Get Me Through My Race This Weekend

Achey Knees

When I was an early teen, my optometrist found that my optic nerve was swollen or there was a Drusen/something weird going on in the back of my eye. So I went to specialists 5 hours away and had a bunch of tests run. I had mris, catscans, xrays, even an ultrasound done on my eye-it was weird. For a while they thought I had multiple sclerosis and my mom started bringing me to the YMCA to work out. She didnt tell me at first until they found that the tests were non conclusive and it is probably just a Drusen and prolly not a sign of MS. The specialists continued to monitor my eye for several years bi-annually and then just annually until my mom moved to another state and I just stopped going. Whenver we'd go they would bring in medical students to check out the weird anomaly in my eye-I felt really weird about that. SO its probably just a Drusen. Even with it just being a drusen it still means my eye will be more and more fucked up as the years go by.

Whenever my knees ache and are stiff and I have really low energy I can't help but think in the very back of my mind what if these docs in wv were wrong, the mri was nonconclusive. Its not like ive had my eye checked by specialists since I was a teen...it's not like Ive gone to any doctor except urgent care, the doc at walmart to get new contacts and a chiro since I was a teen. Basically as I sit here this morning with stiff fucked up knees I'm a little worried.

Running on the Lakeshore Path

Jro and I went to Chicago over the weekend to see Godspeed You Black Emperor!. On the morning we left we decided to head to Lakeshore path for a run. It was SO BEAUTIFUL running on the path and looking over to the lake on my left. The sun was shining and it was only 30 degrees outside. It was really a lot of fun. I am very jealous of the people of Chicago having such a lovely place to run.

Montrail Mountain Masochists!!!

I got my Mountain Masochist's delivered yesterday and I am super excited to try them out. They feel wonderful as I'm sitting here typing this up. This is a HUGE change from my NB WT101s. I needed some support so after much researching I chose this pair by Montrail.

Last Minute Race...Sort Of

Okay I officially registered for the Tie Dye 32 miler over in Yellow Springs the 3rd week of April.
I have the ORRRC Marathon next week...I'm only going to be doing the half even though Im registered for the full because 1. I have two 50ks a half all within a month of the ORRRC Marathon and I am nervous about running on pavement that far because of my knee (lucked out not causing serious injury during the GJ 50k road race) 2. I have a theory that half marathons may be more fun than the marathon. We'll see, it will be the first half Ive ran.

I think I'm Out Of My Damned Mind

I really really really really REALLY want to run the Mohican 50mile or 100mile. Problem: It's a week after the Laurel Highlands 77mile Ultra. I must be out of my damned mind because I want to do both and if I had money right now I would sign up for the Mohican this instant.
Also, I want to sign up to do a 50k 2 weeks before another 50k.
ALSO, I'm thinking about driving up to Cleveland this weekend to do a Fatass 50k.

I just want to run every race.

It's a serious PROBLEM.

Saucony Mirage Review Update #3

It's been a week since the 50k and I ran for the first time yesterday over in Central Park. I only ran a mile because (1) I was on vacay and wasn't wearing a sports bra because I didn't go to Central Park with the intention of running (2) I was scared about my knee since I had still been experiencing pain while sitting down.
No pain.

Today I worked out for two hours on the eliptical and then ran a very easy 3 miles on the treadmill to see how my knee felt. The good news is it felt great. No pain.

I am really loving the Mirage. They haven't given me any problems and are giving me the slight stability support I needed. If you are someone, like me, who has mainly trained in minimalist shoes and feel like you need a little bit of stability because you are a slight overpronator (again like myself) then I would suggest the Mirage. I have been more than happy with them thus far and although they are not running shoes that I would have gone for if I had not been injured and was trying out everything and the kitchen sink to run pain free, they have really become a shoe I love and am comfortable running in on a regular basis.

Unless anything new happens concerning my pair of the Saucony Mirage I don't think I will continue with another update. Anyone out there who is reading this can assume that I am running well in the Saucony Mirage.

Green Jewel 50k Race Report: I'M TOO LEGIT TO QUIT

The journey began with a 3 1/2 hour drive with J-ro to Cleveland the night prior to the 50k where I stayed in a decent hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel I checked my e-mail to find a last minute message from the race director warning race participants that Oak Grove would be closed until 5 am for (I shit you not) SALAMANDER MIGRATION. I loved that/never heard of it/thought it was hilarious. I did not fall asleep until around midnight and I woke up around 4am. I ate half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, did a warm up on the treadmill in the hotel, stretched my IT Band and headed to the start.

Going into the 50k yesterday I knew that because of my IT Band I would not be able to run a good portion of the race for fear of further destroying my knee. Furthermore, the portion I would be able to run would need to be at a slow pace, nothing fancy, nothing fast, slow as possible. I was just looking to finish under the cut off with my knee intact and if I had to I was prepared to drop out rather than destroy my knee further.

There was a bit of confusion as to where exactly my race bib was (the registration people at the start told me mine would be in the bus since I had signed up to ride over in the bus and the bus people said no mine would be at the start, I went back and forth a few times and finally got my bib about 12 minutes to start). This gave me a bit of anxiety but hey I prolly should of told them I would be driving to the start.

Cassie R. and Gina C. were running the Green Jewel as a training run for another ultra in Missouri. Cassie R. had been kind enough to suggest I run with them as they would be going at a steady slower pace. They managed to locate me a couple of minutes before the start and before you knew it someone said "okay start" and we were off. It was raining nearly the entire race and within the first 15 minutes my clothes and shoes were soaked. Cassie and Gina, kept up a great steady pace for me to cling to and my plan was to stay with them until somewhere between mile 15-20 in which I would make myself walk the rest of the way. I felt a twinge in my IT Band right after the first aid station. Things started to get really bad for my knee around mile 16 and I thanked Cassie and Gina and told them to go ahead and I'd see them at the finish.

Around mile 17 I met another racer (forgot name Im so sorry?) who stayed with me for maybe 2 miles. He was racing in Vibrams. I like Vibrams but I can never seem to run on pavement with them. I prefer to run on the trails in them. We shared injury stories and the like. I ran/walked with him for awhile until I told him to go ahead that I needed to walk it out longer.

When I got to the 4th aid station my IT Band was REALLY getting bad. But I only had a 3rd of the way to go so I power walked on. The last leg after the 5th aid station is what really did me in. I SHOULD HAVE DROPPED AT THIS POINT-for the sake of my knee I wish I would have dropped. I learned something about myself during this race-if I think there is even a slimmest chance in hell that I will finish, no matter if one of my legs are falling off or I am whimpering in pain I will push on as hard as I can to my own detriment. I power walked like a madwoman up those final 7 miles. I DID NOT HAVE A GPS OR ANYTHING THAT TOLD ME MY PACE. I was relying on all the time Ive spent walking on a treadmill and tried to gauge internally how fast I was walking. I was a half an hour to the cutoff when I tried to start "running". By running I mean I was "run limping" and swinging my arms as high and as fast as I could to create momentum. I was in so much pain I started yelling.

Then something happened.

For the past week, since Ive been able to run again its been difficult for me at times because Ive had to do all my runs on the treadmill for fear of my knee relapsing.

During this past week whenever Ive struggled, I all of a sudden imagine my dad (he died 6 years ago, though I had not seen him for 11 years before he died). I imagine him running beside me. He doesn't say anything, he's just there in my mind running beside me. I don't think of any of the bad stuff that happened. And then I imagine my mom and my sisters and my older brother and his kid, and all my estranged nephews and niece and they're there running too, I imagine my ex husband and his wife and their kids and everyone is surrounding me, I imagine all these people whom I love but who aren't in my life and we are all running together and it feels like they are carrying me or pushing me and the running gets so much easier.

I started whimpering again and I'm not sure if its because of the pain I'm feeling or because I'm pretending I'm running with my dead father and my family on a bike path.

When I see the finish I look down at my watch and I know I will make it just under the cut off and I slow back down to a walk.

I walk across the finish line and I'm certain I am the last to finish, but that's okay because I know that the fact that I finished the 50k in time even though I walked 13 miles of it and was in extreme pain was some kind of inner achievement for myself.

I immediately called my chiropractor to set up an appointment as soon as possible.

My knee was so screwed up that I could not walk on my own for the rest of the day.

Saucony Mirage Review: Update 2/ I RAN A 50k IN THEM

Yesterday I completed the Green Jewel 50k. I knew I would not be running the entire course due to a serious IT Band issue that only recently got better a week before the race and I did not want to chance hurting it again. The course was on pavement but it was raining the entire time and fairly muddy in some parts. In one section of a course you had to cross over a flooded creek which came to be waist deep on me.

So how did the Saucony's hold up???:

Great, considering they were covered in mud and thoroughly soaked in water dozens of times during the race they did hold up wonderfully. I didn't get any blisters and they dried out fairly quickly every time they did get drenched. The last 14 or so miles I had to walk because my ITBand was quickly deteriorating which led me to do some very extreme powerwalking in order to finish in time. This caused bruising on the front of my ankles. I don't know if it was necessarily due to the shoes or due to the fact I was walking as fast as my little legs would go. I would recommend the Mirage for running but not long distance powerwalking, haha.

Race review later today.