After much discussion with my wife and running buddies, I have decided to drop down to the Marathon Relay with my friend. He and I will split the marathon and each run 13.1. I am happy with this decision as it has been taxing on me trying to keep up with the volume of running (and time) necessary to accomplish this goal. I have decided on taking on one big task a year (read trying the training for a marathon) for the time being in hopes of avoiding burn out. With this in mind I am looking for a Spring/Early Summer marathon to take on where I can begin training in the early part of the year (February). I am currently leaning towards a redemption run at the Vancouver USA Marathon (I was unable to run the Vancouver USA Half last year due to the impending birth of my second son).
Moving on to different running issues/problems/phobias/general worry. I have a lingering issue with my right ankle. I sprained it last summer before I became a runner, and now I have the ability to reinjure it almost at will. I rolled it climbing off a ladder back in March and was quite concerned that it was more serious than it really was. Fast forwarding to this past weekend. Friday we had a yard sale where we took stuff from our house, my dad's place, and my in-law's place and offered to try to sell what we could and donate all that was left, typical yard sale. Well, I had wanted to get out and run with one of my running buddies sometime that weekend, and offered Friday after the yard sale as the perfect time to take care of this. So about 2:30 that afternoon I met up with him to tackle an easy 5 or so before heading home for dinner. Everything was going well up until mile 2. His dog, leashed, decided that she wanted to run on the outside of me, instead of in between the two of us. This caused me to step off the running path into the grass trying to make room for him to pull her back in before she tripped me. Well, turns out there was a small hole where I stepped off the path. Crack! Rolled the ankle and spent a couple of minutes trying to see if it was ok to try to move on again. I managed a couple of quick sprints up the hill to test it's steadiness before deciding to move on and finish out the run. I managed to finish the last 3 miles of the run, which was good, though the run wasn't the best I have had.
Typically on Sunday's I like to meet up with my other running buddy to tackle a long run. This Sunday we were going to try to do 8-10. When I awoke, I was greeted kindly by my 3 year old. I absolutely hate leaving him to go run on the weekends. I texted my buddy and asked if we could go a bit later, he quickly agreed. I spent the next couple hours getting breakfast and an HD antenna with my 3 year old, then happily went out for the run with my buddy. We met up about 10 with no particular plan in mind. We decided to run the path across the highway from his place as opposed to wandering down to the river. Not being in the best mind to go for a run we decided to just do the 5.5 mile loop and call it a day. Of course as we got to the end of the loop we decided to try to get a full 7 in, ran the short loop of the path again, and cruised in at 7.14 miles. I don't know what it is about the 7+ mile distance of late, but I have been loving this distance for a run. Enough to make me feel like I really accomplished something and yet not so much that I am drained from the effort.
If I were ranking runs in ascending order of awesomeness the last few days, today's would top the list. Since I stopped worrying about speed and other such tings on my 'plan' and have been running my runs how I feel, I have been much happier about a greater percentage of the runs. This morning, however, I felt the need for speed. I was out the door just before 6 in the cool 45* morning air. I quickly realized that this morning was meant to be a fast run. I warmed up for about a half mile, then turned on the burners, finishing the first mile in 8:15, then really wanted to push it for 2 or so before cooling down and getting ready for work. Miles 2 and 3 were right at 7:50 a piece, and it felt great to be able to run that speed with what felt like minimal effort (gotta love fall temps). I ran a cool down mile of 8:45 or so, to pull off a 4 mile run in 8:45. It was awesome, and left me hoping for a good one tomorrow (I actually want to get up and go again in the morning). Good to know that my ankle is slowing me down any.
Have fun out there!
Moving on to different running issues/problems/phobias/general worry. I have a lingering issue with my right ankle. I sprained it last summer before I became a runner, and now I have the ability to reinjure it almost at will. I rolled it climbing off a ladder back in March and was quite concerned that it was more serious than it really was. Fast forwarding to this past weekend. Friday we had a yard sale where we took stuff from our house, my dad's place, and my in-law's place and offered to try to sell what we could and donate all that was left, typical yard sale. Well, I had wanted to get out and run with one of my running buddies sometime that weekend, and offered Friday after the yard sale as the perfect time to take care of this. So about 2:30 that afternoon I met up with him to tackle an easy 5 or so before heading home for dinner. Everything was going well up until mile 2. His dog, leashed, decided that she wanted to run on the outside of me, instead of in between the two of us. This caused me to step off the running path into the grass trying to make room for him to pull her back in before she tripped me. Well, turns out there was a small hole where I stepped off the path. Crack! Rolled the ankle and spent a couple of minutes trying to see if it was ok to try to move on again. I managed a couple of quick sprints up the hill to test it's steadiness before deciding to move on and finish out the run. I managed to finish the last 3 miles of the run, which was good, though the run wasn't the best I have had.
Typically on Sunday's I like to meet up with my other running buddy to tackle a long run. This Sunday we were going to try to do 8-10. When I awoke, I was greeted kindly by my 3 year old. I absolutely hate leaving him to go run on the weekends. I texted my buddy and asked if we could go a bit later, he quickly agreed. I spent the next couple hours getting breakfast and an HD antenna with my 3 year old, then happily went out for the run with my buddy. We met up about 10 with no particular plan in mind. We decided to run the path across the highway from his place as opposed to wandering down to the river. Not being in the best mind to go for a run we decided to just do the 5.5 mile loop and call it a day. Of course as we got to the end of the loop we decided to try to get a full 7 in, ran the short loop of the path again, and cruised in at 7.14 miles. I don't know what it is about the 7+ mile distance of late, but I have been loving this distance for a run. Enough to make me feel like I really accomplished something and yet not so much that I am drained from the effort.
If I were ranking runs in ascending order of awesomeness the last few days, today's would top the list. Since I stopped worrying about speed and other such tings on my 'plan' and have been running my runs how I feel, I have been much happier about a greater percentage of the runs. This morning, however, I felt the need for speed. I was out the door just before 6 in the cool 45* morning air. I quickly realized that this morning was meant to be a fast run. I warmed up for about a half mile, then turned on the burners, finishing the first mile in 8:15, then really wanted to push it for 2 or so before cooling down and getting ready for work. Miles 2 and 3 were right at 7:50 a piece, and it felt great to be able to run that speed with what felt like minimal effort (gotta love fall temps). I ran a cool down mile of 8:45 or so, to pull off a 4 mile run in 8:45. It was awesome, and left me hoping for a good one tomorrow (I actually want to get up and go again in the morning). Good to know that my ankle is slowing me down any.
Have fun out there!
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