Deseret News Classic 10K

Here is a little about my first 10K race!  I ran the SLC Deseret News Classic.  In Utah, the 24th of July is a celebrated holiday.  It's Pioneer Day where we celebrate the Mormon pioneers settling the Salt Lake Valley.  There is a big parade in downtown Salt Lake, and this race is just the beginning of the celebration!  We started up at the University of Utah, and ran a beautiful course down Foothill drive, South Temple, and ended on the Parade route.  

 I was pretty nervous, because I haven't run in almost 2 weeks.  My foot was really sore, and I didn't want to mess it up even worse before the race.  Luckily, I had no issues with it during the race.  However, I did confuse myself on mileage and thought I was supposed to be done earlier than I was.  I turned off my apps and so I had nothing telling me how many miles I had gone.  I was looking at the signs for the 5K that said "5K: 1 mile" and for some reason, I thought it meant there was 1 mile left!  We end at the same finish line, so I was really excited that I had only 1 mile left, and I still had so much energy!  I booked it for about a half mile and still couldn't see any finish line!  Suddenly, I realized my mistake and that I still had over 2 miles left.  I slowed down, but I was really tired.  I wanted to walk, but didn't.  I made it to the end- and even shaved 4 minutes off my fastest 10K training time.  So I was happy about it.

One thing I thought was pretty cool was at the exact moment I was crossing the finish line, they announced that the first place runner for the Half Marathon was also crossing the finish line.  They announced his name, and it was a guy I went to high school with.  Crazy fast runners!

They had drinks, fruit, Creamies, and french toast at the finish line.  I waited for about an hour for Josh to finish his half, and hopefully he will have his post about it soon.  We didn't stay for the parade, because we had to head back to my parents house to pick up the kids.  But we had a fun day celebrating!

Inspirational Quote #5

This seems like a good one for Josh and I as we go into our longest races yet-both with injuries-in just a couple days.  Wish us luck!!

The Dumb Things I Do (First Run Back)

On the night of the 4th, I joined some brothers in law and nephews on my in-laws’ driveway for a game of basketball.  While we were playing I hit a layup and then hit my knee into the pole and came down sideways on my ankle.  I have had major problems with ankle injuries in the past and had arthroscopic surgery on this particular ankle four years ago to repair a rupture to my syndesmotic ligament (the ligament that connects the tibia and fibula).  As soon as it rolled I knew I was in trouble.

I decided to rest it in the hopes that it would be better in time for the Deseret News Half Marathon I'm running on the 24th.  This week I tried a 3.5 mile run on Tuesday.  I went very slow and had to walk quite a bit but made it through and felt like I would be able to push my way through the race in a week.  However, on Thursday I headed out to run around 6 miles and only made it two blocks.  It was hurting so bad that I couldn't make a go of it.

I called my orthopedic surgeon's office later that morning and got in to see an ankle specialist in the hopes that I would be able to get a cortisone shot or something that would take the pain away.  The doctor told me that it was too close to the race and that since the shot softens the cartilage I could do some serious damage if I tried the shot and ran that far that soon.  He did take an x-ray to make sure that there wasn't any structure damage and gave me the green light to run as long as I could work through the pain.

I decided to try it again this morning.  The first 1.5 miles were pretty painful and I had to really focus on my form so that I didn't mess anything else up.  After that it seemed to loosen up and I was able to do the next four miles with just some mild soreness.  I was tempted to take this run to 8-10 miles but since I've got a race in 4 days I decided to be smart for once and did just enough to get a workout.  Stay tuned to see how the 1/2 Marathon goes on Wednesday.

Weekly Workout Wrap-Up, A Couple Of Old Fogies

It was another sad week.  Josh's ankle is getting a little better, but still sore.  And my foot is still wonky.  We are starting to get nervous because we have a big race this Wednesday!  Josh is planning to do his first half in a long time, and I am doing my first 10K race.  

On Tuesday, I decided to run on my sore foot just to see how it went.  I didn't feel any pain until about mile 2.5.  Then it really hurt, but I could still run through the pain.  I am hoping that during the race, the pain won't be more than I can handle.  

Josh went to the Dr. to see if he could get a cortisone shot, but he advised against it.  He did say that Josh could still run on it and it wouldn't do any further damage.  So basically, if we can both run through our pain, we'll be fine.  Hopefully.

Weekly Workout Wrap-Up

This week's work-outs were pretty sad.  But we have good excuses.  Josh is still recovering from a minor ankle injury, so he didn't run at all.  As for me, I did my speed mile on Monday, then my regular 5K run on Wednesday.  After that run, the outside of my left foot started to hurt.  It's been sore ever since and I have no idea why.  I can't even walk on it without a slight limp.  So I am also resting it this weekend, and hopefully by Monday Josh and I will both be back to normal.

Inspirational Quote #4

"Speed" Mile

I am so not a competitive person.  But since I've started running, it's been fun to compete against myself and see myself progress.  So this morning, just for fun, I decided to do a speed mile and see just how fast I could do it.

Now, I really don't want this blog to be about how fast I can go.  That is not what running is about to me.  This is more the reason of why I run.  I have compared myself to the best before, and it is just plain pointless.

This exercise was mostly for fun and to see how I could do.  It wasn't as fast as I thought I would go, but I did beat my 6th grade time.  Now if only I could go back in time and throw it in my 6th-grade-self's face.  Take that, 11-year-old me! I don't think she/I would have taken it too well.  :)