Thoughts on The Marathon Project!
How exciting was it to watch a race??? It’s been so long, I forgot how much I love watching the elites run. And what a field… Sara Hall, Kellyn Taylor, Steph Bruce, Keira D’amato… and on the men’s side, my favorites Jared Ward and Scott Fauble! To cap it all off, Des Linden did the commentating. What more could you ask for? Until this race, I wasn’t aware of Martin Hehir- but it looks like I’ll be well acquainted with him from now on. What a finish in 2:08:59 (yep, I was yelling at him to get in under 2:09!). And Noah Droddy… if you’re going to come in second, that’s the way to do it- he crossed the finish line ten seconds behind Hehir, then promptly leaned over and vomited. Obviously he gave it everything he had. Luckily they had ten minutes to clean up the huge puddle of puke before Sara Hall finished in a PR of 2:20:32. Unfortunately for her she was chasing Deena Kastor’s American record of 2:19:36… bummer. To run that fast and set a PR, but still be a little disappointed (which she confessed in her post-race interview). Still… more exciting things to come from her! Maybe everyone else in the running world already knows this, but for me it was a huge bombshell dropped when they mentioned that Aliphine Tuliamuk is pregnant- that’s a plot twist! Her baby is due in January, and she still plans to run the Olympic marathon this summer. What a fascinating situation. It’s not a lot of time to recover from childbirth, get back into training and then compete in the Olympics. I’m rooting for her… buuuuuut…. if for any reason she decides not to run in July Des would go as the runner-up, and I’m a huge Des fan (who isn’t?) I can only imagine what’s going through her mind these days. All in all, it was fun to watch a race, and not just any race, but one with so many inspiring runners. I watched the replay on NBCSN, so I was treated to commercials for the 2021 OLYMPICS! It was such a nice reminder… oh yes- this is going to end. This year has been so flat and blah, but there’s real hope for the future. Last week’s “training’” looked like this… Monday: Off Tuesday: 1.5 mile run, Gauntlet Plank Workout Wednesday: Strength Training Thursday: 45 on the bike, Gauntlet Plank Workout Friday: 1.5 mile run Saturday: Strength Training Sunday: 1.5 mile run, Gauntlet Plank Workout I know… it’s so boring. I love those runs, as short as they are. The bike, not as much, and strength days… I really have to talk myself into them. My motivation has been waning and a couple days last week I almost skipped it. ALMOST. It’s hard to find the motivation when I have so far to go before I can actually train for anything. Maybe watching The Marathon Project will inspire me. I’m sure Sara Hall has been injured… and I’ll bet she does her strength work. I just have to forge ahead until there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We will all get there! Hope everyone has a happy and festive week of running!
Next Year All Our Troubles Will Be Miles Away
Well, after our scare last week, my son’s Covid test came back negative. PHEW! Instead of getting the whole family tested, going into quarantine, and calling everyone we’ve come into contact with, life can continue on as normal. And suddenly, normal seems pretty good!!! My son was intensely sick for one day, then had some residual tiredness the next, and after that has been feeling well. We can’t figure out what he was sick with, and none of the rest of us got it. We can move ahead with life, which means it’s time to choose our holiday themes! Every year, I coerce my family into choosing their own personal theme for the season, based on a line from a Christmas song. For example, two years ago mine was “Joy to the World,” my brother-in-law’s was “Laughing All the Way” and my sister’s was “Let Nothing You Dismay.” My son likes to refer to the fact that we live in Florida- his themes have been “Roasting on an Open Fire” and “All the Way Home I’ll Be Warm.” Last year mine was “Joyful and Triumphant,” which is interesting- it shows how different my mindset was a year ago. This year our themes are a little more… subdued. My sister’s is “In the Bleak Midwinter” and I keep thinking of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”- not the happy lyrics, but the melancholy version. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was written in 1943 for the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, and the original lyrics were REALLY a downer: ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last/Next year we may all be living in the past.” Sheesh! I haven’t seen the movie, but that must have been a real low point. Luckily, the composer was persuaded to change the lyrics to a lightly less morose version: “Let your heart be light/Nest year all our troubles will be out of sight.” A few years later, Frank Sinatra sang the song for his Christmas album and asked if they could “jolly” it up a bit, and the third set of lyrics was written. Instead of hoping for a Merry Christmas in the future, the new lyrics are in the present tense and “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow” was replaced with “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” I’ve always preferred the happier version, but this year the melancholy lyrics seem to fit perfectly. “Someday soon we all will be together/If the fates allow/Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” The whole song could be a theme of 2020, but my official personal theme for this year is the line “Next Year All Our Troubles Will Be Miles Away.” No one sings it better than Ella! And then of course there’s been some… We’re back to tank top wether, but the good kind- it was 63 degrees early in the morning for this run. Oh yeah… THIS is why we live in Florida! We pay our dues during the summer, but now we’re heading into the most beautiful time of year. I walked one mile and then ran two- not exactly a long run for Sunday morning, but I’ll take it! Yes, I was injured this year but I can’t really blame that on 2020. I had nine great months of running before having to stop, and it looks like I’ll be able to finish off the year running again. Anyone else have a personal theme for this Christmas season?
This and That, and a Covid Test
Well, did I think 2020 was going to end peacefully and happily? Of course not! I mean, I’m not insane. This morning my son got up and said he felt unusually tired… two hours later, in the middle of “school,” he suddenly felt extremely achy, turned off his computer and went to bed. I returned from work to find him lying on the couch with a fever- obviously we went straight to get a Covid test. We’ll get the results in 2-3 days. Of course I’m worried about my son, but I also can’t help thinking, if we have to spend the rest of the month sick and in quarantine… well, it will just be the crowning blow. I don’t think I’ve ever uttered this sentence before, but I hope he has the flu! Poor guy. In the meantime… I saw my doctor for another treatment on my foot, and when I asked him about running a little he said “I want you to run, so you can test it out.” Well, I gave him a big hug… in my mind that is. That is definitely what I wanted to hear, and I took him up on it… I’m not running very much, but anything is better than nothing. In other exciting news, strength training continues… it’s so much harder than running. I find myself stalling and thinking of 100 things I have to do before I finally make myself get out the weights. I keep telling myself it will all pay off by making me a better runner, eventually. And I’m still doing the Gauntlet Plank Workout. For some crazy reason my cat just LOVES it when I do planks- she sits like this underneath me and purrs loudly. When I start doing the variations where I have to move my arms and legs she gets all excited- maybe she thinks I’m playing some kind of “cat” game. Next week I see my doctor again (assuming that I don’t have Covid or the flu, sigh). His assessment of my foot situation- and I agree with him- is that it started with plantar fasciitis, which led to a bone spur, which then caused me to unconsciously walk in a weird way, where I step down on the outside of my foot, which led to a pain in that area. He’s doing shockwave treatments targeting the outside of my foot, and the bone spur- ouch. That one hurts, but no pain, no gain, at least in this situation. I don’t mind being injured as much if I understand what’s going on and there’s a clear treatment plan. And he said “Next time come in and get this treated earlier so it doesn’t get to this point, you stupid idiot.” Well… he didn’t say that last part. But I’ll bet he was thinking it. At least, I was thinking it. Oh well- live and learn. Anyone else have plantar fasciitis??? I had it in my other foot a couple years ago but it wasn’t this bad.
The Time I Ran 18 Miles on the Treadmill…
This is normally such a crazy time of year- it seems strange not to be running around frantically. This weekend in particular is usually the one where every single event seems to fall. For one thing, my son’s birthday is December 8th so we would normally be having a party. This year he’s having two friends over for dinner, and they’ll eat out on our patio. If anyone comes in the house to use the bathroom, we’ll all mask up! It will definitely be different, and once again I’m reminiscing about years past. One December weekend in particular stands out to me- it was 2017. All in the same weekend we had a sleepover for my son’s birthday, my holiday karaoke party for work, and Tuba Christmas. What in the world, you may ask, is Tuba Christmas??? It’s a concert of Christmas music played by a band made up entirely of tubas! My son plays the tuba so he participates in this event every year… er, except for this one. At that time I worked on Sunday mornings, and my husband had several work obligations as well that weekend. Oh, and one more thing- I had an eighteen mile run on the schedule. I was training for a marathon (that I never ran because I got injured- but that’s another story) so I needed to get that run in. With all the other events happening, there was a very small window on Saturday morning for me to do it. The problem was, the weather was terrible. I don’t mind running in the rain but the forecast showed 100% chance of thunderstorms for the whole morning. I debated several options, but finally realized the only way to guarantee getting the whole run in would be to do it on the treadmill at the gym. I got to the gym early and was the first one there. I got the treadmill I wanted and settled in. My plan was to listen to podcasts for the first two hours, and then music for the last part. I had three gels which I planned to take at 4.5, 9, and 13.5 miles. I also planned to take a bathroom break at mile 6 and mile 12. Well… From the beginning, I couldn’t get comfortable. You would think it would be easy to settle into the pace, but the pace I usually run outside just didn’t seem easy. I was also hyper-aware of the minutes ticking by. My podcast was a distraction, but for some reason it was slightly irritating as well. Taking the first gel was a nice way to break it up, and then using the bathroom at mile 6 was something to look forward to. I ran to the bathroom and back, and it felt strangely good to be running across the gym as opposed to running on the treadmill. I made it to the second bathroom break, and then took my last gel. Things went downhill from there. I was mentally and physically exhausted and at mile 15 I got off the treadmill briefly. I walked briskly across the gym and back, while giving myself a stern talking-to: “You have to get back on that treadmill. This isn’t a 15 mile run, it’s an 18 mile run. You HAVE TO GET BACK ON THE TREADMILL AND FINISH.” And I did. Those three miles were probably the most grueling miles of my life. I was literally counting down the seconds. My music was so annoying to me at that point I just turned it off, and I changed the speed and/or incline every minute to shake things up. But I finished the run. We all know how the most difficult runs are also the most memorable. The memory of that run is one that I draw on when I need inspiration. I think “If I finished that 18 mile treadmill run, I can finish this.” Even though at the time I vowed never, ever to do a long run on the treadmill again, I’m so glad I did it. And… If I had to, had to, do it again, I would. Next time I would put a towel over the screen so I couldn’t see the time going by. And have a better podcast and different music. But in the end I would suck it up and make it work because that’s what life is all about, right? This year is certainly different. No concerts, no long run and no karaoke party (well… definitely not sad about that one!). Instead of running 18 miles, I ran one. But one is better than zero! I saw the doctor this week and my foot is getting better, so I’m celebrating! Anyone else do long runs on the treadmill? Play the tuba? (ha ha… probably not.). Love or hate karaoke?