Welcome to Season 2015, Version 2.0

On Monday (the day after my last post), my doctor sent me in for some x-rays as my insurance denied the MRI without first getting x-rays.  The results were inconclusive so the MRI was approved, which I did on Friday.

I've never had an MRI and so I never really knew what to expect.  After removing all metal on my body, the technician put me on the patient table and then laid a heavy blanket type device on my legs. After sliding me in up to my thighs the fun started.  I am so thankful that I didn't have to be fully in the bore.  I can't image what that would be like or how I'd handle it.

After a few minutes my legs started to tingle.  Was this normal?  Then I started to experience micro muscle spasms.  Uh.   I don't want to do this thing again.   That can't be good for a sharp image!  I realized what was going on.  This heavy blanket was partial supported by my feet and my attempts to keep still was being hampered by the weight on my feet. 

She told me it would take about 30 minutes and so I thought, "I can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes.  I can mange some discomfort for a bit longer".  I was listening to a local radio station on these wireless headphones, so I just kept counting the songs.  Eventually my feet relaxed just enough to ease the discomfort and everything was good.

I had to wait until Monday to get the results.  Unfortunately, we received some bad news that Friday in the loss of my maternal grandmother.  The only shining light that weekend was spending Easter Sunday with an amazingly supportive and loving family.  They helped keep my mind on the important things in life.  

The day of Grandma D's funeral was Monday and I also got the results of my MRI: Stress fractureS.  I had a genuine concern being a casket bearer but, once again, my cousins are (strong) rockstars and helped me out.

I had to meet my orthopedist on Thursday with the results. I left the doctor's office with some new footwear.  I have a boot to wear for the next 4 to 6 weeks. Awesome.

Apparently this shows my Stress Fracture.  I think it shows my awesome.

So I emailed my coach and put out some new thoughts for 2015.  Boston was already out.  But what about the entire year?  When I did my first ironman, I did 30 weeks of training and, based off of that, I was already a month behind target.  I hired Coach Ken because I wanted something tailored to me and my schedule.  So training hadn't officially started yet anyway.  The point here is that Ironman events are way too expensive for me to half-ass them.  I'm looking down the barrel of some massive training weeks and I don't want to push myself getting back if I'm not really ready.  I still have the opportunity to get some money back from registration.  So I'm pushing my second ironman back a year.  Ironman Louisville 2016?

This left two races on my calendar.  Legends 70.3 and Ironman Muncie 70.3.  I should be able to walk without the boot by early to mid-May. That would be about 3 to 5 weeks out from Legends.  I could do the sprint, maybe the olympic, but no way I can do the half.  I would much rather cut out Legends altogether and focus on Muncie 5 weeks later.  

Will I be competitive at Muncie?  Well, I think there is a question on whether I will even be ready for it.  Either way, I am going.  I may not compete but I'm going.  I have a lot of great friends doing that race with me and it will be a first 70.3 for all of them.  I'm not missing that, even if it is from the sidelines.

So at this point, Muncie is the only race on my calendar.  I need a fall race.  What other fall races are there?  Maybe something that could involve a little vacation?  How about something near a beach?  What if there was a cool battleship museum close by?

Hello Beach2Battleship 70.3!

After talking with TKB, we decided going back to my favorite triathlon would be a blast.  I know the course. I know I can do it well.  I will be ready to compete.  After a rather crappy first half of the year, I want something to look forward to and train for and enjoy some time off.  Financially speaking, the money I get back from Ironman will cover most of the registration cost for B2B and the money saved preparing for Ironman Louisville will more than cover the rest (race, travel, hotel, food).

So here's to a new 2015!

Boston and Injury Update

When I started this blog in 2011 I didn't really know how it would turn out.  One thing it has done is turned into a place where I can relive those races that I really enjoyed.  It also turned into a reference for others planning the same race.  Even Beach2Battleship has reposted my 140.6 race report.  Pretty cool.

As much as I want to continue posting positive things, you must take the bad with the good.  And this is going to be a post I don't want to relive.

With all the positives that I've been seeing in the last few weeks, my shin issue hit an all time high.  I set out for my 18 mile run with the Saturday Ultramax Store group run.  I started with a couple other triathletes I know.  Everything was going well. Chatting with people sure helps take the mind off of things.  About mile 3 the limp showed up.  By mile 4 my right leg was sore from the bottom of my foot up through the quad.  Around mile 4.5 my coach caught up with me and suggested walking breaks, which I did at mile 5.

I never started running again.

Luckily, the route brought us back by the store at that point.  I got in my car and drove home.

After hopping around in the shower, I laid down in bed and told Tricia that Boston was over.  There's no possible way.  My sub-par training would lead to a sub-par Boston and give me a feeling that I'd be leaving that race with a chip on my shoulder... assuming I could finish it in the first place.

I couldn't fight back the tears.  All I wanted to do was go to sleep so this pain would go away.  But the caffeine from my pre-run coffee was still coursing its way through my veins.

Eventually I did drift off.  When I woke up, it was like a new day.  I've been dealing with pain over two months.  Sure, I was still going to endure some but the path to recovery had been paved.  I'm ready to be normal again.  I'm ready to refocus for Ironman Muncie 70.3 and Ironman Louisville 140.6.  The decision was actually a bit of a relief.

I had to convey the bad news to my brother, parents, and friends.  My brother and parents were planning to make the trip out to Boston.  I didn't want anyone to make any further financial outlays on my part.

So now the question is should I get the MRI?  The money I'm going to save from hotel cost, dining, and race merchandise will more than cover that.  It will help figure out how to plan the recovery.  I'll talk with my doctor on Monday to discuss.

Maybe in a few years when I'm preparing for my next first Boston Marathon, I'll see this post and feel a level of appreciation and not sadness.

ScottyTris, MD

I'm getting tired of talking about medical issues here but that's my life right now, sadly.

So I continued with my foam rolling.  Monday I was doing better.  I decided to wait until Tuesday to see if it still helped.  Tuesday I was feeling even better.  PT Ross gave me the go ahead to run/ride.  So I decided to ride and call him on Wednesday to see how I'm doing.  Wednesday wasn't better but wasn't worse, so he green lighted running.  I did 2 miles on the treadmill and 1 mile on the track.  I wanted to use the treadmill to keep pace and a softer landing.  This SUCKED because I was staring out the window at the first warm weather day.

Thursday it was time to see Ross again... and I wasn't feeling any better.  Maybe a bit worse.  Again, I had to be honest.  This time I could point out exactly where it was sore.  As soon as I did this a light came on and Ross diagnosed a tight Iliopsoas.  Basically the same muscle group known as the Hip Flexor.

He showed me a couple stretches and some strength training exercises and sent me on my way.  As I was heading out he said to keep on "running, biking, and swimming"!  SWEET!

One of the stretches involved a BOSU ball.  I didn't exactly want to go to the gym multiple times a day to do this stretch, so I found a brand new one on Craigslist.  Friday morning I went to the gym and did my stretching and weights.  During the gym session, I planned out a meeting point for the BOSU ball and by 7:30am I had it and was on my merry way to work.

Interestingly enough, the hip was feeling pretty good.  I did a 5 mile run at lunch.  Did more stretching after.  Before noon I had already showered twice, at two different YMCAs.  That's a pretty good day!  I even snuck in a bike ride that evening.  Was I doing too much?

Saturday I hit the pool in the morning and then did a High Five Station at the Big 12 12k Run on KC Sports Commissions request.  I did have a two hour bike planned that afternoon.  Even though it was OK outside, I did it on the trainer.  I've been having some trouble getting my Power Meter to read correctly on my Tri Bike, so I ended up hosing up most of the ride by hopping on and off the bike tweaking it.  Eventually I just wasn't into the ride and cut it after 90 minutes.  My legs were pretty sore from the strength training the day before... but my hip felt great!

Sunday I met up with Kristen and the Sunday Runday group and ran 14 miles.  It went pretty well.  It wasn't the fastest, which is good because I wanted to keep the pace slow.  I did run about 1/2 a mile with the organizer, Donny, and we hit some 7:30-ish paces and, while it felt great to hit that pace, I knew it wasn't wise.

So after recording 19 miles running, 2.5 hours riding, and 1 hour of swimming, by Monday morning my hip was feeling... great!  I ended up calling Ross on Friday after a few more workouts (which included an 8 mile threshold run) and told him I was doing quite well BUT was concerned with a shin splint.  He agreed to see me the next Thursday and would tape me up with some KT tape.  By doing this I would be taped for my 18 mile run on Sunday.  According to Ross, if I watched the wrong video to tape it, I could end up doing something really bad.  He was being honest and wasn't trying to rip me off for another $40.  I didn't care, he fixed my hip.  He can have that plus more.

Saturday came and I rode outside for 2 hours.  It felt awesome.  That evening my hip and shin splint were both feeling good.  I met up with Kristen again on Sunday morning for my 16 miles.  She ran with me for four miles before heading back.  I did the following 8 miles on my own.  While my hip was feeling good, my shin was cranky.  I had four miles left when a girl who was running Boston as well caught up with me and we ran together for the final 4 miles.  She had told me how she missed her first Boston with an injury.  So she understood my situation.  After running with her for two miles, I realized we were kicking 7:30 - 7:45s instead of the 8:15 - 8:30 that I should have been running.  Finish strong, right?

By the time I got home, my shin was yelling at me.  It was bad.  I managed to get around but was not pretty.  Monday morning I could barely walk.  I knew this wasn't right.  I've had shin splints before but NOTHING like this.  I called my general physician as soon as they opened and scheduled an appointment at 10:30am.  Fortunately for me, TKB took the day off and could take me into the office.  Yes, I could drive but stretching my foot to push on the gas was quite uncomfortable.  Unfortunately for TKB, she had to spend the morning of her day off dealing with me at the Doctor's office.

Doc did some "point" tests and other range tests.  His gut feeling was it was a bad shin splint and not a stress fracture.  Until an MRI was taken, it wouldn't be possible to know.  So he did something that I thought was interesting.  He asked me what I wanted to do!  He knew I wanted to remain active.  So we came up with a plan:

• Get in with the PT as soon as possible to do the KT tape now so it would help just walking around.
• Take the remaining Meloxicam for inflammation the he prescribed me bake in early February.  He prescribed me 30 pills but directed me to only take 10 of them back then.
• Hold off on running for a bit but when I do, hit the treadmill.
• Start talking to the health insurance about doing an MRI.  This was just for the approval, not that I would actually do it.

I talked to Ross and was going to see him Tuesday morning and started the meds.  I made it into work around noon and went immediately into about 7 hours of meetings.  I got home, still in pain, and basically went to bed at 8:30pm.  The two days of bad shin splint pain and two months of dealing with all this crap had caught up to me.

Tuesday morning it was still very very uncomfortable.  I couldn't tell if it had gotten better.  I manage to shave the bottom third of my right leg to help the KT tape adhere.  Ross showed me how to put on the tape and gave me some stretches and a few strength things to do.

Meet my new sock for the next 3 weeks.

 Similar to my physician, he asked me what I wanted to do.  I didn't go to medical school!  I discussed the same plan with him as I did my physician and he liked it.  I wouldn't say I felt immediately better but there is always something comforting with a plan.

Another long day of meetings but when I got home, I could tell a difference.  It was good.  Wednesday morning (today), I was still sore but better.  Much better.  While I still had pain, it wasn't quite the same as what had been coming on over the previous weeks.  That could be the tape, or the stretching, or the meloxicam... or my new found medical profession.

I rode my bike tonight and did some hard intervals.  It wasn't irritated when I was pushing the 500 watts for 30 seconds or when I unclipped.  I'm hoping things feel even better tomorrow as I will plan to hit the treadmill for 4 or 5 miles tomorrow night.

I've never worked so hard to run a marathon and not refer to the training.

Injury Update

When I left you last time I had just scheduled an appointment with a bone/joint specialist. That week I put up 23 miles, which included 12 miles at the gym (11 miles on the treadmill and 1 on the track) on Sunday.  I guess I wanted the hip nice and visible for the doc the next day.

Before I continue, I just want to remind you that I never really have a pain in my left hip.  I have discomfort like a dull ache if I sit or lay down for a long period of time.  I do not have an issue, standing, walking, or running; however, I do have a slight limp.  It causes my form to change slightly give me shin splint concerns on my right leg when I run.

On Monday I arrived at the medical center and they sent me directly to x-rays.  I had three photos of my man hips and off to wait for the hip doc.  He came in and did some odd tests (hold your arms over head, look left/right, do the Macarena).  I figured these were mostly to confirm that I'm willing to follow directions in the event he tells me to do something really stupid... like stop running.

He said I had a femoral acetabular impingement (FAI).  Basically the head of my femur has a bit of a bump on it and it can cause irritation to the tissue around it.  It's something that I grew up with.  Based off of the always-truthful-internet-medical websites, having an active lifestyle can cause it to cause pain much earlier in life or it might not be a problem at all.

According to the doc, the only permanent solution is surgery to remove the 'bump' but he didn't recommend it.  He asked me to convert to water running for the next 4 to 6 weeks, pick up more strength training, go to Physical Therapy, take prescribed steroids, daily Ibuprofen, and then check back in with him.

Uh....  Boston Marathon is "4 to 6 weeks".  I told him that and so he modified the 'script.  Go to PT, iburprofen, and water running for 2 to 3 weeks.  Then convert to track running.. blah.

So I left feeling lost.  Seriously lost.  How in the hell is water running going to truly prepare me for -Boston?  It's not.  How am I going to run 26.2 with very little pre-pounding on my legs?  Sure.  Track running will help but doing 80 laps on a track?  Probably not what he had in mind anyway.  I was pretty bummed.  I decided not to go into the office that afternoon and work from home.  My mind was having trouble focusing though.

I called the PT to setup an appointment and then talked to my coach.  I told him I still want to run Boston. I didn't quite gauge his response to that but we already know it's not going to be a PR.  In fact, it's going to be a PW (personal worst).  Frankly, I'm mostly fine with that; although, I'm sure I will fly home knowing I have unfinished business.

That night I went to Masters Swim class.  A fellow swimmer was a family physician and when I told him what I had, he said he had one too and dealt with it.  He said "FAI" is a popular diagnosis.  That didn't exactly make me feel any better but gave me the confidence I can manage it when I'm through with this bout.  In fact, my friend Jill had one but had it dealt with surgically while she had hip surgery for a torn labrum.

Luckily, my PT appointment was the next day (Tuesday) at 4:30pm.  I had high hopes. I also had a full slate of meetings that afternoon.  My last one for the day was a few blocks away, so I left a bit early so I could move my truck right next to the building in order to leave right after it was over.  When I got to the truck, the battery was dead.  Just my freaking luck.  I was not parked in a place conducive for jumping with all the other vehicles parked around.  I was stuck.  I didn't have any time to get a jump and make my appointment.  CRAP!  I didn't want to miss it and delay anything!

My knight-ess in shining armor saved me.  TKB was able to cut out of the office early and pick me up in plenty of time.  That actually worked out quite well to have her at the appointment too.

Once I got to meet the PT, Ross, he immediately did an assessment. My left leg was shorter than my right leg.  Finally, something made sense!!  Up to this point, it seemed like every medical professional I talked to was just following some script and pushed me off to the next person.

So my left leg was shorter, which was causing a slight limp. That translates to a shin splint on my right leg. Along with having something that made sense, he had me do this particular PT exercise.  It took 1 minute.  He did the assessment again and, viola, leg length normal.  So I had a muscle imbalance, not shorter bones, that needed to be corrected.

He asked me to continue doing this exercise every couple hours and come back on Thursday.  He also told me what I didn't want to hear: No running.  To put icing on the cake, no cycling either.  He didn't want anything that could jeopardize pinpointing the exact cause of the muscle imbalance. Fine.  Swimming was approved though. After two days of bad news and my truck giving me a slight heart attack early that day, I needed a win.  I needed something.  So TKB took me to Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers for dinner.  It was delicious and, yes, so worth it.

My next appointment was two days later, on Thursday.  I had to be honest with him.  My hip wasn't doing any better.  It was still sore when sitting and laying down.  To say it didn't feel as bad was difficult because it never hurts that bad.  In fact, he did the hip length assessment and my left leg had gotten even shorter!  WTF!  He had me do the weird exercise and, viola, normal.  Argh!

So he gave me some more exercises to do.  He has me foam roll for 20 minutes on my left quad and hamstring to loosen up the muscles and then a quad strengthening exercise.  All in all, it takes about 30 minutes.  Knowing that I have a $40 out of pocket expense for every session, he asked me to call him on Monday or Tuesday to see how things are progressing.  If things are doing better, he would green light some running.  I'm not sure if he told me that to motivate me through 20 minutes of foam rolling hell or what.  This also gives me a mental struggle to figure out how to objectively determine if I'm truly getting better.  That's so difficult when sometimes it's hard to tell if it is sore because I'm sitting down all freaking day or it truly isn't healed.

So it is Sunday night and I'm about to do my 30 minutes of fun.  Here's to hoping it helps kick this issue!

Hip Foot & Mouth Update

So I've been "mending" for a couple weeks now. Since I decided to do something about my issues, I've logged a stunning run mileage of 10.5 miles over the last two weeks.  I would have normally logged around 50 - 60.

So here's the update:

Foot Neuroma
I purchased a wider cycling shoe and started wearing my street shoes to work.  Fortunately my office allows for us to wear street shoes and jeans but I typically wear nice dress shoes to keep it classy.  No more!  Between the two, I seem to have settled the neuroma inflammation!  Woo hoo!  So while I don't think I will ever truly fix the neuroma, I can at least take precautions to keep it from having an "episode".

The wider cycling shoe is a road shoe and not a triathlon shoe.  Given that, I will still race in my triathlon shoe if I have the option for a flying mount.  My understanding is I will not have that option in Louisville, so I will probably use these wider shoes for the 112 mile gallop through the Kentucky countryside.

Hip Issues
Not as promising of an update here.  Going through the prescription of prednisone, meloxicam, and reduced mileage seems to have helped.  That being said, it's a slow improvement.  Last Friday was 10 days since my doctor's visit and I did a 2 mile run that morning.  It wasn't a struggle but I could still tell my form was slightly off.  This gave me concerns about secondary injuries such as shin splints or stress fracture as a result.  Bummer.  I called the doc and they gave me a referral to a specialist.

It's now been 4 days since that run.  I have competed in an indoor bike race (will provide more on that in the next post) two swim sessions and a four mile run.  That four mile run went really well (even with the close to negative temperature wind chill).  I had to concentrate on the form to make sure I wasn't favoring my leg and I had a small amount of discomfort in the hip.  Fortunately, on a scale of 1 to 10 it was like a 2.5.

Something that has been interesting is over the last few days since the run, my hip really doesn't bother me when walking around or cycling or swimming.  It's when I'm sitting down for long periods or laying in bed that it begins to have a dull ache.  I try not to cross my legs when I'm sitting or lying around so as to not put additional stress on the joint.

I've decided that if I'm going to hit Boston in some reasonable shape, I need to start adding mileage.  I green lighted my coach to do so.  He came back with a suggestion I was hoping for, which was increasing mileage but holding off intensity for now.  So limited speed work, which is probably a good idea.

Just as I was typing about waiting for the specialist to call for an appointment, they just did!  So I will have that appointment on Monday, which will be after a 12 mile run.  Hopefully that will just be a visit to tell him everything is ok and I don't need his stinking advice anyway.... and not me carrying in my left leg over my should and asking him to:

Mouth
No mouth issues.  Just thought it was funny.

That's all for now!

What Will 2015 Bring?

Apparently when I type in "blogger.com" into my browser window and my computer sends me to Twitter instead, it must be telling me it's been a long time since I've been here.

Usually by now I've written a 2014 Year In Review and a 2015 Race Schedule Post.  Hell, I've even missed an entire race report (Groundhog Run 10k - 42:22 - 52 out of 1380 Overall - 11 of out 95 Age Group. Race Report Done).

So let's look forward: 2015 is a big year regardless of how it turns out.  Boston Marathon in April and Ironman Louisville (with Kona on the brain) in October.  Hard to get much bigger than that.

Now let's look backwards.... to about 3 weeks ago.  I had an awesome week of training.  Some good speed work and a good long run with a hill focus.  Then the following week the legs started to wear down on me.  Specifically, my left quad as it was sore.  Groundhog Run was coming, which generally meant less mileage for the week but a race is a race.

The next week was another good week of speed and marathon pace running (all on a treadmill) and a 16 miler in cold, soggy weather.  Legs were cranky, again.  Following the long run I did a bike/treadmill brick.  It was only 30 minutes running but the legs were dead.  They didn't want to move.  I did 3 miles in those thirty minutes (in good condition, it would have been 4 miles).  My left leg occasionally felt completely weak pushing off, potentially causing a highly embarrassing treadmill fall.

In addition to all of this, my foot neuroma was rearing its ugly head.  My left foot was bugging me.  It had actually started bugging me near the end of the summer but only a bit.  After ramping up my running, it created a concern, just like it did last year.

After talking with coach, he culled back some of my running. I still had a nice long run of 17 miles to do on Sunday.  I felt pretty good with it.  I did that 17 miler at 7:50 pace.  My quad felt good but not great.  It didn't feel worse.  The following days my calf muscles were more sore than anything else.

I then decided it's time to do something.  I talked to the foot doctor who I saw last year.  During my appointment with him on Monday, he gave me another cortisone shot to help reduce the swelling around the neuroma.  We also examined my foot x-ray some more and he showed how I have less space between 2nd and 3rd metatarsals on my left foot.  This causes the irritation of the nerve, creating the swelling.  The goal is to keep the swelling down so as to not create fibrous scar tissue.  This would require some kind of invasive surgery to correct.  Boo.

I've adjusted my footwear by wearing street shoes at work, added felt metatarsal pads to my running shoes and am researching out wide cycling shoes.

I then called up an apportionment with my regular doctor and met with him on Wednesday about my quad issue.  I hesitated on this because I just knew if I could get through this week it would miraculously be better.  But I also knew that my right shin was starting to bark at me.  This was because my left quad was causing me to shift my gait and irritating my right shin. Crap.

If it didn't get better, I was surely on the way to shin splints, if not a stress fracture.

While I do like my physician and he is a casual runner (he has done various 5Ks, 4 milers, and half marathons... thank you, athlinks.com), I contemplated going to a sports physician. Someone with my mindset and he/she may have more experience with this kind of thing from a running perspective.

I stayed the course though.  My doc did various leg rotation and range tests to see what might be going on.  He admitted that it would be difficult to diagnose without a MRI.  So he prescribed three things: steroid (please don't read this, anti-droping commission), anti-inflammatory, and two weeks of minimal running.

Damn.

Sent a message off to the coach and he adjusted my schedule.  Looks like Sunday is going to be a sleep in, roll out of bed, and "run" for 30 minutes.  Ugh.

Swimming and cycling are no issue.  I may move some of the runs into the water for less impact.  Need to research that out.

So again I ask, "What will 2015 bring?".  I don't want it to be the year of injuries.  I've only dealt with two injuries. Shin splints in 2010 and broken ribs in 2011. That's more than enough for me.

I'm hoping I caught whatever this is soon enough.  In about a month I was probably going to be hitting my first 20 miler.  If I take two weeks off, I feel quite confident that I can still hit 20 miles plenty before Boston.  I am just going to have to adjust my Boston goal to be more about enjoying the experience than trying to qualify for 2016; however, I have no plans to run Boston a 2nd time anytime soon.  I just want to run it a 1st time... and for that to be in 2015.

If I try to push through this, I could very likely damage my season and I definitely don't want to do that.  I loved everything about my Beach2Battleship 140.6 experience and having completed awesome training leading up to it was key to that experience.  I want Ironman Louisville to be even better.

So I'm trying to not wallow.  I have swimming and cycling to keep up my cardio fitness and I can still get in some running, albeit in short amounts and slower paced.

So here is to 2015!  If anything, this is going to be a year of lots of experiences and lots of learning.

Candy Cane 10k Race Report

While Coach Ken had put this on my calendar back in October, I didn't actually sign up until the Tuesday before.  This usually means I don't have any grand pre-race plans or goals.  I just wanted to go out and have a good time.  I contacted Erik and he was in to run the 5k with friend Megan.

The temps were going to be around 50 degrees, which aided in the decision to pull the trigger on the race. It was cloudy but really perfect for a race.

Pre-Race
I stopped at Parkville Coffee House right as it opened at 7 so that I could get to Swope Park in time to grab my packet from Erik and do a warm up.

Erik, Megan and I all arrived within a few minutes of each other.  We walked over to Starlight Theatre where they had your standard race booths of food and soft tissue massages.  Once we found that the start line was also the finish line, I decided to take off for about a mile warmup.  This time I stopped about halfway and did some stretches that help open the hip flexors.  I'm trying to do things that help my running form and this is something I've heard helps.  Dynamic stretches during a warmup, who knew?!

I got back to the start line and talked with Erik and Megan for a bit before positioning myself for the start.  I was about 10 feet back from the line.

After the National Anthem, we were off!

Start
The 10k course is 2 loops of the 5k course with a slight modification so that the 10k doesn't run through that start line twice.  The course first has a small decline before a .75 mile incline.  Nothing steep but long.  There is then a mile of flat during the out and back portion before going downhill on the other side of Swope Park.

I decided to not push the hill and kill my race before the first mile is over.  I felt pretty good the entire way and managed a 6:58 first mile.

The crowd was beginning to thin out but there were plenty of people.  We were on the first loop with 5k runners, so that added to the congestion.  The flat section came in at 6:41.  The third mile was pretty much all down hill.  I hit 6:30 while trying to run as long as I am tall.  I was trying to take some long strides and take advantage of gravity.

Now that we were finishing up mile 3, the truth about who was running the 5k was about to be known... nearly everyone.

Suddenly there were only three people in front of me.  We were soon faced with a decision:  I was about 100 feet from a "T" in the road with no markers.  The first of the 3 people turned left, which was toward the start line.  The two remaining looked at each and turned right but a couple seconds later they had turned around and went left.  I finally committed to follow them left when they had turned around to go back right, away from the start line.  I probably lost a second here but they had lost a good 10 seconds or so.  I never did see the first guy again.  He may have missed the 5k turnoff and was going back

I was now running with a female, a guy, and no one else.  It crossed my mind that we may be the top three but I also knew there was a police car as the lead car.  We now hit the long uphill again.  I stayed close with the girl but the guy pulled slightly ahead.  As we started to crest the hill I could see the lead car but couldn't tell how many people were there.  I just assumed that I was forth behind the girl.

Mile 4 was 7:13.  It felt much slower, so I guess that is good.   I passed the girl right as we hit the flat section but the guy was pulling even further ahead.  About mile 4.5 mile I could hear another set of footsteps behind me. It was another guy.

We started catching up with the walkers and stroller people of the 5k.  This added some obstacles to dodge.  I may have used one or two of them to squeeze out my new running buddy.

As we started the downhill again, it finally entered into my mind that I was actually in a race and I needed to strategize my finish.  Based on my assumption, I was now fighting for third place overall.  I wasn't trying to beat a time goal (I didn't think sub-40 was going to happen) but going for an overall podium, which is much better!

During my warm-up I actually ran the last half mile so I knew there was a nasty uphill.  He and I were starting swap positions and by the time we hit that hill, my legs were thrashed.  He began to break away but I knew not to relent.  I pushed it as hard as I could to the finish but couldn't catch him.  My last mile was 6:21.

I didn't mind missing what I assumed was third place.  What I did mind was losing third to a guy wearing the race shirt.... especially since that race shirt was a hoodie sweater.  Doh!

No knocking knees this time but still looking disjointed.

Finish
Time: 40:31 / 6:31 pace
Age Group: 1st out of 6
Overall: 4th out of 194

Yay for 1st place!!  Boo for missing 3rd overall... by less than a second!  He ended up having the same time as me but I don't know the milliseconds.  He must have lined up near the line while I was much further back.

Overall
I generally hate races of 5k/10k distances because they hurt so much.  Sure, marathons hurt but not the same way.  I never really felt that pain, even with the hills.  I think that may have been attributed to my plan to not push the hill but maybe I didn't push myself as hard as I could.

My watch registered a 5.97 miles, so it may have been short.  I'll call this my 10k PR anyway.

I do love the Age Group win!  It's my second one ever and first in a 10k.

Congrats to Erik who smashed his PR.  He's been trying to going under 30 minutes and blew it out by over a minute!  Megan got a PR as well as she ran with Erik.  PRs all around!

Proof

Erik and Megan both flying through the 5k course...literally.

New Facebook Profile Photo!

Megan finishing Strong!

Erik mastering the stop-the-watch finish photo.

My race buddy for the last 2 miles... race hoodie sweatshirt and all