Recovery Run

First run after Grandma’s Marathon. 89 degrees with a dewpoint of 61. Plenty warm. For the fun of it I tried out a long-sleeved shirt by Under Armor, called a "heat gear" garment, a Christmas gift that’s suddenly become relevant in the past few weeks. It’s very tight-fitting, stretchy, thin, and made of technical fiber so it’s supposed to cool as well as skin does and offer sun protection as well. I only ran 2.5 miles in it today, but I think I’ll do my hot-weather running in a singlet instead, for two reasons: (1) I felt a little cooler when I took it off, and (2) the form-fitting aspect shows me exactly as I am. Hmmm.

The run went fine. I walked up a few of the hills, or parts of them, stuck to the shade where possible, and finished in 23:49, for a pace of 9:32. Faster than I thought I was going, especially with the walking. No pains, no problems. Feet are slightly numb here and there because of the medications, but that doesn’t cause any problems with walking or running yet.

Longer runs coming up. We’re thinking about running a 50k, my first-ever ultramarathon, in a few weeks. Maybe. If it’s too hot, I think I’ll pass.


Salad as dinner: Jim's wonderful lettuces (under there somewhere), no-nitrite ham, jicama, organic grapes, pineapple, organic cottage cheese, organic pecans, organic red wine vinegar.

Minneapolis Marathon 2009

This was a great inaugural Minneapolis Marathon. That's the bottom line. I loved it.

Negatives:

(1) But where’s my jacket? Half marathoners got a nice technical shirt in their race packets, but full marathoners were supposed to get a jacket at the finish line. I got a medal, sure enough, almost couldn’t avoid it, got a banana too, but never noticed anyone handing out jackets, or a table where they might have been handed out, or other runners carrying their jackets. Did I screw up? Probably. I admit that when I finish a marathon my brain is mostly on vacation, and I actually didn’t think about the jacket until after I got home, so maybe someone tried to hand me one and I blew them off. Or did they run out of jackets? Not likely - they knew exactly how many marathoners were in the race weeks ago, because registration was closed. Oh well, I’m sure I missed something. And I don't really need another jacket.

(2) I didn’t get water at the first aid station, Mile 2. It appeared they had some, but there was a long line of runners stopped and waiting for it, so I decided to just motor on. The remaining aid stations did their job correctly. They’ll have that fixed next year I’m very sure.

Positives:

All the rest is positive. This was my 35th marathon, and it ranks very high in quality. Very high indeed. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE COURSE! Nearly all of it was on parkways or trails, and nowhere did the runners have to share a road with automotobile traffic. There were a few bikes, especially on the trails to Fort Snelling State Park, but they don’t hurt nearly as much if they hit you. And you can yell at ‘em or sock ‘em in the nose. Besides, the race’s own bike patrol booted them off the road whenever they encountered them. The course was partly out-and-back, with big loops at the front and the back. Some folks are put off by the out-and-back, but not me. I like to see the front-runners and give them a little encouragement as they head toward me, and same for those who are slower than me. The course was a bit hilly ("challenging"), but I don’t mind that - I just use the hills as another excuse to walk, then the downhills as a very good reason to run. Nobody passes Don on the downhill. Well, rarely.

I was surprised by the number of spectators, and by their enthusiasm. Not as many as TCM, but enough to be a nice distraction. I wear DON on my shirt, and got lots of "go Don" affirmation. Beautiful day, too, about 45 at the start and 70 at noon.

I finished second out of ten in my age group! Imagine. Sounds good until you know that my time was 4:49:00, which means that most of us old farts in the 65-69 age group went over five hours. And it means the the "big guns" didn’t show up for this race. Not a single one of us ran a Boston-qualifying time of 4:15. Three weeks from now, at Grandma’s, several will do that. Last year 11 of 51 did.

I’m happy with my time though. I just can’t run 4:15 any more, and this was actually a bit faster than I intended because there’s another marathon coming up in a week. I started out running three minutes and walking two, modifying that as needed to deal with hills. That put me right on pace. After mile 20, though, many of the runs were shorter and so were the walks. I didn’t slow much though - the last 10k was about 1:07, which is a pace of 10:48, slightly better than the overall pace of 11:01.

Pains: Nothing worrying. Calves wanted to cramp up ten minutes after the finish, but I stretched ‘em out and they didn’t. Both knees are complaining a little, but they're better already and will probably be fine tomorrow. The cancer-drug-induced neuropathy in my feet (previous post) did NOT get worse during the marathon. That’s very good news if my feet stay that way overnight, because I'd hate to think that running is harmful to my feet. I feel pretty good, actually. Recovery run Tuesday or Wednesday.

Splits: 11:32, 10:43, 10:28, 21:03 (2 mi), 23:06 (2 mi), 11:03, 10:21, 11:10, 42:39 (4 mi), 13:51 (potty stop), 11:03, 10:22, 12:24, 11:03, 11:07, 10:19, 21:38 (2 mi), 11:02, 10:12, 14:00 (1.2 mi). Total 4:49:00, pace 11:01. Slightly better than Lincoln, which was not as hilly as this one.

Great race - I already like the Minneapolis Marathon better than TCM, not least because it has a 7-hour time limit and TCM are such jerks about their 6-hour limit. I may do this every year.

Beautiful Day

Two and a half soft miles in a nearby neighborhood. Pace 8:25 for one timed loop (too fast), and 9:29 for the second one (about right). Tapering down.

The soles of my feet are starting to tingle and feel numb all the time, most likely a side effect of the medications I’m taking. It’s called "peripheral neuropathy," and the meds are known to cause it for some people. Unfortunately, it seems a little worse right now after the run than it did before the run. I was hoping that running might actually help hold it off, by increasing blood flow or something, but no indication of that yet. I suppose a marathon might settle the question - it could get a lot better or a lot worse. We shall see. I’m blogging more about it on my myeloma blog.

Beautiful day though. It’s a masterpiece!



Gluten-free oatmeal with dried cranberries and organic raisins, banana, mango, organic green grapes, blueberries, organic pomegranate juice, organic low-fat milk.