost everyone in the last six miles. To do that, you really only have to keep a constant pace.
I walk/ran with a four to 1 ratio, changing that to 3 to 1 later in the race. 90 seconds walk, 30 seconds run.
I have never had the opportunity to thank so many Team in Training (TNT) runners, who raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Dozens. I also thanked one MMRF runner, but didn’t see any others.
In contrast to the pre-dawn weather, the race weather was beautiful. From about 35, I suppose, to at least 50 degrees. I started with three shirts and makeshift leggings pinned to my shorts, and jettisoned the leggings and a shirt at mile four. The second shirt went at mile 17, so then I was in a T-shirt and shorts. Perfect.
I took a lot of video again, and my sweeties did too. I met them twice along the course. Also, several times, I handed my video camera to a trustworthy-looking person, then went back a little and ran past again while they taped, and then back again for the camera. The reason will be explained in a future blog. Anyway it cost a little time.
I high-fived a LOT of people, especially kids. I love to see the grin on a short person’s face.

The MCM:

Lots and lots of enthusiastic volunteers.
Roads are all CLOSED to traffic. We never had to dodge cars. In fact, some of the people of Washington are not fans of the MCM because the road closures tie up the town. Tsk.
Marines are everywhere, of course. Many of them are young guys, fresh crewcuts, some of them could be my grandchildren. They called me “sir.”
It’s SO COOL running through the nation’s capital, over the tidal basin, past the Washington and Lincoln monuments, down the mall, past the capitol building and the reflecting pool, on and on. I did love that. Got the video, too! It’s surprising how quickly that part goes by.
The course is hilly in the beginning, but quite level later on. The finish is uphill, but happily quite short.
I have some suggestions for the race committee, but they’re trivial things in a race of this magnitude and I doubt they’ll call.
I was surprised how many runners were with me at my glacial pace. Lots! In fact, almost 2000 runners finished after I did.

Physical:

The only significant pain was the “sports hernia,” abdominal strain. That’s what still hurts just a little.
During the race I heard from the left hamstrings left hip flexors, but those signals went away with the miles.
Every muscle is sore now, as always after a marathon. That’s a good thing.

Splits: 12:29, 13:39, 13:21, 13:09, 15:37, 12:43, 14:02, 13:08, 13:18, 26:35 (2 mi), 12:51, 12:46, 13:58, 13:15, 32:00 (2 mi w potty stop), 27:15 (2 mi), 13:27, 13:24, 13:02, 12:19, 13:34, 14:03, 16:11 (1.2 mi). Total 5:55:56, pace 13:34. OK for today.

Sunshine and Sweetpea’s home-cooked meatloaf, made tonight on the range in the hotel. Everything in the photo is organic:

Elijah Alexander and Tackle Cancer Foundation

2011-10-24T20:27:00.003-05:00

Elijah Alfred Alexander III played linebacker for ten seasons in the NFL, starting in many of his 123 games, including 29 of his last 30. He retired in 2001.

He was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2005, and started the Tackle Myeloma Foundation in 2006. This soon became the Tackle Cancer Foundation, supporting families with children fighting cancer, and adults with multiple myeloma. I met him briefly at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology in December, 2009.

He died of myeloma March 24, 2010, leaving his wife Kimberly and two teen-age sons Elijah IV and Evan. Kimberly Alexander continues as Executive Director of the Tackle Cancer Foundation.

I'm going to dedicate my Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday to Elijah Alexander and his family.

The Park is Still Beautiful

2011-10-24T18:42:00.003-05:00

It almost seemed that the fading color of fall returned to its full brilliance today. The trees were exquisitely beautiful. I took the 4.8-mile route and ran most of the way, walking only downhill and occasionally uphill.

What a great run! No pains to speak of, plenty of energy, just like it should feel six days before a marathon. I actually held back to avoid injury through exuberance. 52 minutes, pace about 10:50. Good enough.

All organic except the hot sauce on the sweet potatoes. Anyone know of an organic hot sauce?

Article in Minneapolis Star Tribune

2011-10-24T09:33:00.001-05:00

Here's a nice article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune's East Metro Section about my marathons and Team Continuum, published yesterday.

Team Continuum helps families that are devastated by the costs and disruptions of cancer.

You can help, using someone else's money! If you have a Fecebook account and go to my E-Race Cancer Facebook Page and "like" it, a donation will be made to Team Continuum by a generous third party. We invite you to do that - there is no cost to you.

Of course you are certainly also welcome to go directly to my Team Continuum page and make a further contribution to the cause. It's deductible.

Thank you!

St Croix Valley Runners

2011-10-23T20:26:00.004-05:00

Saturday, October 22, 2011:

I ran the first mile and a half with four other runners, and then split off for a shorter run than they were doing. Dave took the same shortcut, and we ran much of the two miles together. Nice run, mostly running and just a little walking. 3.5 miles in 36:00, for a pace of 10:17. It’s fine, seven days after a marathon with another one eight days away. No pains! It’s a masterpiece.

Thursday, October 20:

Another run in the park. 3.7 miles along one of my favorite grass trails in the park. No rush, no problems, 42:30, pace about 11:30. Good enough for a recovery/taper run. A marathon five days ago, and another in ten days. No pains! It’s a masterpiece.

Sunshine & Sweetpea's incredible breadless all-organic meat loaf, with organic catchup, organic strawberries, organic dills, and organic squash with a little hot sauce:

Recovery Run

2011-10-19T09:23:00.002-05:00

Jim and I went for a lovely jog on the grass trails in the park Tuesday morning. The trail we took is 3.7 miles, but can easily and conveniently be extended to 4.8 miles, and we did that. I felt very good, with some tiredness in the legs from Saturday’s marathon, but no significant pain. The sports hernia is still there, but not much of a problem.

42 degrees with a little mist, the weather wasn’t perfect, but we enjoyed that park nonetheless. Jim walked when I needed to walk, mostly on the hills, and we had a good conversation. I don’t know how long we took, because my tired old Timex watch reset itself to January 1 at some point after I started it. It’s done that before in cold weather. Guess I need a new watch, probably a Garmin.

A little of the miles upon miles of fall color that we enjoyed driving to and from the Hartford Marathon last weekend. This could be Indiana, Ohio, or Pennsylvania - they were all beautiful:

ING Hartford Marathon

2011-10-15T18:21:00.008-05:00

The Hartford Marathon. Connecticut has a good thing going here. We all three LOVED this marathon and would recommend it highly. And all of us did well in it, too, which of course helps with the loving. The marathon time limit is six hours, so I was shooting for six and went out slowly, hoping not to aggravate a sports hernia injury. But the expected pain didn’t appear, and I finished in about 5:42. The girls actually ran their best time in three years. This is a great day.

The ING Hartford Marathon:

What can you say? This is a grown-up marathon for grown-ups. I can’t think of any suggestions for the marathon committee. It’s all good. They had problems with excessive rain in the weeks leading up to the event, even the night before the event, but they reacted and fixed the problems. Good points:

Going through one park, the mud alongside the paved trail was higher than the trail! I stopped to talk to the parks superintendent (still right there), who said that it had rained hard overnight and there had been two inches of mud over the trail, but his crews got out there at daybreak and pushed the mud to the side. He had feared that someone would slip and fall, but the trail was dry and almost clean. Huzza to the parks crew!
Volunteers were wonderful everywhere. Spectators too. In fact, people were wonderful throughout Hartford, whether associated with the marathon or not. I like Hartford.
The expo was fairly large and definitely worth a visit. Of course, as with all marathons, you have to go there anyway to pick up your running number and timing chip, but we enjoyed the expo too.
ROADS WERE CLOSED TO TRAFFIC. I never felt nervous about vehicle traffic. That’s important.
Hartford is halfway into fall color. I suppose it will be better in a week, but it was pretty good today!
The race committee can’t do much about the weather, but if they could, they would be hard pressed to improve on today’s. Temperature was in the 50's and low 60's throughout, with alternating sun and clouds, and with a southwest wind that was more enervating than troublesome.
When I finished the marathon at 5:41 there was still food left. Thank you Hartford!
Bands played everywhere. Some just played music at extravagant levels, but many were actual musicians performing for free. In fact I’m a sucker for bagpipers, and there were two. Somehow those don’t need amplification.
There actually were enough porta-potties along the race course.
Aid stations were plentiful and well-organized.

My Marathon:

The day before the marathon I was interviewed by the local FOX station, here.
The morning of the marathon I was interviewed by the local CBS station, but I can’t find a link. Maybe someone else will find it. Also, there may be a short blurb on that station in tonight’s news (after football is over for the night).
In recent marathons I had been concerned about a sports hernia (which is not a “real” hernia but is cured by the same surgery). With two more marathons coming up in the next three weeks, I planned to go slow, but no pains appeared and I was able to get ahead of schedule and stay ahead. There is just a hint of pain from that area now, after the race, but that’s all.
According to my watch I finished in 5:41:46, but the unofficial time according to the race committee was 5:39:49, two minutes less. I don’t know how that can happen, actually. I clicked my watch at the start line and again at the finish, so my watch should be right. They might find an error in their figures. If not, then I’ll take the extra two minutes!
I LOVED this marathon - every single minute. I think I enjoyed it more than I used to enjoy marathons when I finished in 3:45.
When I interviewed with Fox on Friday morning, a local 59-year-old woman named Maggie, running her 59th marathon (!), was interviewed right before me. She brought a fistful of Hartford Marathon medals to her interview. Today we met during the race, too, at the start and then briefly around mile 24. We finished just a couple of minutes apart.
I like to express my gratitude to other runners who are raising money to fund cancer research and support. I got a chance to thank a lot of TNT (Team in Training) runners today - they raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) which supports research for myeloma too. Thank you TNT!
Several people asked about the new Team Continuum shirt (below), so I had a chance to spread the word a little.
Five Clif Shot gels with caffeine, maybe seven or eight salt tablets along the way. I took plenty of video again.

Splits: 12:31, 12:39, 12:23, 12:30, 25:08 (2 mi), 12:43, 13:58, 12:18, 12:25, 13:13, 25:22 (2 mi), 15:59 (porta potty), 13:07, 13:10, 13:13, 12:19, 12:47, 27:06 (2 mi), 12:48, 26:05, 14:16 (?), 13:25, 2:22 (0.22 mi), total 5:41:46 by my watch, pace 13:02 by my watch. Apparently I did slow down a little in the second half, but most of that happened when I stopped to talk to people, including especially the TNT runners. Some of them were going the other way (part of the race is an out-and-back), so I would turn around to run with them for a few seconds.

Breaking news. The chip times have been removed from the results (for now?), so everyone’s finish time is the same as their gun time. Mine is 5:46:04, up from 5:39:49. See I told ya - they goofed on my time by almost exactly 2 minutes (and maybe everyone else's), and now they’re working on it, trying to get it right. Maybe they will. It does now show that I’m third of four in my age group. Maybe.

Happy Don at about mile 22:

After the finish:

Tapering

2011-10-11T20:46:00.003-05:00

Hey, not bad. I ran 3.7 miles on the grass trails in the park, stopped several times to record some video, and still finished in 45 minutes. I mostly walked the downhills, took it easy on the uphills, and ran on the flat.

IT FEELS SO GOOD TO RUN! Wow. And the fall color is perfect. It’s a masterpiece.

For the record: The only pains were in the right knee (PFS) and the left hamstring. That one is new, and I hope it was a one-time thing. Neither pain amounted to much.

Unbelievably tasty gluten-free meat loaf, with no bread of any kind. Sunshine is a magician. All organic except the kiwi:

Recovery Running

2011-10-08T14:11:00.005-05:00

Saturday, Oct 8, 2011:

The St Croix Valley Runners celebrated marathons today. Many of the crew that assembled to run this morning had finished the Twin Cities Marathon last Sunday, and we three had finished the Maine Marathon or half marathon. Lots to talk about. Plus I wore my new Team Continuum shirt - more to talk about.

I didn’t want to run three days in a row - that would be taunting the sports hernia, daring it to reappear. But the limiting pain in the last two marathons has actually been in the adductors or the hip flexors - I don’t know which - but not the abdomen. So today we three walked FAST, as fast as I could, which requires the other two to run a little to keep up. I hope those long strides are good for the hip flexors. We went about 2.7 miles in 40:45, for a walking pace of 15:06. I felt good.

After that, two hours of lawn mowing / leaf mulching. There were a LOT of leaves already, and the oaks haven’t started to contribute yet. We have mostly oaks.

Friday, Oct 7:

This was another 3.7-mile run/walk on the grass trails in the park. It’s so beautiful right now that it’s hard to stay away, and when I get there it’s hard not to run! So I did. I also took the camcorder along and recorded some of the fall color. The sun was on and off, mostly off, but popped out for a few seconds just as I reached one of the most beautiful stretches of the trail. I have the video.

Time 50:30, pace about 13:39. I stopped several times to take pictures, so that’s a good enough time. Again no pains except the knee with PFS.

Thursday, Oct 6:

Running feels so good! This was a short recovery run on the grass trails in the park. What a treat. I ran on the flat and the uphills, walking on the downhills. I didn’t feel pain anywhere except in the right knee with PFS, and that wasn’t bad at all. I don’t know if this is the best way to get past the sports hernia, but it sure feels good to run. 3.7 miles in 48 minutes, about 13 min/mile. I thought I was going faster, actually, and perhaps I was - I used the cell phone for timing.

Normal breakfast, mostly organic. The black-looking berries are actually frozen organic blueberries. We recently switched to LED bulbs in the kitchen, which looks fine to the eye, but the camera doesn't do justice to the colors now:

Maine Marathon, Portland ME

2011-10-02T21:50:00.006-05:00

Ducky weather. We three all agree that the weather was for the birds. And, we have photographic evidence, see bottom.

My Marathon:

The goal was to complete a marathon in Maine without irritating any prior injuries or causing any new ones, because we have a heavy schedule ahead. Goal accomplished, I believe. Nothing hurts except the stuff that usually hurts. I'll know more tomorrow, after all of the endorphins have worn off. Details:

Time: 6:10:45. I was shooting for 6:15, so that's a fine time. But I was sixth of six in my age group, 819 of 897 overall. Ugh.
Nevertheless, there is joy in Mudville (Portland) today! We're all happy and I'm havin' a beer.
I used a walk/run ratio of five to one, running 30 seconds of each three minutes. Mostly. Toward the end I tried to run a little more, but often had to be satisfied with maintaining the pace.
I chipped a little bit of skin off my thumb when I opened the door latch to leave a porta-potty. My first-ever porta-potty injury! It bled a little, but a little bit of blood looks like a lot in the rain. Now cleaned up and Betadined.
Near the end, a woman who was walking and evidently done running, said that she was on her fifth round of the 50 states. I responded that I was only on my first round. "Well, take my advice," says she, "when you're done, don't get sucked into doing another round of 50!" Seems like she has ignored her own advice at least four times. Perhaps she was just feeling a little discouraged near the end of this marathon. Anyway, I'm already looking for other celebrations of life. Dancing with the Stars? Oops - you gotta be famous first. Marathon in all seven continents? I hear that Antarctica is really cool.
Gels along the way: seven. Salt/potassium tablets: seven.
Someone posted several signs of encouragement for "Pookie" along the way. Example: "Pookie - on a scale of 1 to 10 you are a 13.1." Clearly, Pookie ran the half marathon. I hope s/he did well.
I started with two shirts and a running jacket, eventually tying the jacket around my waist.

Weather:

We three have run in much worse weather: (1) In St Charles, MO, the remnants of Hurricane Ike screeched sideways through the town as the race was starting, drenching the landscape with untold amounts of rain. Then the race, while under way, was adjusted to a 10-mile length because parts of the proper course were under water; (2) In Chicago, the race was stopped in progress because of heat - they ran out of ambulances. I did finish that one; (3) Two or three times I have finished Grandma's Marathon in temperatures above 85. I'd certainly rather run in this ducky weather than any of those. It rained most of the time but not all of the time, with temperatures in the high 50's, and a buffeting wind much of the way. I wore enough clothing and was never cold. No problem for a Minnesotan.

The rain in Maine falls plainly on my bean.

When we look back at this marathon we'll probably remember the weather more than anything else, but of course that's no fault of the people of Maine. It can happen anywhere. Every marathon has a surprise or two.

The Maine Marathon:

It's a good one, of course. Pluses:

This was well organized. They haven't done this 20 years in a row for nuthin'.
After 56 marathons I'm amazed how cheerful, encouraging, and all-out helpful the volunteers were. After all, it was raining hard on them too. Huzzah! to the volunteers. And to the cops too.
At one time on the return of the out-and-back course I couldn't see a single other runner anywhere, and I switched from the right side of the road to the left, though we were apparently expected to be on the right. A police vehicle came by, and the officer said "You wouldn't mind running on the other side, would you?" I replied that I actually preferred the left side because then I can see what's coming. "Well, if you're comfortable with that, then so am I," said he with a smile. Maine hospitality, police style.
They gave us a very fancy race bag filled with lots of goodies.
At the finish, there was plenty of good food, even for those (like me) who finished after six hours.
There was a bagpiper along the way, early in the race, playing in the drenching rain. I'm a sucker for bagpipes.
The shirts were nice, long-sleeved technical in women's and men's styles, and they let us try them on for size.
The course is quite picturesque, with views of the ocean (or the bay, whatever is out there).
They had finishers' blankets and they put them on for you. For once, I was glad to have one.
There was no doubt when the race started - they fired a cannon!

The other stuff:

The Route: As attractive and engaging as it was, for much of my 6-hour race the route was shared with plenty of vehicles going 35-45 MPH, and in a few places there was really no shoulder, or the gravel shoulder was six inches below the edge of the road surface. I really, really didn't like sharing the road with that many vehicles - I felt very vulnerable, running on the right with vehicles coming from behind. There were times when a vehicle had to pass within two feet, and I had a guardrail preventing me from moving over.
The out-and-back course had us on the right side almost all of the time, so any slant was always to the right, and there was often a slant. This has been a problem for me sometimes, resulting in bursa pains in knees or hips, though happily those problems didn't show up today.
The timing "chips" (strips) were attached to the runners' race numbers (bibs). They are supposed to be vertical, on the sides of the bibs, but someone had mistakenly attached them horizontally, along the bottom ant top, so we runners had to pin the bibs on at 90 degrees. That's a new one for me. Dopey.
The race allowed a runner to specify an address for an email to be sent automatically when the runner finished, but the finish times in the received emails were wrong. I don't know for sure, but both the race numbers and those emails could be the responsibility of the timing company, rather than the race committee. If so, I wonder if that timing company will be back.

For the Record (whining):

The right-side sports hernia barely showed up at all. Tomorrow may be a different story.
The hip flexors or adductors (I can't tell which) on both sides started to hurt around mile 10, and kept hurting. The right side was worst, and became a limiting pain. They got worse when I ran, and better when I walked, although they still hurt some when I walked.
Knees were cold but there was little pain.
The left glutes or hamstrings hurt a little but were not a limiting issue.
Nothing else hurt. Even with the rain, my feet are fine. Muscles are tired but not nearly as tired as they would be if I had gone faster.

Splits: 13:07, 13:22, 13:09, 26:36 (2 mi), 13:35, 13:38, 17:32 (porta potty), 12:49, 14:19, 13:14, 17:28 (porta potty and med station), 13:56, 13:59, 14:33, 14:18, 14:14, 13:03, 15:24, 13:09, 16:10 (porta potty), 13:00, 12:50, 15:03, 14:10, 18:10 (1.22 mi), total 6:10:45, average pace 14:08.

News Stories:
WCSH Channel 6, NBC
Portland Press Herald Newspaper

Ducky weather. These mallards are finding something to eat in the rainwater on a mowed lawn:

Schwinn Elliptical Again

2011-09-27T21:18:00.002-05:00

The sports hernia did get a little irritated by last Sunday’s race, so it’s back to the elliptical, which seems to have no effect on the hernia. I do miss running, though.

Stats: 25:44 minutes, 6.74 avg MPH, 2.89 "miles," 67 avg RPM, 373 calories, 121 avg heart rate. That’s what the machine said at the finish. Let’s do some calculations:

67 RPM x 60 = 4020 revs per hour. Divide by 6.74 MPH to get 596 revolutions/mile, or 8.9 feet per revolution. That’s 106 inches per revolution, or 53 inches per “footfall.” However, one foot actually travels only about 17 inches per “footfall,” so the makers of this machine somehow figure that the elliptical motion can be multiplied by three to get equivalent distance. Are they doing bike distance? Naw - I could go a heck of a lot farther than 2.89 miles in 25 minutes on a bike. I wonder if that calculation changes with the resistance setting - so far I’ve only used the machine on the highest setting.

373 calories in 25:44 is 869 calories per hour, which is a very high rate for me. I wonder if it’s true. I was sweating pretty hard though.

25:44 minutes = 0.42889 hours. Multiply by 6.74 avg MPH, get 2.89 miles. OK, that calculation is as expected. The HR of 121 is about what I would expect. It should be in the 130's at that level of effort, but medication holds it down a little.

The Schwinn A40 made a lot of noise this time, a creaking noise on every left-foot downstroke. Later I moved the machine slightly, to a different spot on the floor, and the noise went away. More research required.

Stacy died today. What a tragedy.

Mostly organic:

MMRF Race for Research

2011-09-26T11:01:00.004-05:00

Once a year the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation holds a money-raising 5k run/walk around Lake Phalen. It’s a fun event. I’m still trying to get past a sports hernia, so I only ran 30 seconds of every two minutes, but that amount sure felt good! The course was re-routed slightly because of construction, so it was probably about 2.9 miles instead of 3.1. I finished in 36:56, for a pace of 12:44. Not speedy, but enough to finish just ahead of the only other guy in my age group.

It felt SO good to run, but I won’t run again until the marathon next Sunday.

For the record: The “sports hernia” is still there. No pain, really, except a little in the first 30 seconds, but it’s lurking there. Also, the right knee with PFS did hurt a little. Ah well, the price of an enjoyable life.

I’m discovering that some people don’t think that a sports hernia will heal by itself - that surgical intervention is usually required, as with other hernias. I hope not - I’m working on the stretches, exercises, and massage.

Splits: 11:08 (probably about 0.8 mi), 12:31, 13:17 (1.1 mi), total 36:56.

Sunshine and myself with our medals:

Walk with SCV Runners

2011-09-24T20:12:00.003-05:00

Saturday, Sept 24, 2011:

St Croix Valley Runners, every Saturday 7:00 am, Stillwater’s Northland Park. This morning I walked briskly with George and my sweeties for just over 41 minutes, probably about 2.5 miles. Lovely walk, nothing hurt.

Tomorrow is the MMRF Race for Research in Phalen Park. Registration begins at 9:30, race/walk at 11:00.

Friday, Sept 23, 2011:

Another “run” on the A40 elliptical today, 25 minutes, 328 calories, 2.81 miles. That’s a lot of calories for just 25 minutes, a rate of almost 800 calories per hour. The highest rate I reached on the expensive machines at Anytime Fitness was 650-700 calories per hour, so I’m not sure whether to believe the A40. On the other hand I did work pretty hard and got quite sweaty. Further, the A40 was set to the highest resistance setting, so maybe ... The machine is new to us, and it may take a while for me to have confidence in it.

Dinner: Chicken with mustard, tomatos, sweet potato, squash, relish, cherries, all organic:

Three Days Later

2011-09-21T14:37:00.002-05:00

I feel great! We three had planned to a "double" in a couple of weeks, a marathon in New Hampshire on Saturday and another in Maine the next day. But last Monday, the day AFTER the Presque Isle marathon, I really didn’t feel strong enough to run another one that day. Would it be any different two weeks from now? Probably not.

For that reason, and because we have several more marathons on the schedule this fall, we have scratched the New Hampshire marathon and will focus on the one in Portland, Maine in eleven days.

We now have a nice new Schwinn A40 elliptical trainer, which arrived Monday and which we assembled yesterday. This morning I put in 20 minutes of fairly vigorous exercise on it, racking up 213 calories. Neither the machine nor I experienced any problems. There was a little bit of squeaking (I think it was the machine, not me) but it went away. After a little more experience with the machine, I may post a review of it. So far it’s pretty good.

As I think back on my blog posts it seems like there has been a lot of whining about injuries, especially lately. I do need to log that information for future reference, but at least for a while I’m going to put it at the bottom of the post, unless it really is the headline. As of today, the pain in the right-side adductors / hip flexors is entirely gone, as expected. The sports hernia (abdominal wall strain) on that side is detectable but not painful. That’s the one of most concern in the long term. I have located a couple of web pages describing sensible, appropriate treatment for the sports hernia and have put together a recovery program which includes stretches, specific exercises, and self-administered massage. We’ll see how it goes and if I stick to it.

Meanwhile, today is a masterpiece!

Presque Isle Marathon, Erie PA

2011-09-18T17:30:00.014-05:00

An unqualified success. I was worried about this one, because of injuries that might reappear, but so far so good. So very good. This was the 55th marathon and 37th state since my myeloma diagnosis in 2003, and the 28th marathon and 21st state since starting on the pomalidomide investigational drug in March of 2008.

The Marathon Itself:

Very well organized - it went smoothly.
Aid stations were a mile apart, twice as good as the two miles offered by most marathon.
Race officials on bikes passed me many times - they were doing a good job.
Parking was totally organized - follow the flashlights, shut up, and park! No one got their choice of a place to park, but that was no problem, because every spot was close to the start.
Some of the aid stations had a theme: At Mile 5 (and 18) it appeared to be a hillbilly theme, and at another location the Boy Scouts ran the station.
The course follows the paved roads circling Erie’s Presque Isle, a state park, and is exactly a half marathon in length. Marathoners just do it twice. As the T-shirt says, marathoners do it longer.
The park is incredibly beautiful, covered with huge trees, mostly cottonwood, but there were large acorns on the ground here and there from a type of oak that I didn’t recognize.
We saw a flock of wild turkeys, flocks of geese honking overhead, lots of squirrels, and, though we didn’t see them, there are beavers and opossums on the island too. With all of that prey, I'm thinking there must also be predators like foxes.
The island was created initially by the action of waves on the shores farther west. It seems to be entirely sand, though some soil has built up within the forested areas.
It is actually a peninsula, connected to Erie by a narrow strip of land just wide enough for a roadway. In French, “presque” means “almost.”
I was put off by the amount of vehicle traffic on the roads that we ran, but I'll get over it. Lots of people use the park, not just us marathoners.

My Race:

I had an unexpectedly good marathon. I’m still on top of the world. I ran (& walked) slowly, shooting for six hours, and finished in about 5:52:16. This took almost an hour longer than my last marathon in July, but I went slow out of concern for a sports hernia injury (not really a hernia) that I have been nursing for four weeks, and I fully expected it to reappear somewhere in the 26 miles. It didn’t! No pain at all during the first half marathon. Later I did have a lot of pain from tendons or ligaments of the hip flexors or maybe the adductors on the same side as the sports hernia, even during the walking, but that went away whenever I stopped. This is not new - hip flexor pain has appeared in many previous marathons and is not likely to be a limiting problem.

Other stuff:

Near the end of the race I passed by a runner wearing a Portland, Maine T-shirt. I asked him if he was from Portland, and in the ensuing conversation he revealed that he would be running the Portland Marathon two weeks from now, and also the marathon in Bristol, NH the day before that. Further, he ran a marathon yesterday! I said that he must be a 50-stater by now (finished a marathon in all 50 states) and he said that he was going around for the seventh time! “What the heck,” he said, “I’m retired.” Uff-da. (That’s Minnesota speak for wowzer).
A marathoning axiom: Don’t try anything in a marathon that you haven’t previously tried in a long run. I violated that rule today, but got away with it.
- I’ve never taken video during a race before, but I took 50 minutes of it today. It didn’t slow me up much, because I kept going, mostly shooting during the walking intervals.
- To carry the video camera, I added a pouch for the camera on my water-carrier belt. I’ve done marathons with the water carrier before, but the pouch was new. No problem.
- Also, I carried my gels in an empty plastic peanut butter jar, which just fit in the carrier where a water bottle would otherwise go. Also no problem - except that the gels rattled in the PB jar when I ran. Fixable.
That left the pockets of my shorts free for whatever. I used them to carry leftover water cups and other debris to the next aid station.
Some of the video may eventually show up on a Youtube or Facebook page, maybe even this blog.
I took six Clif Shot Mocha gels along the way, every four miles starting at Mile 2, and salt tablets every four miles starting at Mile 4. No problem with energy, and no muscle cramps.

I dedicated this race to my daughter-in-law, who is also battling cancer right now. At the moment, her battle is considerably more serious than mine, and I do so wish her well and wellness.

Further, I ran this race for Team Continuum, a charity which helps families deal with the overwhelming costs of cancer. If you have a Facebook account, I urge you to go to Facebook.com/ERACECANCER, my fundraising account, and “like” it. There is no cost to you, and a generous donor will make a contribution.

Splits: 26:13 (2 mi), 13:18, 12:25, 13:31, 16:49 (natural break), 13:06, 12:36, 11:33, 12:53, 14:09, 26:51 (2 mi), 13:31, 13:03, 27:54 (2 mi), 13:03, 14:49, 13:28, 12:45, 13:46, 14:21, 12:25, 13:15, 16:34 (1.2 mi ++), total 5:52:16, pace 13.26.

Sunshine and me at the start, wearing garbage bags against the wind. Those disappeared just before the start. Isn't she cute?:

Double Elliptical

2011-09-15T20:26:00.002-05:00

206 calories in 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Pulse rate reached 120 today - That’s more appropriate than the rate of 113 last Monday, when I spent 259 calories in 25 minutes.

After the short workout, I jogged gently in and out of a nearby grocery store, with no pains anywhere. So here’s hoping for the upcoming marathon. Of course 26 miles is way different from 200 feet.

This is probably the last post before the marathon. This time I’m taking video of the run, with a cute little waterproof pocket webcam. I’ve never done that before, but there will be a video record of the experience - I sure hope it’s a good one.

Almost entirely organic:

We’re Going! No question.

2011-09-11T18:09:00.003-05:00

Should I even try to run the next marathon? What if the sports hernia gets a lot worse - we have seven more marathons this year. Or, what if we didn’t go to this marathon, and the sports hernia showed up at the next one anyway? In the end, the only way to know if I can run a marathon is to start it and try to finish. So we’re going to this one. I love this life!

Right now the injury is still there - a slight tightness on that side of the abdomen and in the related groin area. But the marathon is still a week away.

I’m really looking forward to it too, in a lovely FLAT park on Presque Isle in Lake Erie. The race starts right at sunrise, which is so cool. Sometimes the larger races have fireworks for a sunrise start - we’ll see - in any case, I can’t wait to start the marathon!

Today, September 11, 2011:

We three went to the park for an easy 55-minute walk. No pains, just a little tightness.

Saturday evening, September 10:

Anytime Fitness elliptical machine, 30 minutes at about 500 calories per minute, total 250 calories. Maximum heart rate was 111 bpm, so I need to ramp up the calories per minute, but this was a good enough workout for today.

Saturday morning, September 10:

Several of the St Croix Valley Runners were planning to run the Bear Water 20-mile run in White Bear Lake Sunday, so only three runners and five walkers showed up. We walkers strolled for about 2.5 miles while the three speedsters finished their five miles well ahead of us. No strain, good conversation.

All organic, including the leftover turkey:

Elliptical Machine

2011-09-09T11:09:00.003-05:00

No exercise yesterday - I had the 24-hour crud. Slept 10 hours straight last night, woke up feeling pretty good, so I went to Anytime Fitness.

After a few minutes on the recumbent bike, 67 calories, working at a rate of about 500 calories per hour, I felt a brief pain in the right groin, possibly related to the sports hernia on that side. So I stopped the bike and went to an elliptical machine, where I ran up 133 calories to make the total 200. That was plenty after yesterday’s issues. It all took a little under 30 minutes and it’s equivalent to about 2.5 to 3.0 miles.

After stretching, I jogged easily about 20 yards to the car. I could tell that the sports hernia injury was still not quite healed, but it didn’t really hurt. At home, the situp test was negative - no pain. That’s good, and there are still 9 days to go before the marathon.

Breakfast after the workout: Oatmeal with organic strawberries, a nectarine, organic frozen blueberries, organic yogurt, walnuts. This should reboot the digestive system:

YouTube Video from Rhode Island Marathon

2011-09-07T17:56:00.003-05:00

Here’s a video that was taken at the Providence, RI Marathon, several months and a few marathons ago:

If you have a Facebook account and haven't yet "liked" my E-Race Cancer fundraising page, I invite you to do so. It costs you nothing, and Team Continuum gets a donation from an anonymous contributor.

Anytime Fitness has many kinds of exercise equipment, for resistance training and cardio. I have a free 14-day pass to one of the clubs, and used it for the first time today. I ran up 100 calories on the recumbent bicycle and another 100 on the fanciest of the various elliptical trainers, total about 20 minutes. No pain, no strain. The sports hernia and its associated adductor stress were silent. I also stretched gently twice, still no pain. Further, when I got home I did the situp test, again with no pain. The stressed area is barely detectable.

Yesterday there was pain, from Monday’s 3.5-mile run, but today is better despite the brief cardio workout. This is good! Healing is happening, and the two machines don’t seem to cause a problem. Tomorrow I’ll increase the cardio time. The two machines do give quads and hamstrings a nice workout, not the same as running but a lot better than nothing.

Sports Hernia

2011-09-06T22:25:00.006-05:00

Dr Yee at SMG is a knowledgeable guy. Today I went to get the scoop on my not-yet-healed abdominal wall strain.

As I recall it, here is what the doctor said:

What it's NOT is any kind of hip problem or hernia. It really is an abdominal wall strain.
He said it is commonly called a "sports hernia," pointing out that it isn't really a hernia, but a strain at a point where abdominal wall muscles connect. It happens to jocks.
It's likely that the problem was caused when I ran 18 miles one morning and then a 4-mile race that evening without warming up again. Muscles tend to tighten after being stressed, and I probably pulled them later when I raced.
Since it hurts just as my right foot hits the ground, I suggested that the stress comes from my innards pushing out against the abdominal wall. He thought it it's more likely that the foot-strike is the moment of maximum muscle tension between the muscles of the abdomen and those of the leg.
It's encouraging that two weeks off from running has made an improvement - that tells us what to do: Keep right on NOT running.
However, I should expect that muscle tone will fall off somewhat after a few weeks without running.
He recommended "water jogging" as an alternative cardio exercise. However, we don't have access to a pool.
When I asked what would happen if I just went ahead and ran on the pain, he said that the injury would just get worse, and discouraged that pretty strongly.
I mentioned a marathon coming up in less than two weeks, and he made two suggestions:
- Do a short run before driving to the marathon, and consider just not going to the marathon if there is still pain.
- If I do go, be mentally prepared to QUIT the marathon if there is significant pain. We're talking my first-ever DNF in 55 marathons.

Hmmm. I'm not too comfortable with the short-test-run notion. If it hurt a lot, then I suppose I would not go. But if it didn't hurt much, which is what happened yesterday, then I would go and try to run the marathon, but that test run might undo a few days of healing time. I'll do the "situp test" (try a situp, see if it hurts) and I'll go if that seems OK.

As to the DNF: I do have eight marathons scheduled for the rest of the year, and right now I couldn't run one. I'm hoping, of course, that another 12 days of healing will fix the "sports hernia" problem. If not, in the worst case, it would become quite painful at some point in the race, and I would stop. More likely, though, based on past experience with this injury, it would start hurting at some point, and keep on hurting but not a lot. Then I suppose I'd keep going, even if that put some later marathons at risk.

Right now, though, I would like to get in some good cardio training. Walking is OK, but it doesn't push me hard enough and I think it is somewhat stressful on the abdominal muscles too, especially fast walking. I'm afraid to try the bike, or do stair climbing, because past experience shows that those can cause other "cross-training" injuries. I'd like to try an elliptical trainer, but we don't have one and don't have any kind of club membership. However, Anytime Fitness has elliptical trainers, and I just got my one-time 14-day free pass. I will try the elliptical tomorrow. There might be other machines of interest there too.

Regular breakfast:

Victory 10k & 5k

2011-09-05T22:02:00.003-05:00

I didn’t run either race, but we three went to the races to rub elbows with old friends, and I did my first running in two weeks, on paved trails adjacent to the race course. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get away with it.

The "situp test" (I try to do an ordinary situp) before the run was pain-free. I ran 30 seconds of every 2.5 minutes, walking the rest at a rapid pace. But even that small amount of running did cause some pain at first, in the abdominal wall and also further down, perhaps at the top of the adductors. It didn’t hurt to walk, only to run.

I walk/ran about 3.5 miles in 48:20, and by the end most of the pains had resolved, so I was running rather comfortably. Later at home, though, the “situp test” was a little painful - the injury is definitely not healed. I’m disappointed, because there is a marathon coming up soon.

I do have an appointment with a sports doc tomorrow morning, and we’ll figure out the best approach. One way or another, I will run that marathon.

Breakfast:

Acorns on the Roof

2011-09-03T21:29:00.005-05:00

Bonk. Bonk. Another clear harbinger of fall, as if tonight's change in weather wasn't clue enough.

St Croix Valley Runners today, but I didn't run - I walked with my sweeties, strolled actually, for about 45 minutes. More than two miles, less than three. No pain in the abdominal wall, either during or after the walk.

In the afternoon, that was followed by two hours of lawn mowing with a walk-behind mower. Still no pain in the gut. This is good. According to the plan, I'll do more mowing tomorrow and then on Labor Day I'll run a little bit.

I'm starting to think that the injury may have been caused by my attempts to do quads stretches, as directed by a physical therapist. Of course I didn't do it right, if I caused the strain, but this is the second time in my memory that therapy for one problem may have caused another injury.

Tonight's dinner. Oven-roasted vegetables & pineapple surrounding turkey curry with a few organic coconut chips on top. Dessert was organic chunky peanut butter on a banana.

Collaboration With Team Continuum

2011-09-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

I'm now running on behalf of Team Continuum, raising money for people living with cancer, while I pursue my goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states. We three have a full schedule of marathons for the rest of 2011, including the New York City Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, and several others.

You can help. If you go to my new E-Race Cancer Facebook Page and "like" it, a donation will be made to Team Continuum by a third party. We invite you to do that - there is no cost to you.

While you are there, you are certainly also welcome to click on the Team Continuum link and make a further contribution to the cause.

Thank you!

Walking

2011-08-30T19:57:00.003-05:00

I am SO itching to run. The "abdominal wall strain" is barely detectable now, even when I do a situp. But I don't want to make the mistake of trying to "run through" this injury, because I think it will just get worse and I have seven or eight marathons yet to run this year.

So no running until next Monday, and then only a short distance followed by a "situp check" of the injured area. After that, re-evaluate. Maybe longer in a couple more days, maybe not.

Today, friend Jim and I walked 3.7 miles in about 1:06:00, for a nice easy walking pace of about 18 minutes/mile. Nice walk, nice chat. No pain.

Bison in sauce, onions, organic beans, organic grapes:

Harbingers of Fall

2011-08-24T17:26:00.004-05:00

On my long trail run last Monday, I saw a stand of sumac just starting to turn red. Moments later, I heard and then saw a flock of geese honking overhead, starting to train for their long journey to the south. Fall isn't here yet, but now I'm sure it's coming. I love fall. Not so fond of winter, but fall can be excellent.

No running yesterday or today, and none tomorrow or Friday, either. Maybe none for almost two weeks, as my "abdominal wall strain" heals. This afternoon I tried to do a pushup, but my abs said NO. I'll see if some stair climbing feels OK.

I'm still trying to figure out WHY I got that injury. I've run thousands of miles in the last 9 years, including more than four dozen marathons, with no hint of that particular problem. So what's different?

In five days I ran 40 miles, somewhat over my weekly goal. Further, I was wearing a water-bottle carrier for 31 of those miles, one which I keep fastened rather tightly around my waist so that it doesn't bounce on my butt. I suppose that could be a difference - I don't wear that in a marathon because I drink at aid stations. Does it squeeze my abdomen in some unnatural way?

In any case, I doubt the injury would have happened if I had paid more attention to core strength. Let that be a lesson.

Abdominal Wall Strain

2011-08-22T21:32:00.002-05:00

Who knew? I’ve never heard of an “abdominal wall strain” from running, but that’s what Dr. V says, and it makes the most sense. My gut hurts when I come down on my foot but not when I’m pushing forward on that foot. Going up or downhill doesn’t make it worse. It hurts a lot, though, when I try to do a situp from laying on my back.

It’s the injury that comes BEFORE a hernia. Some of the muscle fibers are torn, but not most of them - the abdominal wall still feels firm, says the doc. He didn’t say that it would become a hernia if I didn’t let it heal, but I got that impression. Two to six weeks to heal, he thought, just don’t do anything that makes it hurt. A truss wouldn’t help. He did think that I might heal a little faster than most because I take care of myself. Hmmm. That would be nice - my next marathon is just four weeks away.

So here’s the plan: Tomorrow nothing physical. Wednesday maybe some upper body resistance training, but nothing that hurts, and I also have to climb some stairs before a 1:00 pm blood draw (to bring out the neutrophils). Thursday probably nothing except lots of driving. Friday maybe I’ll find some other aerobic exercise - biking, swimming, elliptical, whatever doesn’t hurt. That’s the first four days.

I doubt this would have happened if I had paid more attention to "core strength." Thoughts for the future.

Dumb Running

2011-08-22T14:54:00.004-05:00

Monday, August 22, 2011:

Every training program emphasizes the importance of a gradual ramp-up in both weekly distance and long-run distance, to avoid overtraining injuries. I’ve been ramping up fairly carefully, I thought, increasing the long runs by only about 10% per week and holding to about 30 miles per week, with a shorter total every three weeks or so. But I didn’t think it through very carefully.

I start my weeks on Saturday, and last week, from Saturday through Friday, I totaled up 33 miles. OK, that’s already plenty long. This week I intended to shorten it up, with a moderate run today and a lower total for the week. However, looking back from today, I ran 18 miles last Wednesday morning, then a 4-mile race that night, plus 5 miles Saturday, so I had already run 27 miles in the last 5 days before I started this morning’s 13.2-mile trail run. I should have run short today, but I got greedy.

Two nearly-identical loops, one 6.9 miles and the other 6.3; I didn’t rush, walked some of the time, and felt great most of the way. With about three miles to go, though, the abdominal muscle started to hurt, the same place as last Thursday. It’s on the right-hand side, about two-thirds of the way from the navel down to the crotch. It really doesn’t hurt a lot when running, and it makes no difference whether I’m going uphill, downhill, or flat. It seems to hurt with the bounce at the bottom of the stride, especially on the right leg. Now, after the run, it also hurts plenty if I lay back and try to do a sit-up or a crunch, and I can pinpoint the spot pretty well.

What bothers me is the possibility of a hernia, or an injury to some organ other than a muscle. If it’s just a muscle pull, then I know the treatment - lay off it for a while, or at least ease up. Maybe ride a bike or just walk or whatever doesn't hurt. But I need to get an opinion from someone who knows more about anatomy. We have a lot of marathons scheduled for this fall, so I’ll haul this ole belly to the doctor as soon as I can get in.

Saturday, August 20, 2011:

St Croix Valley Runners. We had a big group today, because the group planned to go to breakfast at the Oasis in Stillwater after the run. We like to do that once in a while. We three couldn’t go to the breakfast because of a myeloma support group meeting across town later in the morning, but we ran anyway.

I found myself alone for half of the way, stuck between several speedsters and a few others behind. I did notice a little pain from the abdominal muscle in the very beginning, plus two cranky knees, but all of that subsided and the run felt pretty good. Eventually Paul caught up and we had a very good chat for 20 minutes or so. I walked up a couple of hills, to avoid antagonizing the abdominal muscle, and he slowed to walk too.

Five miles in 49:00. Considering the abdominal muscle question, it’ll do. It’s a masterpiece.

These photos are mostly taken on the kitchen counter. We recently switched from incandescent (halogen) floodlights over the counter to LED floods, a "greener" lower-energy alternative. But I'm not satisfied with the color that I get from the new bulbs. We'll have to experiment a little more. Anyway here is this morning's breakfast, mostly organic everything except the oatmeal, which is gluten-free:

Tartan Terrible 4-Mile Race

2011-08-19T06:37:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, August 17, 2011:

The Tartan Terrible is a goofy, cross-country, almost-steeplechase 4-mile race held in 3M’s Tartan Park. I love it and run it every year. It includes mowed grass, paved trail, gravel road, rough trail, steep little hills, and even calf-deep water. Runners are advised in advance to wear old shoes. It’s always on a warm Wednesday evening, and this year the temperature was 72, perfect for spectators and good enough for runners, all of whom enjoyed peanuts and cold watermelon afterward.

The course is not measured, but is probably about 4.3 miles. This year I needed 43:03 to finish, a half minute more than last year, but last year I hadn’t first run 18 miles earlier that same day. Ten-minute miles, it’s a good enough pace and I had an enjoyable run.

Now, though, it’s the next morning and I’m feeling a little bit of a groin pull on the right side. I sure hope that’s all it is. Anyway I’m already up to 33 miles this week, so no more running until Saturday, longer if the groin pull doesn’t go away.

Yours truly cruising toward the finish:

Legal Performance-Enhancing Drug

2011-08-18T08:20:00.006-05:00

Wednesday, August 17, 2011:

Caffeine. I had an energetic long run last Wednesday, and another today. Both times I took Clif Shot Mocha gels containing 50 mg of caffeine. This time I took three gels, about 45 minutes apart, and did notice a pick-up from each of them.

I also ran the same Gateway Trail route and in the same fashion as last Wednesday, running 30 seconds and walking 25. It works - the walking helps with the PFS in the right knee and minimizes muscle fatigue, and the running helps with my back and gets me there faster. 18 miles in 3:15:00, for a pace of 10:50, not quite as fast as last week, but I’m fine with it. The last few miles were some of the fastest.

The right knee with PFS muttered and mumbled most of the way, but was never a problem. 20 miles next week?

Splits: 11:26, 10:18, 11:51, 10:02, 10:48, 10:58, 10:50, 11:24, 11:08, 11:12, 11:10, 9:50, 22:27 (2 mi), 10:10, 10:38, 10:08, 10:36.

Monday, August 15, 2011:

Not every day is a great day for running. Today I felt sluggish (definition of sluggish: like a slug). I ran 3.7 miles on the grass trails, and then enough on the paved trails to make five miles or so. Time 1:01, which is no great shakes. Oh well, another day will be better.

Breakfast:

No Walking

2011-08-13T20:40:00.003-05:00

Except a little in the last mile. 5.8 miles in 55 minutes, for a pace of 9:29. Because the grass was wet from a hard rain, we ran on the paved trails. I was determined to run the whole way, but in the last mile the sun popped out and I melted like butter in a fry pan.

The pace was good enough, though, and the right knee with PFS didn’t bother much. It’ll do for today.

Lunch. Wild-caught canned Alaskan salmon under two cheeses, organic vegetable mix with a jalapeno sauce, organic fresh nectarine:

Someone Spiked My Metamucil!

2011-08-10T22:17:00.001-05:00

I feel so good today. After 16 miles this morning, I ran another five with Rich and the Woodbury Runners tonight and felt great. Except for the right knee with PFS, actually, I felt wonderful. Toward the end of the run I was sensing a potential emergency and ran on ahead to the bathroom, at a (for me) very sprightly pace for at least a half mile, some of it uphill, and felt better than I had at the beginning of the run. Energized.

1:01 for the five miles, hardly a blazing pace (we walked some), but the last half mile was magnificent. I felt like I used to feel before the chemotherapy. I don’t really take Metamucil, of course, because a proper diet with fruit does the trick nicely, but something is different. 21 miles today and it’s time for bed and I don’t feel tired. It really is a masterpiece.

33 miles for the week. I’ll quit while I’m ahead. The next week starts Saturday.

As Good As It Gets

2011-08-10T17:25:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, Aug 10, 2011:

A few days ago I chortled about the wonderful weather, saying it couldn’t get much better. I was wrong. This morning was as good as it gets. We three ran the Gateway Trail in 63 degree weather, a bright sun flickering occasionally through the trees that border the trail for most of its way. No wind, low dewpoint, just about perfect.

I ran and walked, running 30 triplets, then walking 20. A triplet is three footfalls, a convenient measure because a triplet takes me almost exactly one second when I’m running. It takes a bit longer when walking. The 30 running triplets take 30 seconds, and the the 20 walking triplets take about 25 seconds. Seems boring, counting all the time, but it gets pretty automatic and there is plenty of room in the brain for other thoughts. Long division is difficult, but everything else is fair game.

I went 16 miles and felt stronger at the end than at the start. 2:50:20, pace 10:39. I was trying to take it easy, but that’s a pretty good long-run pace for me.

Two gels, two salt tablets, and 40 ounces of water. The right knee with PFS did hurt a little most of the way, but I’m happy. It’s a masterpiece!

Monday, Aug 8, 2011:

The weather is improving. This morning was cooler, though the dew point was still in the 60's and the grass in the park was pretty wet. But I enjoyed running on the hilly grass trails anyway. Not a too-energetic run, just a nice cruise in the park. 6.9 miles in 1:18, pace 11:18. It’ll do. 12 miles for the week so far.

Breakfast after this morning's run. There is oatmeal under there somewhere:

St Croix Valley Runners

2011-08-06T22:11:00.003-05:00

I think there were nearly a dozen runners at the St Croix Runners this morning. All guys, too, which is a shame. I don’t know where the girls were. Roy showed up, a rare treat. We meet at 7:00 am every Saturday at the Northland tennis courts in Stillwater.

Dave and I took the Lake McCusick route, and the others took Manning. Both routes are five miles. Dave went out ahead in the uphill part of the last half mile and I was last to arrive, but still finished in 48 minutes. I’ll take it.

There really is oatmeal under there:

Delightful Morning

2011-08-05T20:39:00.003-05:00

Friday, Aug 5, 2011:

Another gallop on the grass trails in the park, early in the morning, with light fog still drifting through the trees and over the trail ahead. The temperature was about 65, not much wind, just a superb August morning.

I ran the full 4.8-mile loop, walking only going down the steepest hills, running up all of them. Finish time was 51:00, for a pace of 10:38, which is three minutes faster than the last time I ran this loop. It’s OK for this kind of trail. The right knee with PFS did hurt a little, which is why I walked downhill, but otherwise it wasn’t a problem.

Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011:

Twelve miles in the park, mostly on grass/dirt trails. I do love running on those hilly trails, even if it is a bit harder than running on flat pavement. The trails were a little muddy here and there, because of all of the rain we’ve had lately - an unusually wet July and already some rain in August.

I took water along, 20 ounces, and one gel. The temperature was modest, but not the humidity, and I got pretty warm. Sunshine said my face was a little red even after my shower, though that could have been from the sun too. The right knee with PFS did hurt some, especially downhill, but it wasn’t a limiting factor. Nice run, though, enjoyable. I had plenty left afterward.

Monday, Aug 1, 2011:

Five miles on the paved trails in the park. I didn’t have my watch, so I don’t know the time, but I suspect it was less than 50 minutes. We were concerned about a looming thunderstorm, so we had our eyes turned westward a lot, but we got back home before it hit. Good thing, too, because it hit so hard that power went out for an hour or so.

Nice run, some pain in the right knee, but easily tolerable.

Wild-caught Pacific cod, organic turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, onions, & strawberries, with organic relish:

Stacy Needs Your Stem Cells

2011-07-30T21:03:00.001-05:00

Stacy is a young Minnesota mother who needs an allogeneic transplant, and the doctors have not yet found a match for her.

For more information, please visit Minnesota Myeloma

Warm Summer Mornings

2011-07-30T20:51:00.003-05:00

Saturday, July 30, 2011:

St Croix Valley Runners, meeting every Saturday morning at 7:00 am (prompt) at Northland Tennis Courts in Stillwater. That’s not a sentence, actually, but we ran this morning anyway, the usual five miles but an UNusual route which took us around Lake McKusick. It’s a route that I much prefer. Time 46:47, pace 9:21. I’ll take it.

Friday, July 29, 2011:

Jim and I ran on the grass trails in the park, early in the morning. A lovely day it was, and a very nice run. 4.8 miles in 54:15, for a pace of 11:22 minutes per mile. Not too good, really, but we have plenty of excuses if we need any.

One of those was NOT the right knee with PFS, which was quiet the whole way. I do like running on grass. It’s a masterpiece.

Breakfast after today's run. Two berries, three fruits, oatmeal with a few raisins and cranberries, plus yogurt (not shown):

Tough Run

2011-07-26T20:47:00.004-05:00

Sand, gravel, stones, puddles, thistles clutching at bare legs, herbicides, and deer ticks. My run this morning. One of my favorite trails is a little maintenance road alongside the railroad tracks, just two dirt wheel-paths, really. I have hardly used it this year, running in the park instead, but decided to do six miles out and back today.

In prior years, the railroad maintained the road a little better than I found it today. In many places, weeds and thistles crowded the road from both sides, grabbing at legs. Even the center, between the paths, was overgrown. In some places, though, the weeds on the track side of the road were brown and dying, making it easier to run there, until it dawned on me that they had obviously been sprayed with herbicide. Duh.

To top it off, when I got back I found deer ticks on my legs and shoes. Everything went into the washing machine when I got home, especially the shoes and socks. I guess the RR trail isn’t my favorite any more, not now anyway. Maybe next spring.

Six miles, about half running and half walking, I forgot my watch, so no time. It was a learning experience.

Oatmeal (underneath), strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, walnuts, pineapple, yogurt, and dark chocolate. Mostly organic food.

Wonderful Run

2011-07-24T15:42:00.004-05:00

All good. 13.7 miles on the Gateway Trail. What a wonderful morning - 63 degrees, cloudy, with just a little wind. I never felt overheated, perfect for July. Jim ran with me for the first five miles, on the dirt trails, and I ran most of that way, walking only a couple of times to take water. But he had run very hard the day before (winning his race), and anticipated another hard run the next day, so he left after five miles.

I switched to the paved trails, to train for running on hard surfaces, and also switched to a run/walk, walking for 30 seconds of every two minutes. The right kneecap behaved almost perfectly, muttering only once or twice on the paved trails. The left hamstrings hurt a little, right at the hip bone, more than usual, but were far from a limiting factor. I took that problem to the doctor months ago and was advised to live with it. OK.

13.7 miles in 2:19:24, pace 10:11. Hey, I’ll take it! It’s a masterpiece.

Bison chili, jicama, guacamole, romaine, butternut squash, mostly organic:

Beautiful Morning

2011-07-21T16:34:00.003-05:00

Thursday, July 21, 2011:

After a week of heat index temperatures over 100, today was downright pleasant. In fact, for the first mile or two I actually felt cool. We ran in the park again, this time on the grass trails, which have mostly recovered from last weekend’s cloudburst. The temperature was 75 most of the way, with a reasonable dew point, so I should have been fine, but I did get a little warm in the bright sun and walked now and then, more than I wanted to. No knee pain.

11.2 miles in 2:09:30, for a pace of 11:34, and I worked pretty hard to get that. The grass/dirt trails are always slower than paved trails, of course, but today they were slower yet because the grass was wet and needed mowing.

Nevertheless it was a delightful run in the wild, hardly a soul to be seen along the way. One guy with three dogs, and I ran past my sweeties once. 23 miles this week, hopefully more next week.

Monday, July 18, 2011:

We three went with Jim to the park, 7:00 am, already 80 degrees with a dew point almost that high. No sense waiting for the temperature to go up some more. Jim and I ran 5.8 miles on the paved trails (grass trails still too soggy from 4" of rain) and the girls did their normal loop of 3.6 mi. Engaged in conversation, I forgot to click my watch at the finish, but I think it was about 57 minutes. If so, the pace was just under 10 min/mi. The sun was shining this morning, no rain, but when we finished we were all soaking wet, every bit of clothing.

We walked a few times when I felt my face getting flushed, which I always take as a warning of overheating. But we made a good time, for me anyway, and I enjoyed the run. No knee problems! Huh.

Oatmeal on top this time:

Four Inches of Rain

2011-07-16T21:33:00.003-05:00

We got some local flooding last night. Our place is fine, but some of the paved trails in the park were flooded and we had to take short detours. I never considered the grass trails - I’m sure they were very wet and muddy. The girls ran their usual 3.6 miles while I ran 5.8.

The right knee only yelled once, when I briefly slowed to a walk. I walked several times too, governed by breathing. When it rose from one breath per four footfalls to one per three, that meant I was working harder than a tempo run, and I slowed. Finish time 59:40, pace 10:17. Good enough - it was another recovery run.

Breakfast. That's organic kefir, not milk:

A Run in the Park

2011-07-14T20:21:00.003-05:00

We three ran in the park today, after the rain let up. The girls ran their usual loop on paved trails, while I ran mostly grass & dirt trails, with the last mile or so on paved trails. 4.8 miles, 55 minutes, pace 11:28.

It’s OK. That last mile was with my sweeties, who don’t go quite as fast. Also, I walked several times, still feeling a bit drained from the marathon and from last night’s 6-mile run.

I love running in the park. It’s a masterpiece!

Yours truly nearing the finish of last Sunday's Missoula Marathon:

More Than a Recovery Run

2011-07-14T14:03:00.003-05:00

Woodbury Runners, six miles with Rich and Corey. We all had our reasons to run slowly, and we even walked a little. Nonetheless, I found myself breathing pretty hard, just to keep up. I got hot at one point too, even though the temperature was only about 70. We finished in 1:02:30, for a pace of 10:25. I can do much better, but not today, the first run after the Missoula Marathon.

The right knee with PFS hurt a little most of the way, but not enough to hinder. I tried my old Brooks Glycerine 5 shoes, which I bought in 2007 but have rarely used. They have more cushioning than the Brooks Launch, my current training/racing shoe, but they didn’t seem to help the knee and I thought (imagined?) that they felt heavier. They actually ARE heavier, by more than three ounces per shoe, but I’m not sure I can really tell the difference between 11 and 14 ounces.

Is the cushioning still good, four years after purchase? I don’t know, so I’m probably not done experimenting with more cushioning. The knee does seem to bother less if I run on dirt instead of pavement, suggesting that cushioning can make a difference.

Roast bison, organic heritage tomatoes, asparagus, organic squash, organic strawberries:

That's More Like It!

2011-07-10T17:01:00.013-05:00

I finished the Missoula Marathon in less than five hours, the fastest I've been able to run a marathon this year. And Missoula is a good marathon - if you're thinking of running one in Montana, I recommend it highly.

My Race:

The right kneecap hurt off and on the whole way. I stopped to wiggle the kneecap a few times, with uncertain results - it was always better afterward but might have been anyway, just because I stopped. Several times the knee produced a sharp pain, as if hit with a projectile, but those pains resolved quickly and I could usually start running again within half a minute. I tried to run on the most-level part of the road and to take corners very carefully, both of which may have helped. Anyway I just ran through that pain and the knee was not a limiting factor.

Otherwise, no problems. In recent marathons the calves have threatened to cramp, but not today. I did take a salt tablet or two every four miles, clif shot with caffeine every other four, and water at every aid station but the last. I didn't carry water and didn't need it.

I did run out of gas though. For once my pace wasn't limited by the knee or the calves, just by sheer muscle exhaustion. That's fine! Except for the knee, no pains unless you consider the effort of running to be painful. I don't - to me it just seems like working very hard, to the limit. Breathing was normal until mile 24 or so, and then it became more urgent, as it should at the end of any race. I feel so good afterward - quads, calves, and hamstrings are uniformly sore but uninjured.

Time 4:57:03, second of five in my age group. Average pace 11:20. I followed the 5:00 pace team for quite a while, catching up to them after each of three bathroom stops, then finally chugged out ahead. I used the walk/run method, most of the time running 30 seconds and walking 30. State number 36, marathon 54, completed.

The Missoula Marathon:

The expo was outdoors, in a park under a huge tent. Well done.
Women could choose a finisher's shirt in a woman's style.
One exhibit at the expo had shirts & sweatshirts for $3.00! Some of them were quite nice. Pants were $1.00. They were used, of course, collected from a high school lost-and-found or from discards at other races, then washed. The idea was to use them at the chilly start and eventually throw them alongside the road, where they would be collected and used again. I started with a very nice $3.00 Columbia polar fleece vest, and later tossed it near an aid station. This is a WONDERFUL idea - I hope it catches on. Race directors take note!
Fireworks at the start! Very inspiring.
6:00 am start. This is a big plus for me, because it means running in the cool of the morning.
The sun illuminated the snow of the opposite mountains just as we started.
Not much shade at the beginning, but a delightful view of mountains, and there was shade in the last 10k when temperatures had risen.
On a roadside sign: "Don't mess with someone who runs 26 miles for FUN!"
One woman was running for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). We had a chat and I'm sure she knows how much one guy appreciates her effort. She could be saving my life.
It's a one-way marathon, with ALL runners bussed to the start. Almost all of the race was on roads not closed to traffic, but there really wasn't much traffic. No problem.
According to the elevation chart it's an uphill marathon, gaining a couple hundred feet, but I swear it felt like a downhill marathon. There is really only one significant hill, which took us up and then down again.
As in most marathons, the volunteers were superb! They really wanted to be there and were having fun.
The 5:00 pace team leader knew what we needed and did it right. To my own surprise, I finished a couple of minutes ahead of the team.
Weather could hardly be better, about 46 at the start and 66 at my finish, clear, no wind. Imagine NO WIND in Montana!
The dew point was in the 30's the whole way - VERY low humidity, which helps keep runners cool.
The mile markers were wonderful, easily seen, inspiring to a tired runner.
Literally dozens of homeowners left sprinklers running on half of the road for runners to run through if we wished. Chicago Marathon take note!
Clearly, Johnny Mapleseed came through Missoula years ago, because lovely, mature maples arch over many of the residential streets.
Someone had put up several signs with quotations from the movie "Top Gun," like "Just stay on my wing, I'll take you all the way in."
Spectators were magnificent, especially after mile 18 or so when we got into town. Lots of little kids - I high-fived as many as I could.
Both the full and half marathons are walker-friendly, with an early start for the full and a six-hour limit for the half.
Finish line food was superb! The Good Food Store did it right. There was watermelon! Gosh I love that at the end of a race.
The exception was fluid, provided by Coca Cola, who had chilled bottles of their "products" but no chilled bottles of plain water for people who didn't want to ingest that stuff. You could get water in small paper cups if you wanted to stand and get your feet wet filling a cup from a spraying nozzle fed by a water hose, but a bottle is a lot nicer. Coca Cola sells water too - they can do better. Or maybe Pepsi could.
The finisher medals are quite artistic. They look like fired enamel on plated brass, but could be epoxy I suppose. Nice!
Internet results were a little slow, still unavailable several hours after the race ended. In the modern day of chip timing, it's possible to have partial, unofficial results up even DURING the race, and many races do that.
Finishers: Marathon 1057, half 2394.

Missoula:

About 68,000 people, mostly living on a plain which was the bottom of a glacial lake millenia ago. It is surrounded by nearby hills and more-distant mountains.

Missoula is a destination for hikers and bikers (bikes with pedals, of course), who enjoy the several trails that go up into the hills and probably beyond.

There is a university, and the town is a mix of cowboy and cosmopolitan. Lots of pickup trucks with dirt all over them, and we also saw lots of dads who brought their little ones to see the runners go by.

The Clark Fork River is high right now, running fast. We saw kayakers braving the rapids right through downtown. Missoula is a cool town.

Splits: 12:17, 22:18 (2 mi), 11:25, 11:27, 10:57, 14:21 (major potty stop), 10:42, 10:39, 11:14, 10:23, 11:58, 11:15, 11:43, 10:29, 10:17, 10:43, 11:52, 11:24, 11:44, 11:14, 11:36, 11:40, 11:29, 10:47, 10:51, 2:23 (0.22 mi), total 4:57:03.

Easy Taper Run

2011-07-07T20:28:00.003-05:00

We ran just 2.3 miles this morning, to loosen up more than anything. I ran 30 seconds and walked 30, which is the pace I’d like to maintain most of the next marathon. It comes out to about a 5-hour marathon, depending on how fast I run and how fast I walk. The right knee with PFS hurt a little at the start, but then didn’t bother much.

Time 25:12, pace 10:57, probably a bit faster than I need to go, a 4:47 marathon pace. I’ll actually start with the 5:00 hour pace team and hang with them as long as possible, though I may not be able to finish that fast. That marathon starts very early, and I figure I’ll make hay while the sun isn’t high. It’s a masterpiece.

Grass trails at the park a couple of days ago - an egret taking off just ahead.

Short Run in the Park

2011-07-05T14:45:00.003-05:00

We three ran in the park again this morning. We drove there, a short distance from home, and when we parked I found the grass trails beckoning to me - they looked so good. I had my best shoes on, however, and the grass trails are a bit muddy, so I took the paved trails instead.

The right knee with PFS (runner’s knee) hurt a little bit right from the start, in the center of the kneecap, so after a half mile I switched from running 100% to walking for 30 seconds every now and then. It helped a lot, and the pain gradually disappeared. It came back later, so I stopped to massage/manipulate the kneecap. That seemed to lessen the pain and move it to the top of the kneecap. 3.6 miles in 37:12, pace 10:20. Tapering, it’ll do.

Marine on St Croix 4.1-Mile Race

2011-07-04T17:36:00.003-05:00

This is a tradition for us - we run it every year. It’s small, low-key, only four miles, downhill, and many of our running friends are there. Perfect for the Fourth of July. Today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky or a puff of wind, and with the temperature about 80 it was a bit warm. But we ran, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

My right knee hurt a little, especially on the downhill (there were lots of downhills), so I slowed to a walk fairly often, but probably couldn’t have gone too much faster. Maybe a minute or two.

I felt fine after the race, and I won my age group! First of one - no one else in the 70+ age group. Time about 37:00 - the results aren’t up yet on peaktiming.com for some reason. Pace 9:01. Good enough I guess.

Summer Runs

2011-07-02T21:05:00.005-05:00

July 2, 2011:

66 degrees and a warm sun at 7:00 am ths morning, as the St Croix Valley Runners took off on their run. Jim and I ran the Lake McCusick route in Stillwater, while the rest ran the Manning route, both routes five miles. This morning the temperature was 66 and the dew point was reasonable. Nice running.

Running with Jim is always inspiring, and I ran most of the way, walking only a few times. Time was about 45:20, pace 9:04. It’s a masterpiece.

July 1, 2011:

The temperature reached 100 degrees today at our house, but we went out to run while it was still only 81. Humid, too Phew. I only ran 3.6 miles, yet I don’t recall my T-shirt ever getting so wet on a run. No rain - just heavy, hot air.

The right knee hurt a bit again, of course. I ran pretty much all of the time, walking only briefly a couple of times. Time 35:15, pace 9:48. Good enough for 81 degrees.

Tuna with organic peas & cashews, organic cherry tomatoes with a little pepper sauce, avocado & lime juice.

Wood Ticks Galore

2011-06-28T21:46:00.003-05:00

I ran in the park again, on the grass trails, in the morning this time. 65 degrees and clear, little wind, already a beautiful day.

Last Friday I came home from the grass trails with a dozen ticks in my shoes and a couple crawling on my legs; this morning not so many but at least three. I don’t think these are the tiny deer ticks that spread Lyme disease and babesiosis, but the larger American Dog ticks (wood ticks) familiar to most Minnesotans. They can spread Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other infections, but mostly they are creepy and gross. Either way, no one wants them to latch on and feed so we do inspect ourselves. We often see these in the spring, but I don’t recall so many, or so late in the spring.

After each run I left my running shoes and socks outside on a wooden table for a while, where the ticks crawled out of the shoes and up onto the shoelaces, as if they were blades of grass, ready to latch onto the first passerby. Indeed, when I put my finger near a tick it quickly reached out two of its eight legs, glommed on, and crawled up my hand. Another of nature’s marvels. Yuck.

The run went OK or better until the very end. I was formulating the log post in my mind, something like “finally pain-free,” when the right knee suddenly howled, hurting even more when I finished the run and started walking. I’m not positive that this pain was the diagnosed patellofemoral syndrome, though, because it was at the lower right corner of the kneecap, whereas more recently the PFS had been more in the center of the kneecap.

Oh well, that “pain-free” headline will have to wait. I’ll keep doing the therapy, and running, and will put up with the pain as long as it’s manageable.

4.8 miles in about 52 minutes (I forgot my watch), pace about 10:50. It’s good enough - I stopped briefly a couple of times to take pictures, and didn’t stop my watch.

Coming Back

2011-06-26T21:40:00.003-05:00

Sunday, June 26, 2011

We three ran on the Gateway Trail this morning, starting in the middle and running out and back both ways, so we could be near the car in case of a thunderstorm. No storm came, so we ran the planned distances. I went as far north as the new Manning Avenue Bridge (progress continues), and as far south as Mile 12.

The right knee hardly bothered at all. I ran without walking for the first five miles, or a little more, and then walked occasionally. Breathing was the test: One full breath in four footfalls is OK, one in three footfalls means walk a bit. I tried pretty hard to use my physical therapist’s suggested gait, shuffling along on the balls of my feet rather than landing midfoot. It results in less up/down bounce, and may have saved some energy.

I’m happy with the result, finishing 8.3 miles at a sub-10 pace, and I feel great afterward. It’s the strongest run in some time, and definitely a masterpiece.

Splits: 9:51, 8:40, 2:40 (0.3 mi), 8:48, 9:40, 9:06, 10:23, 10:15, 9:47, total 1:19:12, distance 8.3 mi, overall pace 9:33.

Friday, June 24, 2011:

Eight miles on the grass trails in the park. 78 degrees, humid, and the trails were wet - I had to run through water once, and mud more than once. At least a dozen ticks clung to my legs and shoes after the run. Nevertheless, I had a great time and pretty well wore myself out.

This was not a recovery run - I went about as fast as I could. Breathing is the measure: Four footfalls per breath is a sustainable pace, but when it goes to three footfalls per breath, I have to walk a bit to get back to four. That wasn’t necessary for the first four miles, but later I did walk up some hills and, because of the knee, down some too.

The knee hurt only a little, early on, but calmed down and was mostly silent after the first mile. 1:29:49, pace 11:08.

There really is oatmeal under there, and organic yogurt was added after the photo was shot:

Recovery Run

2011-06-23T19:39:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, June 22, 2011:

Raining this morning, so we three picked up Jim and ran for an hour at the Stillwater Bubble. In that time, Jim and I ran about six miles. He could have gone faster and farther, of course, but had run a speedy half marathon a few days before and seemed content with an easy recovery run with me today. We chatted a lot.

Patellofemoral syndrome, runner’s knee: The right knee hurt a bit at the start, but I ran anyway, and by golly after a while it felt better. Toward the end I didn’t think about it at all, though it did hurt a little when I stopped and walked. Man, I’m tired of bitching about that knee!

Except for the knee, I felt great after the run and had a good session later with the therapist who is trying to correct the underlying muscle weaknesses that presumably contribute to the runner’s knee.

Organic bison with onions and organic mustard, organic tomatoes, organic squash with a little pepper sauce:

Perfect Weather for Grandma’s Marathon

2011-06-19T14:44:00.008-05:00

For nine straight Grandma's I’ve wished for 55 degrees with a tailwind off the lake, and yesterday it happened. A few brief sprinkles got us all wondering if the 70% chance of rain would become 100%, but it didn’t. At Sky Harbor airport on Park Point, the temperature remained about 50 degrees with an east wind (tailwind) of about 20 mph the whole time. It doesn’t get much better than this. I carried a butt pack containing a poncho and gloves, in case of a downpour, and an extra shirt in case the temperature wasn’t as predicted. None of that was necessary - I felt great in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

Because I ran a marathon two weeks ago and have another scheduled a few weeks from now, I decided to run conservatively, and hooked up with the 5:30 pace team. Yes, there is one that slow! They would jog for five minutes or so, then take a 30-second walk break, and thus stayed on the necessary 12:30 pace. I did it differently, running for 30 seconds and then walking fast for 60 to 90 seconds until they caught up, which worked better for me. A couple of times I made a bathroom stop and then had to catch up, but that was no problem. I stayed with them to the top of Lemon Drop Hill, about mile 23, then started walking less and running more, and went out ahead to stay. Finish time 5:24:03, 12th of 17 in my age group of 70-74. Marathon number 53, still 35 states run with 15 to go.

The right knee hurt a little most of the way, but not enough to slow me down. It even hurt a bit when I walked, which is new. The worst problem, though, was the left hamstrings, which got sore by the half-marathon. The nerves controlling that leg felt strange, tingly, and I wondered if I would lose control of the leg. But the problem slowly subsided, and by the end of the race I could sprint to the finish without pain. Now I wish I had analyzed that pain a little more carefully, because I don’t know if it really was the hamstrings - it seems more likely that it was nerves in that area.

Calves, especially the left, gave notice that they might cramp up as they did two weeks ago, but they never cramped. Last night the right calf cramped in my sleep though. Ouch - it still feels bruised. I’ve heard that a tablespoon of pickle juice is helpful in preventing night leg cramps, but haven’t yet tried it. The vinegar? The salt? I assume they mean DILL pickles ...

Oddly, I have finished all of the last three marathons within two minutes of the same finish time, without trying, even though they were at widely different altitudes and temperatures, and had different race objectives. In this race, the objective was to simply take it easy, enjoy the perfect weather, and not get hurt, and I ran that way until the last three miles. Then I actually finished the last 10k of the race three minutes faster than the first 10k. Today I feel pretty good. It’s a masterpiece.

Splits: 11:42, 11:50, 12:59, 12:01, 25:02 (2 mi), 12:27, 12:26, 12:36, 12:34, 24:58 (2 mi), 28:32 (2 mi & bathroom stop), 35:45 (3 mi), 12:37, 12:21, 25:35 (2 mi & bathroom stop), 11:58, 12:01, 11:29, 11:36, 11:40, 1:54, total 5:24:03, pace 12:21.

I traded places with this Florida runner a dozen times in the race, and we finished together:

Timed Runs

2011-06-13T20:27:00.003-05:00

Monday, June 13, 2011:

Tapering, 3.6 miles on the paved trails in the park. Because of the knee, I used a run/walk ratio of 30 seconds run, 60 walk. The knee still let me know that it was there, but it didn’t get worse.

45 minutes, pace 12:32. The calculated pace for this run/walk ratio is 12:35 - pretty close!

Saturday, June 11, 2011:

Five miles with the St Croix Valley Runners, who meet at Northland Tennis Courts in Stillwater every Saturday at 7:00 am SHARP. Well, not "with," exactly. I started with them but had to do my run/walk thing to keep the right knee happy, so I fell way behind and actually took a different five-mile route because I prefer it to the traditional route.

It worked. In fact the right knee was happy with 30 seconds running and 30 walking, so I soon switched to 60 running and 30 walking. I made a mistake at the finish, running for several minutes downhill because it felt so good, but then when I stopped it hurt to walk - pain toward the outside of the right kneecap. That went away, though, and perhaps no harm was done.

Five miles in about 53:00 minutes (I didn’t click my cranky old watch hard enough to record the actual time), pace 10:36. That compares well with the predicted (calculated) pace of 10:49 for 60 seconds running and 30 walking. It’s a masterpiece!

Organic chicken, roasted organic vegetables:

Good Recovery Run

2011-06-10T21:51:00.003-05:00

Thursday, June 9, 2011:

This was the first successful run after last weekend’s marathon. I started out yesterday, but the knee hurt so I stopped. Today I ran on the grass trails in the park, going 4.8 miles in 52:50, no walking except down a few hills. The right knee barely spoke up at all - I wish I could run on grass all of the time!

This soon after the marathon I ran out of energy pretty quickly, so my pace was only 11:05, but it will certainly do. Good run, it’s a masterpiece.

Casper Marathon 2011

2011-06-05T17:56:00.007-05:00

If you're doing 50 states, and need Wyoming, I certainly do recommend the Casper Marathon. We three ran it today - I ran the full and my sweeties ran the half, and we're all pleased with it despite near-record heat and flooded trails. My 52nd marathon and 35th state.

My Race:

I started out very concerned with the patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner's knee) that I've battled in my right knee as recently as Thursday. Happily, that turned out to be the least of my problems. It was never more than a murmur at any point in the race.

My plan was to run 30 seconds and walk 60, which ends up with an average pace that should have produced a finish of 5:30. I felt really good, though, and the knee wasn't bothering at all, so I shortened the walks to 30 seconds, resulting in an actual pace in the 11 to 12 minute range, which could have brought me in just after 5 hours, all else being equal.

But nothing was equal. The marathon started at 5270 feet and went up a bit from there. The temperature at the start was 48, but it rose to 81 at my finish, with intense sun and a dewpoint of zilch. There were definitely times when my mouth was calling for water but the next aid station was a mile away. I had carried water on my back for the first few miles, then decided I didn't need it and dropped it at the car when the course wound back past our parking area, later regretting that decision.

I did take six Clif Shot gels along the way, and maybe nine or ten salt tablets, but my calves started to cramp up at about mile 22 anyway, and I was forced to walk in from Mile 23. I could have gone faster, other muscles were willing, but when I tried to run the calves said NO, and they really meant it.

What affects this? Training (not good lately), hydration, salt, hills (there are a few), speed (I started faster than intended), probably core strength. It's possible that the mile-high altitude has some effect as well. For a while I was 17 minutes ahead of the planned pace for a 5:30 finish, but most of that pad evaporated during the walks and I finished in 5:23:54 (my watch), just 6 minutes ahead of schedule. Third in my age group of 70 to 98, though I have no idea whether there were more than three of us musketeers. And I could swear that I passed the guy who finished second, never to see him again on the course. I'll be interested in the results when they're published.

An odd fact: My finish time for this race is within two minutes of the finish time for my last marathon, in Rhode Island, even though EVERYTHING was different, including the amount of hills, altitude, temperature, humidity, sunshine, aid stations, running surface, and my race plan. The girls had the same experience, finishing within a very few minutes of their last race. Our bodies are the only constant - perhaps that's what it's about after all.

The Casper Marathon

This year the organizers had to battle a flooded race course and near-record heat, so if I have any suggestions for the race directors I'll put those in a separate email, not here, and I doubt I'll be telling them anything they don't already know.

A standard joke in our house is "don't invite us to your marathon," because quite often something unusual happens at the marathons that we do run. Heat, floods, hurricane, rain and bluster, fire on the course, you name it, we've been there. This race definitely fits the pattern.

The marathon course follows a lovely paved trail along the North Platte River. Today, that river is well over its banks and flowing rapidly toward the Missouri, then the Mississippi, and finally New Orleans. From Casper, it drops a whole mile on its way to the sea, and right now it's in quite a hurry to get there. Despite that speed, the water was high enough to cover some of the paved trails, so the race directors had to redirect us on dirt trails in a few places. No problem here - I love dirt trails, have been quite happy with marathons that are ALL trails. They improvised well.

Other wonderful stuff: All of the volunteers; Pizza and other great food at the finish including fruit and beer (several different labels); Fruit and GU at every aid station; Excellent mile marking and course marking; A superb indoor facility at the start; Same at the finish; The Half Marathon was on the same course as the Full; The finish is 170 feet lower than the start; Great news coverage afterward on local TV.

It's definitely not flat, but probably shouldn't be called "challenging." If I can do it, you can. Might be good to sleep IN Casper for two nights before the race, to adjust to the altitude. I'd like to come back someday with normal weather and no floods.

Splits: 11:05, 11:21, 11:23, 10:59, 11:10, 10:59, 13:45 (major potty stop), 11:43, 11:43, 11:06, 11:25, 11:00, 11:40, 11:07, 12:48, 23:27 (2 miles), 13:33 (minor potty stop), 11:25, 12:43, 12:49, 13:20, 12:18, 14:38, 17:25, 15:21, 3:12 (0.2 mi), total 5:23:34 by my watch, overall pace 12:20. I was shooting for 5:30, so it'll do! My calves are sore, everything else is tired, and I'm happy. It's a masterpiece.

A sample of the yummy food at the finish line. There is much more, not pictured, including vegetables with dip, muffins and cookies, plus pizza:

RATS!

2011-06-04T18:55:00.004-05:00

Thursday, June 2, 2011:

I ran “marathon pace” today, hoping and almost expecting to run pain-free on the paved trails by running 30 seconds and walking 60. Just 3.6 miles on the park’s paved trails, I was starting to feel almost smug about this temporary solution to the runner’s knee problem. Then, in the last two-tenths of a mile, a pain shot through the right kneecap, leaving me hopping on the left. I walked for a while, and then could run again briefly, but the pain was still there, skulking, threatening to pounce once more.

When the pain first hit, I was running on a trail which was slanted to the right. I’m assuming that the kneecap slid to the left on the knee, “popping” slightly out of its normal groove. That’s how patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee) works. I don’t know if the trail was slanted when this has happened before, but I do know I’ll do my best to limit right-slanted pavement on the next marathon.

Anyway, the idea was to run this pace to see how the time would actually come out. I don’t think that the pain episode issue changed things much, because it happened so close to the end of the run. Thus I ran 3.6 miles in 43:34, which comes to 12:06, quite a bit better than I had expected. My calculations, based on a presumed running pace of 9:30 min/mi and walking of 15:00, had predicted about 12:36 min/mi. 12:06 would be a 5:17 marathon, and 12:36 would be 5:30. I’d sure love to be running below five hours again, but that won’t happen until I get past the recent rash of minor injuries.

Breakfast after a longer run: Color is good. Most everything is organic. There is oatmeal under there somewhere. The yogurt is plain, organic:

No Pain!

2011-05-27T20:03:00.005-05:00

Jim and I enjoyed a wonderful, cool, but sunny 5-mile run on the grass/dirt trails in the park this morning. He is recovering from an injury, and I am trying to get past "runner’s knee." He didn’t complain of pain, and neither did I. The knee muttered softly, but never really called out about any problem. I ran all of the way except over short fields of gopher holes, and down a few steep hills. I ran uphill! Toward the end I was pooped, unfortunately, but this was fast for me (usually is with Jim) and endurance will come if I can run like this more frequently and longer.

5.0 miles in 51 minutes even - that’s a pace of 10:12, which is very good for me on these hilly trails. It’s a masterpiece!

Tonight's dinner: Chicken bake with leftover organic chicken, organic peas & spinach, quinoa, and three cheeses. Add organic grapes, organic strawberries, and colorful organic heritage plum tomatos. Plus a bottle of pretty good beer.

Patellofemoral Syndrome (Runner’s Knee)

2011-05-25T21:27:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, May 25, 2011:

The Woodbury Runners were reduced to just four today by a competing 3M Club picnic, as many of the Woodbury Runners are also 3M employees. Rich and I ran behind Pete and Mark, WAY behind actually, completing a 5.8-mile loop in 1:01:51, for a pace of 10:40. I could have sworn it was faster, actually, because I was working mighty hard to keep up with Rich, but that’s a hilly course and I guess we did OK. Patellofemoral (PFS) pain in the right knee was minor!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011:

I had my first therapy session today, and the therapist, also a runner, definitely agreed with the doctor’s diagnosis of patellofemoral syndrome (PFS). When I objected that the pain strikes very suddenly, in one stride, she explained that the kneecap (patella) can suddenly slip sideways off the groove in which it is supposed to ride. It may occur in runners with tight ligaments or muscles, imbalanced muscle pull, or an incorrect angle of knee alignment.

The therapist diagnosed both tight muscles/ligaments and imbalanced muscle pull (weak muscles), and prescribed five different core-strengthening exercises to be done along with my usual runner’s stretches. Three more sessions are scheduled, and at least one will include an evaluation of my running form. Hey, I’m interested.

The good news is: In my case, I can run with PFS pain without concern about further injuring the knee. If I can stand the pain, I can run, except, of course, pain means that the PFS will not heal as quickly. See - that’s why you want a runner as your therapist or trainer. Anyone else would just say “stop running,” but a runner understands what a sacrifice that is and will explain the tradeoff. OK, I get it.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011:

Six miles on the grass/gravel/dirt trails in the park, almost all running, very intense. I decided to see if the patellofemoral pain would appear, on the morning just before the first therapy session. It only barely showed up, and the pain felt like it was higher in the kneecap than on prior occasions. It seems to show up a little less when running on dirt than on pavement, and it actually disappeared as I ran, even though I did as little walking as possible.

6.24 miles in 1:12:27, pace 11:37. I can do better than THAT on those trails, but I was bushed today from yesterday’s yard work, which included hours of chain-sawing a nephew’s tornado-downed trees, and more. It’s good to be tired from physical exertion, though, makes for excellent sleep.

Saturday, May 21, 2011:

The world didn’t end today. Good thing, too, because otherwise our trip down to Mayo Clinic would have been a huge waste of time. We heard an acclaimed doctor discuss new treatments for myeloma, very interesting to me but only of future value.

Gateway trail today, I did the walk/run, 30 seconds and 30 seconds, and experienced very little pain. This was a good run - it’s a masterpiece.

Splits: 11:37, 11:14, 11:57, 11:40, 11:33, 11:43, 11:59, total 1:21:46, seven miles, pace 11:41.

A breakfast that doesn't leave you hungry by 10:00 am:

Eight Miles on the RR Tracks

2011-05-19T15:10:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite trails is a gravelly dirt road alongside the railroad tracks. It goes for miles, all the way from Bayport to St Paul, and I like to start somewhere near the middle and run out and back in both directions. It’s mostly soft dirt, quite flat, very quiet, and ocasionally brightened by a train. There are two problems, though: (1) In most places, the little road is strewn here and there with stones an inch or two in dimension, the kind that make up the bed that the track and the ties rest upon, so the footing is slightly treacherous; and (2) There are no mile markers of any kind. In fact, I might have run a bit overlong in one direction today - I’ll bring it up on Google Earth again to get a good look at the trail.

I ran two miles one way & back, then dropped a shirt at the car and went two miles the other way & back, total 8 miles. Because I’m trying to get past a “runner’s knee” problem, I mixed walking and running, which seems to help prevent the knee pain. Just a few seconds of walking apparently lets the knee recover after a short run. The first four miles I ran 30 seconds and walked 30, then the next four I ran 45 and walked 30. Looking at the splits, I think that the 30/30 pace came out to perhaps 12 minutes/mile, and the 45/30 pace came closer to 11 minutes/mile.

THE KNEE DIDN’T HURT. At all. I think it would have hurt if I had run all of the time, but this worked today, and I probably could have mixed in even more running. Now, afterward, the knee is a little cranky but not bad. It’s a masterpiece!

Splits: 12:02, 13:23, 12:23, 11:03, 11:05, 11:03, 10:58, 11:10, total 1:33:10, overall pace 11:39.

Breakfast after the run: Trader Joue's gluten-free granola with organic fruits, berries, and yogurt. Just a couple of bites of very dark chocolate.

6-Mile Run

2011-05-17T21:48:00.003-05:00

An hour and twenty minutes on the grass trails in the park, going as fast as I could without annoying my sore right knee too much. I think I ran about 6.2 miles, which would work out to a pace of about 13 minutes per mile. Most of the time I ran 20 seconds and walked 30, and I think I got away with it.

The knee felt fine during the walks and pretty good during the runs, especially after the first couple of miles. Oddly, it feels much better going uphill than down. Afterward, it’s not quite as good as it was before the run, but I think tomorrow it will be. I’ll take tomorrow off from running, try the same tricks again Thursday.

Mostly organic:

Classic Runners' Knee

2011-05-16T19:38:00.002-05:00

Monday, May 16, 2011:

Dr Ronald Yee at SMG. For my knee. He’s a sports doctor, fairly young, but seems to really know what he’s doing. He did a lot of prodding, poking, and bending, of course, and took several X-rays. Results:

The prodding and poking didn’t seem conclusive to me, but he diagnosed the pain as “classic runners' knee,” otherwise known as patellofemoral pain syndrome.
He ordered therapy, suggesting Katie Larson at OSI, who herself is a runner.
We discussed the possibility that the underlying problem might be a piece of stray cartilage floating in the joint. If so, we’ll need an MRI to find it.
He also made sure I understood that he wants to see me again in 4 to 5 weeks if there is no improvement.
The X-ray disclosed no problem, and in fact he said that for my age the meniscus looks “fantastic.” So I haven’t wrecked that yet.

He also said that I should avoid doing things that hurt very much, if possible, but if I just have to run a particular marathon to get that particular state, then do it. I think this was his way of saying that I probably won’t do permanent injury by running on pain, but it sure as heck won’t get better. OK, I get it.

Personally I think it’s more likely a “floater” in the knee joint, rather than runner’s knee. Either way, we’ll figure it out.

I have an appointment with Katie Larson next week, and I’m going running tomorrow. Easy does it. I’m SO HAPPY that it isn’t a more serious problem - this will NOT stop my running. It’s a masterpiece.

Sunday, May 15, 2011:

We ran on the Gateway Trail today, from the Hwy 96 bridge up toward the new Manning Avenue Bridge and back. I had knee pain right away and quickly gave up on running all the time, switching to run/walk right away, 30 seconds run and 30 seconds walk.

Gradually the pain went away, and in the last two miles I switched to 60 seconds run and 30 walk. Then, with only 2/3 mile remaining, I turned to reverse course and the knee immediately started to hurt. I had to walk most of that last 2/3 mile.

Not a masterpiece for running, but what a beautiful day it was. 65 degrees and sunny, breezy, just lovely.

Definitely going to the doctor tomorrow.

Splits: 3:54 (1/3 mi), 11:30, 10:08, 18:59 (1 1/2 mi), 11:34, 3:39 (1/3 mi), 15:03 (1 1/3 mi), total 6.5 mi in 1:11:05, pace 10:56.

Saturday, May 14, 2011:

This started out as an easy 6-mile run in the park, but ended up as mostly a walk. Almost right away, my right knee started to hurt, in the joint itself. I couldn’t tell if it hurt more on the footfall or the lift. The pain was easily tolerable - I could run on it and I did run for most of a mile, but became concerned about injuring the knee and started to walk instead. It didn’t hurt to walk.

Rats. This is the knee problem that’s been lurking for several years now. Several times, starting February 16, 2008, that knee has “locked up,” leaving me hopping for a moment on the other leg. It clears up fairly soon, and I can run again, but it comes back from time to time, as it did today. I hope it doesn’t tomorrow. I realize that I’ve been favoring that knee lately when going downstairs - it hurts if I put weight on the knee while bending it. Oddly, though, it doesn’t hurt going upstairs. I haven’t seen a doctor about this in three years - perhaps it’s time.

One issue: Today was cold and windy, 48 degrees and 15-20 mph, and I ran in shorts. Knees got pretty cold. It’s possible that the knee would have been fine in warmer weather. It’ll be 60 tomorrow, perfect for running.

No masterpiece today though.

There's oatmeal under there somewhere:

Nice Semi-Long Run

2011-05-13T17:38:00.003-05:00

Fourteen miles on the paved trails in the park, a training/taper run for the next marathon, no problems. Murmurings from the right knee, left hip flexors, and left hamstrings, but nothing serious.

I took three Clif Shot gels, several salt tablets, and plenty of water, running 2/3 of the time and walking 1/3, just as I might in a marathon. Overall pace was 11:13, good enough for 10 days after running a marathon. Surprisingly, I felt stronger at the end than I did at the start. It’s a masterpiece!

Breakfast after the run, pretty much everything organic.

Good Run In The Park

2011-05-09T19:39:00.006-05:00

Monday, May 9, 2011:

I had a very good run in the park today, using the paved trails because of recent rain. NO walking at all - one brief stop to clear a fallen branch from the trail.

Not a lot of other people out there today, no doubt because of that rain. The forecast said that it might continue, but the radar showed that it was unlikely to happen soon, so we ran.

5.8 miles in 56:20, pace 9:43, almost as fast as I was running this route last summer. I can get there.

Slight pain in the middle of the right knee joint, went away over the first two miles. It’s a masterpiece!

Saturday, May 7, 2011:

St Croix Runners, regular Saturday 5-mile run. First run with them this year. I ran with Dave, who right now seems to be uninjured and quite a bit faster than I am. Everyone in the group is! He was kind enough, though, to reign in a bit for me and we had a nice chat.

Time 49:20, for a pace of about 9:52. It was all I could do today. My legs still felt tired from the marathon, and the right knee hurt a little at first.

Thursday, May 5, 2011:

3.7 miles in the park today, four days after the marathon. Feels great! I ran almost the whole way, including the hills. Legs wwere a bit tired, especially at the end, and my time was not great, but hey it’s the first run since the marathon.

Slight pain in the right knee, seems like right in the middle of the joint. It gradually went away as I ran. It’s a masterpiece!

Wild-caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, key lime jelly, organic sweet pickle relish, organic strawberries, organic spinach, organic quinoa, organic feta cheese, organic yogurt.

Amazing Marathon

2011-05-01T17:46:00.008-05:00

Because it felt so good. What a turnaround. Two weeks ago I ran the most painful marathon of my life, and today I was pain-free the whole way. No complaints from knees, hips, or hip flexor muscles, just a minor thing in the left hamstring, nothing new. Probably, the difference is due to a new running regimen of 60 seconds walking (fast), and 30 seconds running, much easier on the joints. I was actually able to speed up a little in the last six miles, going to 30 seconds walking and 30 running, though the splits don't reflect it because much of it was uphill against the wind.

Muscles are sore and stiff, of course, it was still a 26.2-mile jaunt, but no cramps and I think they'll be better tomorrow and every day thereafter. Yay!

This was the Cox Sports Marathon in Providence, Rhode Island (where they run rhode races). I like this marathon:

Well organized, including the expo. People could even pick up bibs on the day of the race, though it was discouraged.
Lots and LOTS of cheerful volunteers, even for a back-of-the-pack runner like I was today.
Enough spectators that I heard "Go Don" a lot of times. I wore my name on my shirt as always.
Much of the marathon was on a beautiful trail with a brand-new surface, going through parts of Providence that are not accessible any other way.
The trail was not closed to normal use, so we mingled with walkers, other runners, and cyclists, no problem.
In the last mile or two we found dozens, maybe hundreds of cheerful signs encouraging the Team In Training (TNT) runners, who raised a lot of money today for research into leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. I like them a lot.
The trail was nearly flat. The roads were not flat, but all on all it was not a "challenging" race. Flat enough.
Pizza for runners along the way and at the finish line! I don't eat pizza, but others were enjoying it.

One negative: Quite a few of the miles were on roads which were not closed to traffic. The running area was usually coned off, but almost always on the right shoulder, so we were dealing with cars whizzing by a few feet away, and with the running surface always tilted the same way. I found myself looking back over my shoulder a lot to be sure the next driver was paying attention. Other runners expressed relief when we did get to the bike trail, which is not crowned like the roads. Nevertheless, I like this marathon and would run it again.

Marathon number 51 and state number 34 completed. Feels good. I've reached a point where I can list the 16 states that I have yet to run. Six Clif Shot gels, chocolate with caffeine, and probably about eight Thermotab salt tablets. Lots of water, the temperature was in the 60's much of the run. I wore a cap for vanity reasons (badly in need of a haircut), but learned to prefer a visor in warm weather because it's easier to dump water on my head. :-)

Two very nice photographers took videos of me running. They think it's surprising that a person can run 51 marathons with myeloma. It seems normal to me. I love running marathons! It's a masterpiece.

Splits: 12:10, 12:10, 38:10 (3 mi), 12:08, 11:42, 11:40, 11:58, 12:03, 13:02, 12:53, 12:27, 1:13 (0.11 mi, 2:41:35 total to here), 11:21, 12:28, 24:57 (2 mi), 12:43, 12:58, 25:09 (2 mi), 11:32, 12:35, 12:38, 12:10 (4:57:55 to here), 27:37 (2.22 mi), total 5:25:32, fourth of eight in the age group. Pretty consistent pace.

Sunshine and me after the race:

Still Painful

2011-04-20T21:46:00.003-05:00

Woodbury Runners, regular Wednesday run. Rich and I ran together, about five miles in 58 minutes, not a good pace at all. This was my first run since Saturday’s marathon, and I had problems: (1) The left hamstrings were tight in the beginning, but got better; and (2) Both knees started to hurt after a couple of miles, especially the right. Eventually the right knee hurt too much to run - I had to take a walk break, and then I could run again for a while.

I don’t think it was the knee joint - not even sure that it was the knee itself. It could have been a ligament inside or behind the knee, but it didn’t feel like it was in the joint itself. It could be a bursa on the outside of the knee, too - there is a little tenderness there. I don’t think it’s the ITB because it’s not quite in the right place. In any case, though, the stretches for ITB may help this problem too.

Usually I can keep up with Rich, but not today. He’s getting faster and I’m slowinng down. Ah, well.

Bison chili with onions and mustard, organic sweet potatoes with organic salsa, and chard with onions, cranberries, cashews & more:

Last Finisher

2011-04-16T18:56:00.008-05:00

We ran the Run-A-Palooza Jersey Shore Relay Marathon, a fundraiser for Special Olympics. Not my best day, but I finished. Actually, I think I may have been the last runner to finish!

Lots of problems:

Temperature of 45 throughout (!), which is lovely, but the wind was continuous at 20 mph, gusting to 30 or so, and rain off and on for the last hour and a half. We ran mostly straight north along the Jersey shore, and the wind was from the ENE, so it was partly in the face and always a factor. That's my only real excuse.
Nursing a sore right knee, I had not run for two weeks, only walked. Maybe that's not a good way to train.
That right knee hurt a little in the beginning, then calmed down. Likewise the left hip, which has recently caused problems, was mostly silent.
But hip flexors on both sides (muscles connecting the thigh to the hip bones) started to yell during the second hour and didn't stop. They were a limiting factor. Gosh I thought I'd gotten past the hip-flexor problems.
And the LEFT knee started to complain about halfway through and just got worse throughout. Pain on the outside, might be IT band. We did run on the right edge of a lot of crowned roads, which could cause exactly that symptom. This became a limiting pain too, even on the flat.

Anyway I was on schedule for a five-hour marathon until the half, then gradually slowed until I was walking (as fast as I could) but not running for the last six miles or so - just hurt too much to run. Time 5:40:05, average pace 12:58. Best I could do that day. Marathon number 50, state number 33. Seventeen more to go.

About the race:

This race is designed to raise money for Special Olympics. The emphasis is on marathon relay teams and on the accompanying half marathon. A team of one runner (like me) is allowed, but not really encouraged, and I suppose the reason is that more runners raise more money. Also, the marathoners don't all start at the same time. We were asked to estimate our pace, and then were allocated a start time, slowest runners first, I suppose so that support teams (water stations, route marshalls, and medical) could be out there for the shortest possible time.

I screwed up here, and seriously overestimated my speed (underestimated my finish time) when I registered back in February. I thought I could run 11-minute miles, maybe better, and ended up with 13-minute miles. That amounts to almost an hour in a marathon. I should have started at 8:00 am with the first group out, but was assigned to the 8:40 group instead. Because of that mistake, and because it was so miserable out that the volunteers quit, I ran behind the support. After the aid station at Mile 19 (or so) I never saw anyone associated with the race except four runners who passed me. No water, no directions (marshalls), and no medical, not even a volunteer on a bike. Zip. In fact some of the directional signs were gone, blown down I suppose, no other runners in sight, and I wasn't entirely sure of the course once or twice. There may have been water along the boardwalk if I had known how to get it, but I didn't and came in mighty thirsty.

What the race committee could do:

Be more willing to allow people to start earlier than their assigned time. I wanted to do this, even asked, but was unable to make it happen. I know this is a problem - everyone wants to start early - but obviously, there are problems both ways.
This can be made easier in a relay with the use of Velcro-attached leg-wrap chips. Then a team's actual time is known regardless when they start. They use chips for the half - why not the relay?
Keep track of the last runner. Perhaps I wasn't the last to finish, I don't know, but I doubt that the race committee knew I was still out there when I arrived. The finish line was down, and inside the post-race-party building there was no indication where a runner should report, people seemed surprised, and they were quite unprepared for one more runner. A race should always keep track of the last runner. Always, for safety reasons if no other. Happily, I did find a lovely woman who did it all for me - gave me a finisher's medal and took down my time.

Flip Side, the Good Stuff:

We loved running on the boardwalk, even in this exceptionally-blustery weather. My two girls ran the half, which was an out-and-back entirely along the ocean, virtually all of it on the boardwalk. They loved it. The boardwalk is a wonderful venue, goes for miles on end, and the race makes good use of it.
To my surprise and delight, the boardwalk itself was in good condition for running everywhere, bar none. No tipped-up board ends, no cracked or broken boards, nothing but a smooth running surface. There was a little sand, blown in from the beach 50 feet away, but they were cleaning that up even as the wind continued to blow more in.
The marathon ran on boardwalk for perhaps half its distance, and on roads near the ocean for the rest.
Everything started on time, as far as I can tell, within a minute or two of advertised, even in this problematic weather.
Pre-race, lots of good emails with important details.
We liked getting the race shirts before the race instead of afterward. I actually wore one in the race.

I highly recommend this race. Do try for better weather.

The cheesy happy face is on the back of each of the medals, apparently a trademark of the Run-A-Palooza races:

Not Much Running

2011-04-09T20:45:00.002-05:00

Friday, Apr 8, 2011:

We three walked 3.6 miles on the paved trails in the park. I felt a little problem in the right knee still, and decided not to try to run very far. Beautiful day, 60 degrees, spring is really here now. I can’t wait.

Wednesday, Apr 6:

We three had a few minutes between medical appointments in Stillwater, so we went to the outdoor 400 m track at the junior high school to run a bit. My right knee hurt a little right from the start, so I stopped after one lap. Time will tell whether this knee is really a problem, and meanwhile I will go very easy on the knee.

Sunday, Apr 5:

River Falls sports facility. We three went to UWRF to run on their 200 m indoor rubber track, open to the public from 5:00 to 10:00 pm on this particular day. Unfortunately, my right knee started to yell at about a mile, so I stopped at a mile and a quarter. No need to antagonize that knee. I’d rather run the next marathon with no additional training than with a sore knee.

Catching Up on Log Posting

2011-04-02T21:18:00.002-05:00

Saturday, April 2, 2011

I ran in the park by myself today, the girls are still under the weather (my cold is gone) and the temperature was over 50 degrees, little wind, a beautiful afternoon to run. Got the taxes done, went out running. The grass trails are still snow trails (FIVE months straight now), so the paved trails were more appealing. I ran out of the park toward the city, turned around at a major intersection, then went past the car for another few minutes and doubled back once again. Five miles total, 50 minutes.

The right knee yelled at me as I turned slightly at an intersection to look for oncoming cars, and it kept complaining for the rest of the run. We’ll see how it is tomorrow. Except for that, it’s a masterpiece!

Friday, April 1:

Stillwater Bubble again, man is it cold in here! 33 degrees outside, not more inside if any. This thing is kept inflated by outside air, of course, so if they don’t use any heat then it’s pretty much the same as outdoors.

Five miles, fifty minutes at the usual 10-minute pace. I didn’t feel like running any sprint repeats today. I went to the dome early, ran 50 minutes, and went home. Just a little pain in the left hip (as usual I guess), otherwise fine. Nice run, I feel good, that’s 20 miles for the week. Tapering.

Wednesday, March 30:

The Woodbury Runners meet every Wednesday night at 6:00 pm (actually 6:10), have for years. I didn’t run with them in the winter, because they run on icy trails, but today a large group of old friends met for a photo shoot and ran their traditional route. I can’t keep up with most of them any more, so I ran a shorter route with Rich and Corey. Five miles in about 57 minutes - not very fast, but Rich is just starting to get ready for his next marathon. We’ll do better. Nothing hurts!

Monday, March 28:

Sixty minutes plus in the Stillwater Bubble. We picked up Jim for his last run before his long-planned trip. COLD in the dome - I don’t think they used any heat at all, so it may have been as low as 35 or so. Jim and I chatted for much of the time, ran some sprint repeats, and then he took off and ran a few miles at his speed - quite a lot faster. Good run - no pain.

Sunday, March 27:

Nice run on the indoor track at UWRF. Ten-minute miles, forty minutes, must be four miles. Slight pain in the left hip, none anywhere else.

Friday, March 25:

Another six miles in the Stillwater Bubble, this time running with Jim the whole time. We talked a lot, the “running philosophers.” Again the left hip bothered just a little most of the time, and later at home as well. I suppose I’ll bring that hip to a sports doctor sometime soon if it doesn’t go away. Otherwise it was an enjoyable run, finishing 24 miles for the week.

Thursday, March 24:

Six more miles in the Stillwater Bubble, running with Jim and then Candy. No problems except the left hip. That has turned into a chronic issue now, hurting a little most of the time while running, and even a little at home.

Tuesday, March 22:

Six gentle miles in the Stillwater Bubble today, a proper recovery run. The left hip hurt a little throughout - I haven’t yet figured out what causes that pain - something is injured, but I can’t pin it down. It’ll get better or it’ll get worse, and if worse it will be easier to locate. If better, then who cares?

A good, enjoyable run nonetheless. Snow tonight, maybe sleet. Winter apparently gets one last shot, but we’ll try to run tomorrow anyway.

Gluten-free pancake with organic yogurt, frozen organic strawberries, blueberries, mango, and pineapple, topped with a little dark chocolate:

Human Race 8k

2011-03-22T21:37:00.002-05:00

Sunday, March 20, 2011:

The Human Race 8K Race has a long Minnesota tradition, and is one of the 13 races in the Minnesota Grand Prix circuit of races. The weather can be an issue in March, and for this year’s race we were treated to a drizzly 41 degrees. A genuinely bleak day, except for the indomitable spirits of the runners. Over 500 hardy souls showed up for the 8k this year.

My race wasn’t great, coming off a tough marathon 8 days prior, and also fighting a cold (those are my excuses and I’m sticking with ‘em). I might not have hammered as hard as I could, although I thought I was doing my best. I know that I walked less in this race than in some previous Human Races. Time 44:07, pace 8:53, 7th of 9 in my 70-74 age group.

It's so wonderful that there are eight other old farts in that age group, just wish they weren’t faster than me! One runner, Thom Weddle, finished in 34:37, pace 6:58, which is a good pace in any age group and world class at age 70+. Go Colonel Weddle!

No pains during the race, but the left hip hurt a little afterward and the quads still smarted a bit from the hilly marathon.

Splits: 9:09, 17:23 (2 mi), 9:35, 8:00, 44:07 total. I LOVE that last, downhill mile, always do best there.

Thursday, March 17:

We ran for thirty minutes on paved trails in the park, a recovery run, first since the marathon. Only a little pain in the left hip, nothing else. It’s good.

Oatmeal (upper right), miscellaneous frozen and fresh organic berries and fruits, with kefir.

Land Between the Lakes Marathon

2011-03-12T17:17:00.005-06:00

We didn’t find the Land Between the Lakes Marathon on MarathonGuide.com, for some reason, but we found it on MarathonManiacs.com. It’s a wonderful marathon (and 23k, 60k, and 50 miles) on a beautiful trail in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in the southwestern tip of Kentucky. We found no faults, have no suggestions for the race director. The race was perfect, the course was perfect, even the weather was perfect if you like it a bit warm. I’ve never heard of another race that would allow a runner to change distances during the race, not just down to a shorter race, but up to a longer one. It’s a hang-loose group, but they get away with it because they know what they’re doing. A trail race by trail runners.

If the race was perfect, I wasn’t. Oh, man. I trained for this race as best I could, almost entirely in the Stillwater Dome. The many corners are good for ankles, knees, and hips, perhaps, but the soccer surface didn’t prepare me for the hills, and today’s course was very hilly. According to the race web site, a marathoner will gain and lose a total of 2068 feet in the 26.2 miles. If that were straight up it would be four tenths of a mile, and I have a new appreciation for that elevation change when it comes as a long series of hills and valleys, the trail strewn with leaves, roots, rocks, and the occasional stream or muddy patch. No complaint about the trail, mind you, it’s exactly what a trail should be - I love this kind of running.

It’s a lot of work, though, and every muscle hurt, especially in the last six miles, especially the quads. Those hurt enough, toward the end, to actually keep me from running downhill. Since my muscles didn’t have enough steam left to run very far uphill, I was limited to running on the level in those last miles, and there really wasn’t much level to run.

Specific bodily failures:

Left hamstrings ached a little, off and on. Not a limiting factor.
Right quads hurt quite a bit, especially downhill. Limiting. Sometimes it feels good to exercise a muscle to exhaustion, but these were on fire and I was a little concerned about injuring them. Left too.
Lisfranc ligaments in the left foot started to hurt late in the race. Ho hum - it’s arthritis from an old injury.
The left calf cramped up. I was tiptoeing past a muddy patch and lifted my left foot over a log, which triggered the cramp. Imagine standing on one foot in a slimy bog, the other foot in the air, calf cramping painfully, and cussing a blue streak at maximum volume (that actually dulls the pain a little I think - I hope). The cramp eventually subsided, of course, and that left calf actually finished the race honorably. Maybe it’s good to have it cramp up once, and get it out of it’s gristly little system.
All muscles ran out of gas. I hadn’t trained properly for this race.

What else?:

Time 6:08:54, marathon number 49, state number 32, second of four in age group 70+, 76th of 105 overall.
I’m 70, and got beat by a 76-year-old from San Antonio. I hate that - not just getting beat by an older guy, but a guy from Texas to boot. Nice guy though, we chatted briefly after the race. He did have souvenirs of the race, bloody cuts on his right arm, said he fell several times.
I didn’t fall, but came extremely close three times, each time my right foot catching on some root or other trail hazard. Why always the right? Dunno. A little foot-drop going on? I think it might help to have glasses made for running - my bifocals can’t zero in on the traps that are just a step ahead.
I took six Clif Shot gels with caffeine somewhere along the way, and I think seven salt packets. I have no idea how much water - I had it refilled at many of the aid stations. I was SO GLAD that I decided to carry water rather than depend on aid stations alone.
Early in the race I watched a dog-like creature race at full velocity across the trail, perhaps 75 feet in front of me. It made quite a bit of noise and was gone in seconds. Colored like a gray wolf, it was the size of a coyote, maybe a bit larger. Another runner told me that coyotes are common in the Land Between the Lakes, and wolves are seen occasionally. I think this might have been a wolf/coyote hybrid, which I know does happen. In any case, it was clearly more afraid than I was, except if it had turned around, I’d have been looking for a tree. I had actually brought a knife on the trip, perfect as a defensive weapon against wild dogs or whatever, but had finally decided not to carry it on the race. Sometimes you should trust your first instincts. I wish I knew when to do that.
I passed a lot of runners in this race, and some passed me too, but for much of the race no one else was in view.
All of the trail was in a deciduous forest, quite primal. I’m not good at identifying trees without their leaves, but last fall’s leaves were still on the trail and appeared to be mostly red oak, or the Kentucky equivalent, and perhaps chestnut. I’d love to see it in summer.
The most spring-like plants were short daffodils, just coming into bloom, growing in clumps. We never decided whether they were planted by people or if they just decided to set up camp there.
Aid stations had grapes, bananas, oranges, M&M’s, potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, bites of race bars, Hammer Gels, PB sandwiches, rollups of some kind, and more, not to mention the cheerful volunteers. As I said, this was a good marathon!
Sunshine and Sweet Pea finished the 23k too, well ahead of me. Good for them!

The end.

Springtime in Kentucky:

Sore Feet in Three Miles

2011-03-06T17:36:00.003-06:00

Sunday, March 6, 2011:

For the first time in months, we ran outdoors today. Just three miles, on the paved trails in the park. The run went well, except for the usual slight ache in the left hip at the start, and I’m sure the pace was at least 10 minutes per mile, probably a bit faster.

When I got home in the shower, however, I found that the bottoms of my feet were a little sore. Imagine - from just three miles on pavement. I suppose the problem is that I haven’t run on pavement AT ALL, not even once, for more than two months. We’ve been in the Stillwater Dome or running on indoor tracks made of rubber. Oooo - I’m glad the next marathon will be mostly on dirt trails

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, March 2, 3, & 4:

Four miles each day in the Stillwater Bubble. A slight ache in the left hip appears at the beginning of the run and goes away in a mile or two. Ten-minute miles. Tapering. A total of 24 miles this week.

Dinner with two-cheese spinach:

These ARE the Good Old Days

2011-03-01T21:42:00.005-06:00

Nearly eight years ago, when I was diagnosed with myeloma, the median survival was thought to be five years. As it has turned out, though, my own myeloma grows slowly, and for the last three years it has been controlled by a study drug. I can still run, if slower than before, and can still even do a marathon. I love running, and we certainly do enjoy traveling to other states to run marathons, 48 so far, in 31 states, since the myeloma diagnosis.

Myeloma can sneak up without warning, though. Even with ongoing treatment, it can eat through bones until they break. A full-body PET scan is pretty good at finding those lesions, but it’s expensive, so I haven’t had one in three years. Next week I will. I’m a little apprehensive, of course, because the PET scan could show lesions serious enough to make running inadvisable, but of course I want to know.

Either way, these are good times, with or without running. We’ll deal with whatever comes.

Forty minutes today in the Stillwater Bubble, about four miles. A slight ache in the left hip went away. The erratic pain in the right thigh appeared only a few times and was quite mild. I’m thinking it’s not in the femur, and we’ll know next week. Good run.

Pickled herring from Hagberg's Grocery, on gluten-free toast. Lunch:

Two-Day Marathon

2011-02-28T07:44:00.003-06:00

Sunday, February 27, 2011:

Four miles on the indoor track at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. They have open running/walking on Sundays, and we took advantage today. This was the first run since Wednesday and Thursday’s 2-day 25-mile run. Two problems:

Today the left hip hurt a bit for the first mile or two. I can’t decide if it’s in the hip joint or a ligament that attaches in that general area. Anyway it went away, though I suspect it will be back.
Since Thursday I’ve felt an occasional pain deep in the right thigh. It’s brief, random, and not repeatable. It’m concerned that it might be in the femur bone. Myeloma does attack bones, including the femurs. As it happens, though, I am scheduled for a full-body PET scan in about ten days, so we will soon know if the right femur is in trouble.

The pain isn’t disabling when it appears. Easy runs are on the schedule this week. Short and soft.

Thursday, Feb 24:

Not quite a marathon. 24.8 miles in two days, 14 yesterday and 10.8 today. Like yesterday, I ran out of time or I might have run 12.2 today, which would have made it the full marathon distance, but it’s probably just as well. I seriously pushed the injury envelope as it was.

No injury, though, at least none noticed yet. The left hip grumbled a little again, probably oncoming arthritis, hopefully coming only very slowly. Was there a little pain in the left hamstrings? Not enough to be concerned about. It’s a masterpiece!

Wednesday, Feb 23:

This was intended to be a three-hour run in full marathon mode, running the usual 10 minute/mile pace. Everything was going fine, but unknown to me, the “softball guys” had scheduled the Bubble for batting practice starting at 10:00 am and I ran out of time. I stopped at 2:20:00, amid a shower of softballs. Some of those guys can really hit, too! About 14 miles.

Happily, there were no pains except maybe a little ache in the left hip. I was a little tired afterward, but not more than normal I think. I could probably have finished outdoors, as it was a nice, warm day, but decided instead to come run again the next day.

Tuesday, Feb 22:

Forty minutes, four miles, again in the Stillwater Bubble. After three full days off, I felt great, plenty of energy. Looking ahead to an 18-mile run the next day, however, I took it easy and ran the usual 10-minute/mile walk/run pace with no sprints or other bother. Just puttin’ one foot in front of the other.

Stretch Before AND after?

2011-02-18T19:45:00.006-06:00

See the post for Wednesday, below.

Friday, Feb 18, 2011:

Forty minutes, four miles, in the Bubble again. Not so warm inside today - I was comfortable enough in long pants and a long-sleeve shirt. I wore ear cover, anso even the ear didn’t hurt. No pains, an excellent 30-mile week.

Thursday, Feb 17:

Sixty minutes, 6 miles, in the Stillwater Bubble. Warm outside today, and warm in the Bubble too. Usually I run in shorts, but for the first time I ran in short sleeves too. Except for a sore ear, no problems.

Wednesday, Feb 16:

Forty minutes, about 4 miles, in the Stillwater Bubble . After 12 miles the day before, I took it pretty easy. Nevertheless, in just a couple of loops of the soccer field, the left hamstrings started to speak up, as they had in the previous week. I have no doubt that they would have become worse during the run, as they had in the previous week. So I stopped and stretched the hamstrings, just bent forward and touched my toes for 15 seconds or so, then took off again, finishing the four miles with no pain at all. None AT ALL. The stretch actually fixed it, at least for that day.

I’ve always believed in stretching after a run, though I don’t do it often enough. But in recent years the idea of avoiding injury by stretching before the run has been thoroughly pooh-poohed by all those who think they know. A very recent study shows once again that pre-run stretching does not reduce injuries I believed those reports too, but now I think there’s a qualifier. There may be times when stretching a muscle that's already tight might actually prevent that muscle from being torn or pulled during the run. Oh, yeah!

Tuesday, Feb 15:

Two hours, about 12 miles, no pains or problems. I took Clif Shot gels at 40 and 80 minutes, with none of the stomach upset that I’ve had recently when taking gels. The difference? I didn’t have my usual coffee-latte before the run. I needed just one bathroom break to pee, no more.

I checked pace a few times, and I'm sure it was all of 12 miles. No pains! That’s an excellent sign. It’s a masterpiece!

Monday, Feb 14:

Forty minutes, about 4 miles, in the Stillwater Bubble. All OK, no pains.

Salad for dinner, mostly organic, ground bison beneath:

Hamstring Is Better

2011-02-11T21:05:00.003-06:00

Friday, February 11, 2011:

Sixty minutes, at least, in the Stillwater Bubble. This run went quite well indeed - I wonder if the problems with the left hamstrings are over. I sure hope so.

I tried a new pair of Brooks Launch shoes today - they’re just fine. This is my fifth pair, and I like them as well as I liked the discontinued Brooks Burns. Cushioning but not much else - very comfortable.

Thursday, Feb 10:

Fifty minutes in the Stillwater Bubble. Possibly a dull ache in the hamstring toward the end, but no sharp pain. Tomorrow I’ll shoot for 60 minutes.

Wednesday, Feb 9:

Forty minutes (4 miles) in the Stillwater Bubble. Only a hint of pain in the hamstring at the very end of the run. I’ll try 50 minutes tomorrow.

Tuesday, Feb 8:

After three days without running, I tried to run in the Stillwater Bubble for an hour. I reached 45 minutes or a little more, and then the new left-hamstring pain reappeared. I had hoped for more after three days off.. Nuts.

The plan will be: Try to run 40 minutes tomorrow, but stop if there is any pain. Increase by 10 minutes per day if no pain.

Where Have the Raccoons Gone?

2011-02-04T21:45:00.003-06:00

Until this year we were regularly harassed by those masked bandits, every night, trying to rob the bird feeders, or the garbage cans, or whatever, especially in the winter. None this year.

I think we figured it out. Raccoons don’t like coyotes at all, but coyotes like raccoons a lot! For dinner. In the past few days we’ve twice seen a large, dark, dog-like creature striding through the yard, obviously on the hunt. The first time we thought, in the shadows of early dawn, that it had the features of a wolf. Large enough, with a large head and long busy tail. We thought.

A few days later we saw another, also in the dark, and then it seemed a little smaller, tail less bushy, more like a coyote. Since wolves are not seen in the Twin Cities area, it was probably a coyote both times. In prior years we saw stray cats, too, and snowshoe rabbits, but not this year. Our cat has never been outdoors in her life; she’s afraid to go out. Now she has good reason.

Friday, February 4, 2011:

Oops - we ran in the Stillwater Bubble again, but today my left hamstrings had a new pain, not a serious pain and not the one that I’ve had in those hamstrings recently, but maybe enough to be a signal. I ran only a little, walking for most of the hour. It doesn’t hurt when I walk. I’ll skip running this weekend, probably Monday too, and hope that little pain goes away.

Thursday, Feb 3:

Six more miles in the Stillwater Bubble today, 60 minutes, run/walk, no problems.

Wednesday, Feb 2:

Stillwater Bubble, 120 minutes, about 12 miles. I ran the first 5 miles without walking, but felt a little discomfort on the outside of the right hip, possibly the start of bursitis, so I switched to the walk/run method which seems to be easier on my body. The hip quieted down.

I took gels at 40 minutes and 80 minutes. After the first one I felt some stomach upset, occasioning at least two extra trips to the bathroom. That’s not OK - it’s happened other times recently when I’ve taken gels. I have to fix it. First, I will try a semi-long run with gels but without the 16-ounce latte that I’ve also been having before the run. If that doesn’t work, perhaps I’ll try switching from Clif Shot gels to another brand.

Fruit and berries laid out in preparation for breakfasts (we all like this stuff). In just a few minutes, the marble board warms the frozen berries enough so that they don't hurt our teeth.

Geezer Dome

2011-01-31T20:13:00.003-06:00

I heard that name used for the Stillwater Bubble today. Indeed, looking around, many of the people walking in the dome were seniors, like myself. However, “geezer” implies men, and at least half of the walkers and runners are women, and according to my resident advisors the term “geezer” is insulting if applied to a woman.

Further, walking and running are not the prime activities hosted by the dome. It’s built for soccer, and during other hours it’s used for soccer, baseball, and lacrosse, as well as many other sports. For example, one day we saw US Marine recruiters from all over the state playing flag football games. So I won’t be using the term geezer dome.

NO WALKING TODAY. As an experiment, I tried to slow down to a pace of 10 minutes per mile, because my natural pace is faster but I'm unable to sustain it. Sometimes this doesn’t work very well, I speed up as soon as my attention wanders, but today it worked and I ran for an hour, six miles, without stopping or walking. It’s good.

Breakfast:

Five Runs, 32 Miles

2011-01-29T20:34:00.002-06:00

All in the Stillwater Bubble. Thirty miles last week, thirty-two this week.

Friday, January 28, 2011:

Stillwater Bubble 40 minutes, 4 miles. No pains, no problems. It’s a masterpiece.

Thursday, Jan 27:

Stillwater Bubble 60 minutes, 6 miles. No pains, no problems.

Wednesday, Jan 26:

Stillwater Bubble 40 minutes, 4 miles. Pain in the butt is less today. No other pains.

Tuesday, Jan 25:

Two hours, at least twelve miles in the Stillwater Bubble. Jim ran with me much of the way, but somewhere in there found time to run at least one mile more than I did.

Last night I felt a pain in my left butt, especially noticeable when I got up in the night to go to the bathroom. I think that this particular pain is an indication of arthritis in the hip joint, potentially a major problem. Why now? I take glucosamine every day, because of previous hip pains, and I had stopped for three days. I’ve restarted the glucosamine and we’ll see.

Monday, Jan 24:

Perfect run. One hour in the Stillwater Bubble, about six miles, not a single pain of any kind. Perhaps it pays to take two days off from running now and then. It’s a masterpiece.

Breakfast:

27 Below Zero

2011-01-21T20:37:00.002-06:00

Friday, January 21, 2011

Thirty miles this week! I’ve been trying to get back to that mark, and until this week life has intervened. Today I ran another hour in the Stillwater Bubble, very close to six miles. No special pace or training - just my regular walk/run marathon pace. The only pain was the right knee, which I won’t worry about unless it sticks around and gets worse.

Temperature was 27 below at the nearest airport this morning. It was even a little cooler than usual in the Bubble, I'm guessing 45 degrees or so. The garage door opener worked, though, and the car got out and ran fine, neither of those being certain on such a morning.

Thursday, January 20:

I had a blood draw today, in the afternoon, so only ran four miles in the morning in hopes that a short run would not affect the blood test.

After the four miles I walked another 20 minutes or so with my sweeties - at least another mile. No real problems, but I am feeling a slight pain in the right knee. That seems to come and go - I hope it goes soon!

The afternoon blood test was to be certain that the cancer was not sneaking up on my kidneys and bones. Good news - it's not. It's a masterpiece!

Wednesday, January 19:

Six more miles in the Stillwater Bubble. Jim rode with us again, and we ran together quite a bit. That takes patience on his part, because I walk one of the short sides of every 1/5-mile rectangle.

No serious pains; the left hamstrings had a message for me early on, but they quieted down in a mile or so. It’s a masterpiece

Tonight's dinner - "leftover" salad: Organic romaine, organic tomatos, a taste of leftover gluten-free pancake with a little local honey, organic mixed vegetables, leftover organic chicken thighs, organic turkey bacon, avocado, organic mustard, organic red wine vinegar.

No Clif Bar Before Running!

2011-01-18T20:49:00.003-06:00

I’ve learned this before, but apparently I’m not a quick study. I ate a Clif Bar about an hour before running at the Stillwater Bubble, and it felt like a rock in my belly for the first hour of running. I do like Clif Bars, but will reserve them for post-run recovery from now on. Until I forget again.

I had intended to run for two hours today, but ran out of gas after 1:40. Ten miles or so, nothing hurts much, it’s good enough.

Fish dinner: