This morning I went for a run in shorts and a cotton tee shirt. Weather.com said it was 60 degrees as I walked out the door. What a fantastic run. The wind was swirling and it felt like a cool summer morning. It was quite invigorating! Especially since I didn’t sleep too well last night. Starlight is at the vet’s for her checkup, and the place just didn’t feel right without my roommate around.
I changed the settings on my Garmin to start keeping individual lap metrics of one mile, but after I uploaded it all to motionbased, the final numbers didn’t seem to tally up correctly. Oh well, no biggie. Here are the numbers, but numbers don’t really matter. I was out, I was moving, hip flexor pain be damned, and I had a nice little training run.
| Lap |
Time |
Distance |
| (#) |
(m:s) |
(mi ) |
| 1 |
9:45 |
1 |
| 2 |
9:52 |
1 |
| 3 |
9:41 |
1 |
| 4 |
0:44 |
0.07 |
| |
|
|
| Distance (mi ) |
3.16 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
5.9 avg. |
8.4 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+222 / -225 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
60.8 F avg. |
60.8 F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
S 9.2 avg. |
S 9.2 max. |
Reflections, originally uploaded by me.
Today was the first day I ran since the Hangover Classic on Jan. 1. I ran a six-mile route between Seneca and Cherokee parks in Louisville, KY. The weather was cold and rainy. I got there around 7:45 a.m. and there were a whole bunch of runners already out and about, more than usual I think. There was a church group running, plus maybe some new runners trying to make good on their own New Year’s Resolutions.
My friends Linda and Laura were there, beginning their increase in mileage training for the Flying Pig marathon on May 4. The Flying Pig also has a half-marathon, and I would make plans to do that race if it did not occur so soon after the Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon on April 26, which I am planning to do. Linda and Laura did 12 miles today–double what I did. I would have loved to join them in going that distance, but my hip flexor injury continues, and I am trying to be good to myself. 
Dealing with injury is something all runners do. Every runner I talk with has a pain story. Most of us, more than just one. We all like to complain a bit, but we all keep on running. All during the run, the hip flexor pain was noticeable. I would say about a five out of 10, ten being really bad. I tried to use mental imagery and also let the songs on my iPod distract me, and it worked for the most part. But the pain is definitely there, on the right side.
It’s an odd sensation; it mostly feels like it’s “locked,” like there is a limited range of motion. Kinda strange. I figured my knees would get me a long time before a hip problem. Or plantar fasciitis, which I have dealt with before. But this thing sure is nagging. I will continue to deal with it. I can’t complain too loudly, because I have sort of slipped on doing my exercises over the past week. The last thing I want to do is stop running, but for now, scaling back the mileage somewhat is the right thing to do. [Hopefully I am not sounding like a broken record, but I guess I need to convince myself I am taking the right course of action because I want to run every day!] Even my pace was probably a little bit too fast today, but I was sort of motivated by the cold rain. Makes you want to get it done a little bit faster than usual. Garmin numbers:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:58:40 |
9:41 pace |
| Distance (mi ) |
6.05 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.4 avg. |
9.6 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+447 / -447 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
38.7 F avg. |
38.7 F high |
Today I ran the Hangover Classic, a ten-mile run on a blustery, cold winter morning. About a month ago, I doubted I would be able to do the run, due to my injury. However, I have been doing stretching exercises and I have scaled back the amount of miles I have been running each week, which allowed me to do the run.
The first seven miles were a nice, meandering route near the Ohio River. Even though I was running into the wind, I felt pretty good. The last three miles back in were straight along River Road to the finish line, and even though the wind was at my back, those three miles were somewhat grueling. Overall, though, it was a nice flat route, which again played into my decision to run it, because hills are not what my hip flexor injury needs right now. I didn’t really push myself either; my goal was just to have fun, which I did.
I did a lot better than my last attempt at running it, which was back in 2002. At that time, I did not train well and should not have even attempted to run it. Like everything else in life, it was a learning experience.
All-in-all, I am extremely thankful to have been healthy enough to run it today. It was exhilarating, and there were quite a few other crazies who had the same idea. It’s a fun run, and hopefully it will become a tradition for me. The official results are not yet posted, but my “Garmin” numbers are as follows:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
1:34:41 |
9:22 pace |
| Distance (mi ) |
10.1 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.4 avg. |
9.6 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+412 / -423 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
27.7F avg. |
28.4F high |
