The Finish Line

The beginning of my big day started at 2:30 am.  I think I got about 4.5 hours of sleep.  I know that seems really early but I had to meet my running partner at 4 am and I had to allow enough time for my system to wake up.  I actually needed every one of those minutes.  I had to check the weather, Facebook to see what was going on with the running group and if there were any last minute changes amongst other things that needed to be done.

As usual I was out the door late but we got to downtown Sacramento in plenty of time.  We had coffee, we ate our yummy breakfast...Honey Stinger Waffles and then we waited in line to get on the school buses that were waiting for us.  We then drove to Folsom and the start line.  It was in the mid 40's on Sunday morning.
I had on arm warmers, shorts, running shirt, sweatpants, sweatshirt, gloves, socks and compression calf sleeves.  We waited on the bus until 15 minutes before the race started then hit the porta-potties.  We found some of our friends and then waited for it all to begin.

We were told that there were 8000 running the marathon and 4000 participating in the relay which had four legs to it.  The race started at 7 and we were off.  Of course it took us about 5 minutes or so to cross the start line.  Everywhere you looked there were clothes strewn on the ground...pants, sweatshirts, garbage bags, blankets.  These were to be donated to the homeless later.

The course starts in Folsom and continues through Orangevale, Fair Oaks, Carmichael and then Sacramento.  In the old town section of Fair Oaks there are hundreds of wild chickens and we saw a couple
as we ran by.  We were so lucky to have such good weather for the race.  Somewhere in the Fair Oaks area I shed my sweatshirt, sweatpants, and gloves as I got too warm. 

Never having run in any other kind of big long race like this, I was surprised at the level of crowd support.  There were people out on their front lawns drinking their coffee, waving and cheering us on as we ran by.   We saw lots of spectators with dogs which was fun.  We saw so many different breeds which broke up some of the monotony.  Our running group was out in force on the course.  We saw them early on and then at the half way point and then at around mile 26.1.  They were all there with signs and cheers.  I can't imagine doing this alone with no support.  It is such a big undertaking.  I ran over 700 miles so I could run 26.2 miles on a Sunday in December. 

It was worth it though.  You really find out what you are made of.  It is as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one.  I had a few tough runs prior to the CIM.  When I cruised through mile 18 with no problems it was a great relief.  At that point I felt confident that I could finish the race without having to walk any more than the 1 minute I walked after 3 minutes of running.  In the end I ran most of the last 2 miles or so just because I was afraid if I stopped I wouldn't be able to run again.  I finished the race in 5 hours 28 minutes and 54 seconds.  I hope that someday I can try and run another marathon and run the entire thing.  I have a lot of issues to work on before that happens.

In the end, I accomplished my goal of raising $1000 for The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.  In fact I raised $1050.  A big thanks to everyone that contributed.  An even bigger thanks to my running friend Terry Tokutomi who ran with me the last 2 months of my training.  She kept me positive and motivated when I was feeling very down.  You have no idea what that means to me.  My running a marathon journey is over, but what I do next is yet to be determined.  I need to get my running form corrected so that I don't have these ITB problems.  I am so tired of my knee hurting me.  I hope that 2012 will be as great a year as 2011.

SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE!!!!!!

Thirteen Hours To gO!

I have my pasta sauce simmering on the stove.   Hopefully, I will eat by 7 pm instead of the not so great for running a marathon time of 9 pm.  It has been a busy day.  I ran at 7 am to see what the temperature was like and to shake out the kinks and also to check the running gear.  BTW, long socks on arms are scratchy so I bought some arm warmers at the expo for $10.  I will be ditching the sweatshirt and sweatpants somewhere along the course. I went to the CIM Expo and listened to some speakers and wandered around looking at the various booths.  I got my very boring grocery shopping done and gas for the car so I would be ready to go at 4 am tomorrow.

Wow!!!  A year of planning and working towards my goal are at an end.  I ran 721 miles to get to tomorrow.  Now all I have to do is show up and run 26.2 miles.

I've been thinking a lot about my brother today.  He has rarely been far from my mind.  I remember the sweet little boy he was, following me and my other brother around.  Brett is 4 years younger than me and 18 months younger than my other brother.  In those days, he was a nuisance to me.  Getting into my things, asking lots of questions and in general just being a little boy.  There was no way for me to know that when we grew up he would be one of my closest friends. 

I know people that don't have relationships with their siblings.  I have a friend that doesn't like her brother.  That is so foreign to me.  I can't even imagine what it would be like not to have my brother, both my brothers in my life.  In my birthday card this year he wrote a note, yes with a pen in his mouth he wrote these words:  "I've always known that my big sis has my back.  That was true when we were kids and now even more so."  The thing that he doesn't know is that he has always had my back.  He has always been a source of strength to me.  There are many decisions in my life that I couldn't have made without his counsel.  I just feel so lucky to know him, to count him as my friend, and to love him like a brother because he is...my brother Brett.  Tomorrow is all for you little brother.  Your spirit will carry me on my way.  I love you!!!

Research for a Cure for Spinal Cord Paralysis

This 7 minute video was brought to my attention by the Team Reeve Facebook page.  Dr. Wise Young talks about the cure for spinal cord paralysis like it is just around the corner.  I hope that it is.  I would love to see my brother Brett walk again in my lifetime.  Of course, if he was able to use his arms well enough to drive would be wonderful too.  Please take a look at this video so you can see what donations to The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation pay for.  Your donated dollars can truly change the course of someones life.Click to view Dr. Wise Young's interview

4 Days and Counting

I had a pretty miserable last four miles on my last long run before the CIM.  We ran 22 miles but unfortunately I had to walk the last 3 miles because of knee pain.  It was cold out on the American River Bike Path with some parts colder than others.  It never seemed like we warmed up enough and then when we walked, we were starting over to warm up the legs. 

When I got home, I was so cold I couldn't stop shaking.  My knees were knocking together so I went upstairs and stripped and jumped into bed with all the covers on trying to warm up.  My hands never did.  I finally got up and put on a shirt, a sweatshirt, a knit cap and sweatpants.  I should have just jumped in the shower but my brain didn't seem to be working properly at that point.

I finally warmed up and got something to eat and then filled the tub up with cold water.  I got my handy half gallon ice block, made some hot tea and got my reading material together, rolled up my sweatshirt and then stepped into the cold tub.  As cold as it is in the beginning, miserable really, once you are totally in, it feels really good.  I stayed in for 20 minutes.  My legs felt so much better afterwards.

I felt like I needed to see my Physical Therapist so I e-mailed him and low and behold there was a mix up.  The receptionist had made an appointment the last time I was in for tomorrow so I had a slot ready for me.  Weird how sometimes serendipity steps in.  I went to my appointment and he did ultrasound and pressure point massage on the sore spots.  I felt better but not confident about the marathon in less than two weeks.  I managed to run about 2.5 miles the next day and 3.1 miles on Thanksgiving Day.  My left leg from calf to upper thigh continue to be sore.  Right now I am thinking I am a crazy person to run 26.2 miles on an already sore leg.  Maybe adrenaline will be just the thing to carry me through on Sunday.

CIM-Three Weeks Out

So for those of you not from the Sacramento area, the above picture is the course that I will be running on December 4th.  We start in Folsom and run 26.2 miles to the Capital in downtown Sacramento.  I will also be running very near my house.  It is maybe a mile away from Fair Oaks Blvd. and Oak Street which is around mile 5 or 6 of the race. 

Tomorrow, November 12th, we are running the last 15 miles or so of the race.  We will be starting at Fair Oaks and Sunrise Blvd.  Should be interesting as there are no sidewalks on parts of Fair Oaks.  Guess I better wear something bright so the crazy drivers on this road can see me.  I can say crazy drivers because I lived in that neighborhood for 6 years.  I once missed hitting a deer by about 10 feet on Fair Oaks between Sunrise and San Juan. 

At this point, physically, I feel like I am being held together by string and sheer will.  I have my I Phone timer working everyday at work.  It alerts me every hour and a half to get up and stretch.  I go through a regular routine of stretching calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors and glutes.  I had to bring my yoga mat to work so my knees wouldn't hurt.  I have a glass panel next to my door.  It's kind of embarrassing to have your boss walk by while you're in the middle of a glute stretch. 

Not many people understand why I am doing this.  The people I work with think I'm a crazy person.  My boss told me yesterday that he is happy with 29 minutes of cardio a day and that nothing could convince him that what I was doing was "fun".  I don't know if it is fun either.  Challenging, pushing me beyond my capabilities, setting and achieving a goal, it is all of those.  Truly if a 53 year old woman with a bad knee can do this, anyone can too with proper preparation and motivation.  I am motivated, very motivated.  I haven't raised the money I would like to with the fundraising.  My job situation became tenuous and I didn't want to threaten any professional contacts with a personal issue.  Still, money is needed to continue research into the cure for spinal cord paralysis and I am glad to raise whatever I can towards that end. 

Five Weeks To gO!!!

Can't believe that I have been training for the CIM for 47 weeks!!  Officially the CIM training for my group started the first Sunday in July, but mentally I have been preparing for this since January 1st.  Tomorrow my goal is to run 18 miles.  This will be the furthest I have ever run.  I'm slightly intimidated by it because two weeks ago on my 17 mile run I had to walk in the last mile or so because my left calf felt like it was ready to give out.  It felt like it wouldn't hold me up if I took another running step.

I haven't posted in awhile.  Weekends are mainly the time I write and they have been filled with running.  I did run in the Urban Cow Half Marathon the first Sunday in October.  That race was a lot of run.  They had a new course which I like a lot.  I did the run/walk method with intervals of 3 minutes running, 1 minute walking.  I was 5-6 minutes slower than my time last year but that is to be expected since I was walking some. 

I did buy calf compression sleeves this week to help my calves with this long run looming tomorrow.  I tried one out on Thursday during our regular run.  It wasn't too constricting which was good.  When I used to play soccer, I had to wear 2 pairs of socks and sometimes it felt like they were just too tight and constricting since they also had to go over my shin guards.  They would bother me the entire 90 minute game.  I think I will probably wear both of them since I am also having trouble with my right tibial tendon which is on the inside of the Achilles tendon.  Hopefully it will give the tibial tendon some additional support. 

From now on I will be wearing my Team Reeve running shirt on every long run.  I love the words written on the back.  It says:  "For everyone who thought I couldn't do it, for everyone who thought I shouldn't do it, for everyone who said I didn't have it in me, see you at the finish line."

The Reeve Foundation is doing such great work.  They are not only doing cutting edge research on a cure for spinal cord paralysis, they also assist people with purchases of items that can make the newly paralyzed lives more comfortable.  They are a fantastic organization.

Get To VS. Have To

Kristin Armstrong has a section in her book "Mile Markers" called I GET TO.  It really had a lot to say to me.  I'm a complainer.  I don't mean to be but sometimes I complain a lot which then defines me as being negative.  I don't really think of myself that way.  I think I'm a pretty positive person.  I don't let anything keep me down for long. 

This Get To Vs. Have To has been simmering in my brain for awhile.  I say I have to go run tonight or I have to clean the house.  Turn that around and say I get to go out for a run tonight or I get to clean the house today.  One is joyful, the other is not.  I really need to practice this more  for many reasons.  I lost three close friends to cancer during the past 10 years.  Two died before they turned 40, the third before he turned 50.  All three were soccer friends that I played with, drank beer with, went to tournaments with, and shared my life with.  Their presence in my life is missed.  I will always miss them.  The fact that I get to run another day, that I get to watch  my son grow into a man, that I get to clean the cat box, all of these things are really celebrations of being alive, of being present in my own life.  This way we honor those who don't have that choice.  Think about that voice in your head and change your attitude.  Celebrate your get to's.

Kaleo 5k

Wow, it has been forever since I posted something.  I will be posting more shortly.  I just wanted to quickly talk about a 5k I am running tomorrow.  It is called the Kaleo 5k (Kaleo means "strong voice" in Hawaiian).  The race was started in 2009 to raise funds for a Sheriff's partner dog called Kaleo.  He had cancer and the need $12,000 to save him.  He survived and the following year they had the race again for another police dog named Dante who also came down with cancer.  Now it is an annual run to raise money for retired police dogs and their care after their service to  us.  What a great cause!  I met Kaleo this morning after picking up my race packet.  He is one beautiful animal.  He is a European Shepherd, maybe Belgium.  He  has a very black face and very wolflike.  He weighs about 90 pounds.  My picture doesn't do him justice.http://www.ssdk9run.com/  There is a much better picture of him and his whole story at the website.

Cross Training Part I

Last week I finally got back to my cross training.  I had laid off for a month for various reasons, everyone came to my house for Mother's Day, a 5 day vacation, my son's 21st birthday and then finally my biggest excuse is I got out of the habit.  They say it takes 21 days to make an activity a habit, it takes about 21 minutes or maybe 21 hours to break a habit.  I had a little eye opener last week when my knee reacted to my three hill runs in a row.  Scared me all the way back to the Doctor.  He told me to keep running but to get back to my cross training. 

The reality of my situation is that in order to run I have to cross train and strengthen the weak muscles that are causing my knee pain.  Strength training is something that I will have to do for as long as I want to run.  They are two activities that have to go together.  The reality is that I lifted weights anyway. I did the elliptical on the days I didn't run.  Now I do exercises that specifically help me with running.  I am working on my  glutes, hips, and VMO.  I do strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I also do upper body work on those days.  Triceps/biceps one day, then chest/back the next and lastly shoulders.  I am also doing core work and riding a bike instead of the elliptical for the summer.  Tomorrow I start back up with yoga.  I have a DVD that is called The Athlete's Guide to Yoga by Sage Rountree.  I can program it do the poses anyway that I want, but I do the ones that Sage designed.  I will probably post more specifics later on the strength training.

I recently started cycling again.  I haven't gotten on my bike in at least two years.  I have a mountain bike that has never been on a mountain.  It's heavy but you do get a pretty good workout on it.  I actually started Wednesday.  I probably biked around 7 miles in about a half hour.  It's funny when you haven't been on a bike and you get on it and take off it sends you back to the first time you rode your bike as a kid.  You remember the freedom that came with having a bike.  The wind in your face. The ability to go far away if you wanted.  Be a daredevil and ride it really fast. 

I spent a lot of time on a bike in my 20's.  My ex-husband was into biking so I was too.  We lived in Santa Barbara and it was such a beautiful place to bike in.  We rode all over the hills above the city.  I got to be very good at climbing hills.  One summer we parked our car at Lake Cachuma which was on the other side of the Santa Ynez Mountains.  I was supposed to ride over them, but the road is a highway and very steep with a lot of curves and traffic.  I would have needed more time to train and truthfully I was scared to death to attempt it.  So we parked at the lake and rode our bikes to Pismo Beach which was about 75 miles away.  We got there late in the day, showered, walked to dinner and next morning rode back.  A week later I pulled the ligaments on both sides of my left ankle while playing soccer.  I was running to goal with the ball in front of me and stepped into hole.  I ended up in a cast for a couple of weeks and then had an ankle that was never the same.  I do ankle circles sometimes after running and hear lots of clicking.    I was grateful that my soccer injury came after the bike ride.  I would have been so pissed that all my training that summer had been for nothing. 

I have enjoyed being on the bike again even if it is only 7 miles and around my neighborhood.  I miss my regular training route in Santa Barbara.  It had a beautiful ocean view, down a twisty hill and then up a killer hill that puts Sierra College to shame.  Oh well, I can still see it in my mind while I bike around my new route.
Hopefully I will notice in a couple of weeks some improvement in my quad strength. 

Running Book Geek

As proud as I am to say that I am a Runner, I used to be proud to say I read books, lots and lots of books.  Over the years with a child and 90 minute commutes and jobs that consumed my time, reading took a back seat to all of that.  I have read a little in that time, mainly 2 or 3 books in a month and then nothing for 6 months or a year.

Recently I have read so many books on running that it officially makes me a running book geek and I can put that right next to my running podcast geekdom.  The reason for the book reading on running is the current state of my physical health.  I'm not ill or anything just dealing with a chronic problem with my IT Band which really is the symptom of my problem with patellafemoral syndrome or chondromalacia syndrome.

I took a break from the technical books to read a book called Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong.  She is the ex-wife of a guy named Lance.  She lives in Austin Texas.  The book has 26.2 chapters with running topics like endurance, passion, and clarity.  I have really enjoyed the book because some of it really hits home.  I will never be the runner she is but I can understand her affection for the women she runs with whom she calls her sweat sisters.  I run with a mixed group of people, men and women, who make it fun to run and add another dimension to my life. 

 I want to quote a passage from her book, but it is really a quote within a quote.  She quotes a trail runner friend of hers who came down ALS. This was written while climbing  Machu Picchu.

  "I am a seeker.  I am a wanderer. I am who I am.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.
   Life is a series of great paradoxes.  To find ourselves, we get lost.  To gain, we lose.  To know the light, we plunge into the dark.  To succeed, we fail.  Opposites seem forever linked.  Without one, we cannot define the other.
   Blessings to all who share these mountains, who share journeys---both guide and traveler.  Blessings to all of those who seek, knowing they may never find.  May you breathe in every moment and with it know that you are truly loved."   ...Dano Keitz

In Kristin's book I finally found the words to why I started this journey to run a marathon.  I was truly inspired by the people in my group who ran the CIM last year, both the veterans and the first timers; although that wasn't quite enough for me.  The greatest inspiration to run this marathon is still my brother Brett.  I can't cure him of his paralysis, but I can stand for something when I run.  Here is what Kristin wrote "Running for someone else makes me less willing to give up and more able to understand the pain and the fatigue, knowing that someone else is drawing power from my effort.  I look at it as an opportunity to carry a portion of someone else's burden, to cover some ground on that person's behalf, to try to lighten the load by shouldering some of it on my own back.  That's endurance.  That's what moves me to move."

She wrote what I felt but could not find the words for.  I highly recommend this book.  There are hidden jewels within it that as a runner you will recognize and feel not so alone.

Bay to Breakers

Bay to Breakers. Mere words cannot explain the experience of Bay to Breakers.  It is a race that is also Mardi Gras, a race that in Brazil would be called Carnival.  It was the most fun race that I have ever done.  Of course I had good company.  You really have to have an open spirit and a zest for life.  Obviously many people would be offended by the experience that is B2B. 

My day started at 4 am when I woke up in Berkeley at my brother's apartment.  We had watched the local news the night before and the forecast was thunderstorms.  My brother was half heartily concerned about me being electrocuted.  In fact, the opposite happened.  We had beautiful running weather for the most part.  We got lightly rained on for maybe 10 minutes.  I ran with my friend Rubi Lawson who had never run in a race before.  I thought that it was really brave of her to tackle a 12k for her first race.  We probably ran about half of it, maybe a little more.  We had a blast.  We saw far too many naked people.  I understand that the race had less of that this year.  I'm glad of that.  After you saw one naked  person that shouldn't be naked you had seen one too many.  We ran with two ladies that were on Naked Patrol.  They were not giving tickets out to people who shouldn't be naked but were encouraging those that they felt should be naked to shed their clothing and run naked.  It was hysterical to hear their whistles tweeting and watching them run down good looking guys. 

San Francisco is obviously a world class city.  In my opinion it is the only real city in California.  The homes and the buildings are so beautiful and that is not even getting into the views the city provides.  Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park...all exquisite. 

The costumes were incredible.  We saw clean and bad Charlie Sheen, coke smudges and all.  We saw Oompa Loompas and a pod or a herd of Elvii.  What is the plural of Elvis anyway?  Below is a picture of the Elvii and right next to them is Princess Leia, followed by the Royal Newlyweds and finally Hayes Hill looking backwards. 

 What is it that drives a middle aged man to run around naked?  I don't get it myself.  Gross, gross, gross. 

Several times in the race, we smelled something illegal being burned.  I think we almost had a contact high from the many times we smelled people smoking marijuana.  I'm glad my workplace does not do drug testing.  Personally, I think that Bay to Breakers is a race to do every few years.  I think if you did it every year you might get bored with it, but every two or three years would keep it fresh.  I definitely think that B2B should be on every one's bucket list of races.

Catching Up

I hadn't realized it had been almost a month since I last posted here.  Time flies even when you are not having fun.  I was making some headway on the treadmill in early to mid April.  I was running much faster then I usually run at about 9:15 to 9:30 per mile.  It's been very hard to keep up the form.  You have to really use your mind to envision how your body looks while running.  For me it is trying to get the feeling of my body being in alignment and that all the parts are clicking like gears in a watch.

My biggest problem is my right arm.  The arms are supposed to be bent at 90 degrees and basically swing like a hinge back and forth; although more back than forward is best.  My right arm will fall out of that form and lower to my waist and look like I am punching at something.  I also have the added problem of being super tense in my right shoulder.  I guess that comes from my keyboard sitting on top of my desk and my mouse being 8 or so inches away from it.  I knew my keyboard should be lower but it means getting a drawer and having someone install it and I just was lazy about it.  Now I will have to take action because really it interferes not only with running but is the reason my right shoulder hurts so much of the time.



I was doing ok on the treadmill with Mike there to tell me when I was falling out of form.  When he released me to run on my own, things changed.  It was strange to run on the ground again.  It was hard to keep up the form and I began to feel tightness in the ITB again.  I had a terrible run about 2 weeks ago and came home very disheartened.  I decided to quit running until maybe May or June and give my leg a break.  I also decided to no do anything for awhile so I didn't run, I didn't do the elliptical, or yoga, or strength train.  After about 5 days, I felt better and decided to try and run again.  What the heck, right?  I had trouble on the first attempt but I think I was dehydrated and maybe that ice cream sandwich at work wasn't the best idea an hour before my run.  I went out on Easter Sunday and ran 3.71 miles and did ok.  I only stopped a couple of times to put myself back into my correct form.  I also ran at 9:55 pace which is faster then I have run in along time.

Tonight I have hills to run which may or may not be a good thing with the ITB. We are running at Miner's Ravine trails so I can always run on the trails instead of Picches Hill.  My ITB and calves are tight so I will do some dynamic stretching before I leave to warm up.

I now have a picture of my inspiration, my brother Brett, on this blog. The picture was taken Easter Sunday so it is very current.  I'm going to stay with him in a couple of weeks when I run the 100th Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco.  I'm running that with my friend Rubi.  It will be her very first race.

Relearning to Run

Is it possible to forget how to run properly?  When we were children we could run all day.  We could do that because our body naturally fell into the proper alignment.  It seems that most of my knee/ITB problems are that somehow along the way I stopped running like a child.  Now I am learning how to run properly.  I've been looking into Chi Running since I first heard about proper running technique from a seminar I went to at Fleet Feet Midtown that was put on by Dr. Justin Lau.  He didn't call it that but I had an idea that was what he was talking about. 

It turns out that proper alignment is as easy as falling down.  Imagine standing tall with your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles in a straight line. Now imagine falling forward and letting gravity propel you.  This is just the start of Chi Running.  The more you look into it, the more it feels like learning to swing a golf club which I found incredibly hard to do.  These are the things that are now running around in my head when I attempt to run properly:  straight line from head to ankle, lean forward, shoulders relaxed, elbows at 90 degrees, hands firm but relaxed, landing on the midfoot,  feet taking small quick light steps as they sweep the ground away and behind you.  If you want to go faster, then lean further forward but with the same cadence in your feet.

I didn't want to invest in a book that I might not get anything out of so I checked out the book "Chi Running" by Danny Dreyer from the library.  I haven't read too much, most of what I have learned has been through watching a couple of videos on youtube and listening to a couple of podcasts of people that have tried it and detail what they have learned in their podcast.  By the way, if you haven't checked into podcasts, you really should.  I listen to a lot of them while running and walking and they are a lot more interesting then listening to music all the time.  You can go to ITunes and select podcast and then search for what ever interests you.  I like one called ITunes Celebrity Podcast.  Usually it is musicians that talk about music and other musicians that inspire them both today and in the past.  I've listened to ones from Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, Cindy Lauper, and many others.  I also listen to running podcasts.  One I particularly like is called Running with the Pack.  The two people that do this one are from Penn State so you get to hear about things that go on on the East Coast plus they talk about new products they have tried, races they have done, all sorts of stuff.  I diverge, sorry. Anyway check them out and maybe I will do a post on podcasts soon.

I hope that I can get my running technique corrected in the near future so I can start training for some longer runs.  Right now I have the Bay to Breakers in May to do and am hoping to be ok by then even if I have to run/walk it.  It's only 7 miles and it should be absolutely wild.  I'm doing it with my friend Rubi who has never ran in a race before and trains only on a treadmill.  She is a fun lady so we will have a blast.

Tonight I am practicing my chi running as chi walking because I can't run until I get the technique mastered.  My ITB was really inflamed from the last run I did over a month ago, which was an 11 miler so I am being cautious.

Here is a link to a fun Chi Running Video.  I hope you like it.

Perspective

I admit that complaining feels good or whining like in my last post.  Sometimes though, things happen that put your life back into perspective.  That happened to me last week.  I hadn't talked to my brother Brett in a couple of weeks.  My Mom called me to talk to me about a couple of things. One of them being that my brother Brett was really sick.  He had been running a fever and had what they thought was a bad cough at least that is what he and his attendent thought.  He had been sick for over 10 days already.  He went to the Doctor and had a chest XRay.  The news came back that he had pneumonia.  This news absolutely floored me.  Pneumonia is dangerous in a healthy person yet alone a person whose health is compromised by their disability.  When my brother broke his neck, he lost about 50% of his lung capacity.  He sleeps in a hospital type bed which was in an upright position because he felt like he was drowning in the fluid in his lungs.  Thank God the antibiotics kicked in and did their job. 

My knee problems don't mean a lot when put into the perspective of losing your life.  This is why I have really been so upset with my knee troubles.  I really want to run a marathon for him.  Everyday is a challenge to my brother and others with disabilities.  He has moments when he feels bad for himself.  He also has perspective.  There is always someone in worse condition then you.  Brett has limited use of his arms, but he can feed himself and do other things with them to make his life more independent. He had a friend that could move nothing below his chin and moved around in a wheelchair that he blew air into a tube to make it move.  Perspective.

Can I have some wine with that whine?

I haven't ran since Sunday February 20th and I've been whining about it and I've been drinking wine.  I'm trying to drink away my sorrows and take the edge off my incessant thigh pain. The details are that I ran 11 miles that day with an already achy IT Band.  I thought I had stretched and foam rolled enough the day before and I would be fine. NOT!!  I was supposed to run around Lake Natoma that day and got half way around when I realized that I had some tightening in my quads specifically my old nemesis the IT Band.  I decided I could make it back but took it easy and ran/walked the rest of the way back to my meeting place with my club.  I foam rolled it when I got home but it wasn't enough.  The next day I was miserable.  I could barely walk faster then my 93 year old Grandma.

My thigh was so tight any kneeling or squatting was out of the question.  The crackling noises as I went up and down the stairs in my house were almost loud enough to wake the undead.  What really hurt was the rubbing of my pants against my thigh.  If I closed my eyes it felt like my pants were made of sandpaper and not a fine grit either.  As  you can see, I whine with the best of them.

So I did what any self respecting college graduate would do...I drank some more whine.  LOL.  I know now I am being (and I am using my husband's favorite word) ridiculous.  What I did do was really think of what my options were with my IT Band.  What was the root cause of all of this pain?  As luck would have it, Fleet Feet Mid Town was having a 1 hour seminar about running injury free (serendipity coming into play) so I went.  I then made an appointment with a Podiatrist who is a runner.  I don't have foot pain but thought maybe he could check me out and rule out whether I had one leg longer then the other which is one symptom of IT Band syndrome and any other physical problems.  I then made an appointment with an Exercise Physiologist who is also a certified massage therapist who is also a local ace bicycle racer who also trains tri-athletes.  I then went to a 1 hour demo on Trigger Point Therapy products.  I got a lot accomplished in a week.

Today I went to the Exercise Physiologist, who I am just going to call Mike from now on.  We had a long talk about my troubles and he basically told me a bunch of things I already knew.  My VMO muscle is weak and underdeveloped.  I thought I was doing exercises to strengthen them but he seemed unimpressed by them.  He did ultrasound along the whole length of my IT Band and then followed that up with massage.  Very painful massage.  Turns out besides the very tight ITB, there is something way up high on my thigh that is equally tight.  I forget the terminology because he threw some very long scientific type names at me over the hour I was with him.  Depending on how sore I am tomorrow, as he wants me to be pain free, he is going to do a gait analysis to see if I am running properly which we may do Friday.  I am guessing that I am not running properly and that is why I am having so much trouble. 

Who knew running could be so hard?  Obviously it can be hard on your body, but hard in that there is a lot to remember.  The running seminar I went to demonstrated that to me.  Feet under knees, knees under hips, hips under shoulders, head/neck in line with those points all the way down. Like a marionette. Arms at 90 degrees. Tuck your pelvis up and back without tightening your glutes. Always run with a cadence of 170-180. Lean 1/4" from hips not waist when you take off, from there if you increase your speed it's in the degree of lean and how your legs flow behind you. Let gravity propel you forward. He said your arms and legs work in unison so if you want to run faster pump your arms faster your legs will follow. He said to only work on one thing at a time for 30 seconds or so. I don't know how I could possibly remember to do all of this stuff. Handouts would have been great.

My final thoughts are that I have hope.  I really have to get this corrected or my running days are over.  It might not be today but someday the tracking problems I am having with the patella will wear down and give out.  If I can rule out all the what ifs and work on what can be corrected then I should be able to continue on this journey to run a marathon.  I didn't even tell Mike about that.  He doesn't know me yet so he doesn't know how fixated I can be with things.  When I get fixated I rarely let up until I have followed something to an extraordinary end or the bitter end.  Which one will this be? BTW, I'm drinking Petite Sirah from Six Hands Winery in Walnut Grove as I write this.  They are a small family run winery out in the Delta.

Future Races

Currently I am training for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon on March 13th. It begins and ends at Raley Field in West Sacramento.http://www.shamrocknhalf.com/.  Should be fun since a lot of my running group will be there also. I think I need to figure out if I am going to be wearing any goofy St. Patrick's Day clothing items.  More then likely I will be running in capris so I guess I could find some men's underwear to wear over them. 

The other race that I have registered for is the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco on May 15th.  http://baytobreakers.com/.  I am really looking forward to this one. I understand it is one of the oldest organized races in this country.  This year will be the 100th Anniversary of the race.  I'm thinking I will probably only run this once so the 100th anniversary sounded like the right time for me.  It was pretty expensive though.  I had race fees, then mailing fees, then bus fees, then I decided to get the tech shirt instead of the T-shirt which cost me an additional $30 so all in all $120.  The nice thing is I get to spend the day before in Berkeley with Brett.  We always have a good time together and I love Berkeley.

More about Brett

It's almost been 32 years since I got the phone call from parents that my brother was at a hospital in Modesto.  My first thought was that he had been in a car accident.  He and a friend were taking two girls to Turlock Lake for the day. It was Memorial Day so there would be a lot of traffic on the way there.  Turlock Lake was the closest lake to Modesto and had a really nice beach.  My parents wouldn't tell me what had happened but to get  myself to the hospital as quick as I could. 

My brother was in the ER.  He was hooked up to machines, he had a tube down his nose and I think through his  mouth.  He was awake and scared.  Can you imagine how terrifying it would be to have no feeling below your head?  I found out that he and  his friend had decided to cool off after they got to the lake.  They had both ran out into the water to about hip level and dove in.  Brett hit something on the bottom of the lake, his friend kept swimming unaware that something had happened.  He at one point turned around and saw Brett floating in the water and laughed thinking he was playing around. When Brett didn't respond he swam over to him and grabbed him and brought his head above the water.  Brett had been holding his breath and told his friend he couldn't feel anything. His friend they yelled for help and some guys came over and helped drag Brett up to the beach.  They called an ambulance and it took him to a  hospital in Modesto about 30 miles away. 

We found out much later what had happened to Brett at the beach.  He had no feeling below his shoulders but his head hurt really bad and my Mom could feel an indentation on his skull.  Turlock Lake had boat races during the summer.  People would make cement blocks and use them for ballast and then toss them over the side when the race was over.  This is what Brett hit.  Later the day that he was injured, some boaters pulled into the beach and jumped out of their boat onto the cement block that Brett had hit.  It weighed about 50 pounds. They then brought it onto the shore. 

My family endured some very  hard times that summer.  My brother was transferred to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center because they had a spinal cord injury unit there and would be better taken care of.  My Mom packed her clothes up and didn't come home until August.  We had friends in San Jose so she stayed at alternating friends houses so she could be with Brett. 

My brother's spine was unstable so he had to be put into what is called a halo.  Basically as I remember it, they drilled 4 holes into his skull so that they could insert screws that would connect to a piece of metal that encircled his skull (like a halo).  The long metal pieces that were screwed into his head came down to a body cast that would then stabilize his spinal cord.  If his spinal cord was not stabilized it would begin to disintegrate and would kill him.  After about 6-8 weeks it was determined by his doctors that the halo was not working.  The only option was surgery.  The had to cut open his hip and take bone fragments from there and fuse them to his neck which would be wired together for stability.  Fortunately this procedure worked and his spine was stabilized. 

Part of the reason I am laying bare my brother's life is to introduce people to the disabled.  They really are your neighbor, your high school friend, your sister.  The one thing I noticed after spending many days at a spinal cord injury unit is that paralysis by an accident was by and large something that happened to boys/men.  The other people in his ward were young men.  They had been paralyzed by surfing, motorcycle  and car accidents, gunshot.  If you lead an active life this can happen to you.  Be careful out there people.

Fartlek, fartlek, fartlek

FARTLEK.  Try saying that fast three times!!  Went out for a run this morning by myself.  I haven't done that in months and months.  I was going to listen to my favorite running podcast, but stupid me dragged the podcast that I listened to last night over to my shuffle so instead I listened to music.  I'm such a running geek now.  I listen to running podcasts.

There is something so great about running in the morning.  The sun had just come up so there was still a bit of color in the sky.  There was plenty of blue sky too.  It was probably about 45 degrees so I had on my capris, long sleeve shirt, gloves and hat.  At first you always think, I don't have enough clothes on, I'm cold.  After about 5 minutes you don't even notice the cold anymore. 

I've been running now for almost 2 years.  The first 3-4 months were just as much a physical battle as it was a mental battle.  I say battle and mean that because I always hated running.  I played soccer for 20 plus years and tried to run distances as little as possible.  I got in shape by playing the game and never stop playing which meant I went from one season to another without a break.  Basically soccer 12 months a year. 

Back to running...so running was very much a mental battle.  Telling myself that I could run the distance required.  Sometimes I talked myself into feeling sick or tired and I would stop and walk.  I soon realized that to be able to run I was going to have to get over that mental issue.  I was going to have to step up my game on the mental challenge of running.  I probably took the easy way out by running with my IPOD Shuffle.  I have to say that the music helped me run that first year.  Looking back, most of the music I never heard.  I would tune into the songs that were my favorites of the moment but the others were just background to my thoughts.

There is a lot of thinking to running.  You can change the world, change your life all in the space of your run.  I have talked to people I no longer see.  I have had conversations with people that are dead.  I have relived moments in my life.  It is weird what will come into your mind when there are no distractions to keep them out. 

Today I just enjoyed the morning and that I felt good.  There weren't many people out at 7:30 am.  On the way back I had a mile and a half to go so I thought I would do some fartlek training.  Fartlek means speed play in Swedish.  I ran from stop signs to telephone poles, whatever was easy to use at that moment. I actually got my speed up 8:30 per mile then would slow down to 10:15.  It was fun.  The time went by fast and I wondered why I had never done these before on my own.  I guess I thought I would look stupid running fast and then running slow if anyone saw me.  I realized that for one thing no one knows what you are doing out there and can't really tell fast from slow and the rate of speed I was running. Who cares what people think anyway?  That felt good letting that go.

I had a realization as I was walking up my driveway.  I feel at peace.  I feel happy.  I just burned 400+ calories and started my day with a smile on my face.  I am no longer ambivalent about running.  I love running.  I am a runner.

Me and Brett around 1968 or 1969

Half Marathon Training

Today was the start of the ramping up of the training miles for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon.  I ran 9 miles today.  I was a bit scared of this run.  I have historically had stomach cramping issues after about 4 miles though none so far this year.  Through trial and error I have for the most part figured it out, finally!!! 

Here is what I have learned about long runs:

• If you are meeting at 8am, get up at 6am
• Don't drink too much alcohol the night before
• Don't eat fatty foods like lasagna and drink wine with it
• Don't eat ice cream or any other dairy products before the run
• Drink lots of water the day before, did I say drinks lots of water?
• Don't eat anything that is whole grain or has lots of fiber
• Put some calories in you before you run it gives you fuel
• Make those calories a meal replacement drink like Boost if you can't stomach solid food
• Take 2 Immodium an hour before you run (for me, this is the most important thing I can do)
• Go with a good attitude
• Make every run a good run
• Stay mentally tough

Long distance running really is about being mentally tough.  You can get your body into shape to log those miles in but sometimes the mind is the harder thing to get into shape.  When I first began running, my mind would tell me that I was running too fast or I was out of breath so walk or there is a pain in your shoulder so stop.  You really have to learn to quiet your mind.  You have to tell yourself you can do this.  You can run 10 miles even though you have never ran that far before.  You can run up that hill even though it will hurt and you will be sucking wind when you get to the top.  Today I heard something on a running podcast that really spoke to me.  I guess this is a well known running adage but one I had never heard before.  "Pain is just the fear leaving your body."  I was having some shoulder pain at the time so I kept repeating that over and over and pretty soon I forgot about the pain. 

Trail Run Part II

Map of 1/16 Trail Run at Folsom LakeToday my running group ran out at Folsom Lake again on a 6.2 (10k) course.  We ran 3 loops.  This is not my favorite way to run.  I am a person that likes running one big loop.  I don't know why but running around and around just doesn't fit my personality very well.  This was a group race with awards handed out at the end.  My running group, gO Running, is a lot of fun.  Everyone waits for the rest of the group to finish.  They cheer and clap when you finish.  How great is that? 

Afterwards, one of our members-Heather, cooked us breakfast.  She didn't run so she could cook us breakfast. Is that great or what?  We had eggs, monkey bread, bananas, oranges, hot cocoa, chocolate milk, coffee.  It was great.  I highly recommend running with a group.  They hold you accountable, they encourage you.  It is just the best running experience you can find.  I ran for 9 months on my own and it was hard.  I really like running with a group.

The trail run was tough.  You body has to work much harder to run.  The single track part of the run slopes on the left and the right so you better have some flexibility in your ankles which I do  not have on the left ankle.  I hurt it pretty bad playing soccer when I was 28.  It was never the same.  Nothing a few Ibuprofen won't cure at home. 

Earlier in the week a bunch of people from my running group went and saw the movie "From Hood to Coast".  I highly recommend it for it's entertainment value.  You don't have to be a runner to enjoy this movie.  If you like "characters"  you would probably enjoy this movie.  It has funny moments as well as poignant moments. 

In the coming weeks I plan on finalizing the purpose of this blog.  One is to hopefully motivate people with what I am doing.  I hope to provide some tools for people who like me are attempting their first marathon and for others the tools on raising money for a cause.  That is the underlying reason for this whole thing I am doing.  I would like to raise money for spinal cord injury research.

Trail Run

Today my group ran a cross country trail at Sierra College.  I ran two loops around it which is about 5.5 miles.  I had to stop and walk a bit because I am not in shape for climbing hills even short ones.  It's all good though.  Trail runs are fun and stimulating.  This was the first time in recent memory that I left my I POD Shuffle in the car.  I have been reading Jeff Galloway's Marathon Training Book.  I was reading last night about proper running form.  I had been running about 2 miles when I remembered I wanted to try out what he was talking about in his book.  He says to think of yourself as a marionette.  Head over shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees and knees over ankles.  When I thought about that I probably added 2 inches to my running height.  I realized I was pushing myself down when I ran. 

It was kind of hard to keep that form going.  I then realized that my arms were swinging side to side across my body  instead of pumping up and down.  I started to have a sore spot in my left shoulder so I tried to relax both shoulders and not to clinch my hand.  Then I remembered how it was when I tried to learn how to play golf.  There was just too much fine tuning of your body in order to hit that little white ball.  I soon gave up as I had to see a Chiropractor every time I tried.  Anyway, sometimes running is like that.  So many little things you do wrong can add up to a lot of discomfort either right away or down the line.  I think that during the month of January I will concentrate on having better running form. 

Also, this week was the beginning of our training for a half marathon in March called Shamrock'n.  It begins and ends at Raley Field in West Sacramento.  At least I know what I am getting myself into this time unlike my first half marathon.  I am learning by trial and error what I can eat and not eat, and drink and not drink in the days leading up to a long run.  As time goes on, I will be posting those issues.

A little bit about me, a little bit about him

My brother and I are four years apart.  In fact my Mom brought him home on my fourth birthday.  I told her to take him back because I already had a brother and I wanted a sister.  So much for great starts!!!  We didn't always get a long while growing up.  It wasn't until he got into Junior High and then High School that we started clicking in a way that would ultimately lead to a real friendship.  My brother loved sports. He played baseball and football.  He was very good at both.  For a boy so young, he really took to the physicality of football.  He liked the discipline, the training that it took.  He did a lot of weight training which remade his body from a skinny kid to a very muscular young man.  He did all of this before he turned 17.   I had always been a tomboy.  I rode mini bikes, skated, water skied, skateboarded and was always competitive with the boys in the neighborhood.  That is until I became a teenager and stopped being active.  This led to rapid weight gain which I didn't understand. By the time I was a Junior in High School, I had gained 20 pounds and really didn't know how it had happened. 

My brother broke his neck in a diving accident at a Lake near where we lived. He wasn't even 17.  I had yet to turn 21.  I was heading off to college and my brother was fighting for his life in a hospital in Santa Clara.  I think I cried everyday at school.  I know I gained 10 additional pounds that year.  When my brother was getting ready to come home after being in the hospital for six months, the Shriners had a fund raiser for him.  It was a fun run.  I don't remember the distance but it was called Run For Brett.  I did not participate because I was too out of shape and embarrassed to try and run.  The money that was raised went to modifying my parent's house so they could enlarge the shower in their bathroom into a roll-in shower for my brother.  The money also was used to make a raised platform from the sidewalk to the doorway so he could get in the house with his motorized wheelchair.

My brother's injury is at the C-4/C-5 level. C is for cervical, 4 and 5 are the vertebrae that are involved.  This is what makes him a quadriplegic.  His spinal cord was compromised between the 4th and 5th vertebra. He has complete nerve damage.  He has partial  use of his arms because he had a little bicep and tricep muscle movement come back.  He worked very hard to get those back and be able to use his arms in his every day life.  He has learned to feed himself, and he and his attendants are very ingenious in what they have done to modify everyday things for his use.

My brother graduated from High School with his class. He went to Junior College and from there enrolled at UC Berkeley.  He graduated from Berkeley with BS in Business and went on to get an MBA from there also. He worked for IBM and for the State of California. If my brother can do all of that, well I can run a measly 26.2 miles.  So little brother back in 1980 I couldn't run for you, but I can do it today.  This is why Lori Runs for Brett.

First Run of 2011

So today  my running group met at 8am for a trail run at Folsom Lake, yes as in Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues fame.  It was raining and about 45 degrees.  Runners are not wimpy people.  There were probably 15-20 of us out there running in the rain.  We ran on a single track most of the way through puddles and mud and over rocks and stuff like that.  Really it's like being a kid again.  I've gotten just as wet if not more wet playing soccer in the rain. 

I found this website, DailyMile, and am using them to track my mileage.  It was great to see that it works. Yeah, one less thing to worry about with this blogging thing.  I was getting all worried on how to track my mileage and really didn't want to keep up an Excel spreadsheet as I already do that with my running group and I make lovely spreadsheets at work. 

About half way into my run today, the ol IT Band started aching.  It had stopped hurting prior to the CIM (California International Marathon) where I was part of a relay team.  I took off the month of October and half of November to rehab my knee. I think I ran too many miles too soon and that activated the IT Band.  I took a month off again and worked hard on rehabbing with weights and the elliptical and only walks with the hubby and Joie my dog.  So now I have an achy IT Band, which is becoming a dirty word to me.  I religiously use the foam roller on it to the point I want to cry like a big baby.  I can never get the tension to release.  I follow up the foam roller with about 7 minutes of stretching the hamstrings, the quads, the inner thighs, the glutes, and the calves.  Sometimes it feels like I spend more time on the rolling, stretching routine then I actually spend running.

I hope to find an answer for the IT Band.  I may go to my Podiatrist and see if I have any problems with one leg shorter then another.  My brother has a significant difference in his leg length so it is worth checking it out.  I've read that differences in leg lengths can exacerbate the IT Band.  We'll see.