9 Run Run

Note: I didn't keep this up to date during last year's training cycle, and regret it. I had some nasty injury issues, and the original reason I started writing this was to track those, and (hopefully) how I resolved them. I'm hoping to keep this more up to date as I train for Boston.

9 Run Run Race Summary


We’d been looking at a forecast of mixed rain and snow, and temps close to freezing. The night before the race, they forecast got updated: cold and sunny. Perfect. I didn’t have a solid goal. I’ve only run one half marathon before, and that was 3 years ago. So my PR was around 1:43:45 at the halfway point of a full. My plan was simply to try to knock at least a couple minutes off that. I’ve been in PT on my Achilles for a couple months, but my PT cleared me to run hard.

The temp at the start was right around freezing, rising a few degrees during the race. It was very cold waiting to start, but I figured that meant I’d dressed right (shorts and my thinnest long sleeve tech shirt).

I felt great at the start, and even though I was running a bit faster than planned, my heart rate looked reasonable so I decided to just hold the pace as long as my HR wasn’t going too high.

The wife & kids were by the side of the road about 3.5 km in, cheering loudly. As we approached, another runner came up next to me and asked if he could hang out there and pretend they were cheering for him. We had a good laugh about that, and started running together chatting a bit. He was aiming for around 1:40. We ran together for around 15 min, but then he fell back. At this point I knew the pace was solid, and my HR was around 90% of max.

The km’s were just clicking away, going really smoothly. Around 11 km I came up behind someone I’ll just refer to as ‘mucus boy’. He was going a bit too fast to pass, a bit too slow to fall back from. And he was spewing mucus from multiple orifices about every 15 seconds. THIS was hugely annoying. After a couple km’s of this show, I decided I needed to get past mucus boy, and then ease up in a position where he’d have to work to get around me.

Once I was past mucus boy I wanted to make sure to put a bit of distance between us (HR: 92%). The last 7 km were on the trans Canada trail. I was concerned about water in this stretch, so I went out last night with the family and we marked some trees & a signpost with duct tape. My awesome wife then went this morning and put water bottles under the trees. I only needed one bottle, but I figure I should have a few options. In my mind, I’d just swoop through, grab the bottle, and run on.

Reality doesn’t always match our plans. As I went for the bottle, I realized it was very uneven by the tree. Plus I was going full speed, while losing my footing and bending down, at a large metal pole. But did I slow down? Nope. I tried to hold pace and grab the bottle. Of course, I lost my footing on a rock, tried to get back onto the trail, and wiped out. As I went down I had just enough time to think that my race might be done. Then I hit the ground on one hand and one knee. Thankfully, I had gloves on. Thankfully nobody stepped on me. I managed to get up again, and keep going, with several people checking to make sure I was ok (HR: 95%).

I didn’t look at my knee. I didn’t want to know. It didn’t hurt much, but I had no doubt it was bleeding. Surprisingly, I got back into my pace almost immediately, and passed the 4 or 5 people who passed me when I was down. Shortly after this, the guy I’d been with earlier came up to me, chatted for a minute, then passed. I ran behind him, for a few minutes and then came up alongside. He told me that he’d been about 50 feet back for the previous 10 km. He said that when I went ahead he decided that he had to keep me in sight, and this got him through. And then he asked if I was ok, since man, that was one impressive fall.

Staying with him definitely kept me on pace for the rest of the race, I was determined to finish with him - he was too. I crossed the line in 1:38:08. As expected, I had a fair amount of dried blood from my knee down my shin.

One day later, I'm feeling pretty good. My left quad is a bit sure, and the shinsplints that I've had also in the left leg is there too. I'm a bit sore above my left Achilles, but that's typical since it is a bit short since being repaired. My right Achilles feels perfect.