while I’m no Lester …

… This lymphoma survivor won her age group at a local 5K yesterday.

This time last year, I would get winded walking up the stairs from Bleomycin damage.  Now I’m out tearing up the pavement.  If you’re someone with Hodgkin’s doing ABVD right now and wondering if all the suffering and garbage is worth it, it is.

Some Local Civil War History

I was down at Lakewood Park for a 5K race known as the Lakewood Ambulance Chase a few weeks ago. The race benefits Lakewood Hospital, which is a sister hospital to Fairview Hospital where I was treated (both are part of the Cleveland Clinic System).

If you’re wondering why I ran this race …. Surely you didn’t think a lawyer could pass up the chance to run behind a Ghostbuster style ambulance for 3.11 miles?!? You have to admit, the mental image of an attorney chasing after an ambulance is a good one.

Anyway.

I was killing time after the race while waiting for the awards ceremony and decided to walk down to Lake Erie. I’ve been to Lakewood Park only once before (for another 5K race) and had never explored it. Anyway, I found a little bit of local Civil War history: a brick paver plaque marking the location of an Underground Railroad Station that was located here near the mouth of the Rocky River. It was placed relatively recently in 2006.

It was the type of historical monument / memorial that would be easy to miss and I imagine most people walk past it on their way down to the breakwall and never notice it, so I thought I’d share a little bit of local Civil War related history. Ohio played a pretty significant role in helping freed slaves reach freedom through the Underground Railroad.

(Oh and for those who care, I did get a trophy for my ambulance chasing prowess.)

By the way my stomach seems to be doing better. Knock on wood. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

the need for speed

I ran a half-marathon this weekend. I very rarely race, so when I do, I try to make it count. It was the first real effort I had made to race since being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease.

This was a true runner’s race. There was nothing fancy about it — just a good, well-marked, uncrowded, perfectly flat, very straight, VERY fast course that ran through rural scenic farm country. The weather was ideal — high 30s, mostly cloudy. I ran in a longsleeve tech shirt, gloves, shorts, and a beanie. I wore my lightweight trainers (white and red New Balance 825s for the shoe junkies out there). As you can see behind me, the trees are decked out beautifully in gold right now. (And yes, that is a cornfield.)

I ran very well. I set a PR (that’s a personal record — a personal best — for the non-runners). I took home hardware (that is runner-speak for winning an award). I ran negative splits (I ran the first half slower than the second) and I never was passed after the first mile, but I got to do a lot of the passing. It’s fun to finish strong.

I’ll probably be out racing again in about two weeks at the Cleveland Fall Classic.

should newbies run marathons?

Just my humble opinion.

I think its great that so many people have taken up running. Whether you run a 17:00 5K or a 47:00 5K, whether you run 5 miles per week or 150 miles per week, whether its on trail or road or treadmill — I consider you all my brother and sister runners. I welcome you to the sport and hope you love it as much as I do.

However.

I do agree with his general premise that new runners should not be doing marathons.

I want people in running for the long haul. Jumping off the couch into training for a marathon is not, in my humble opinion, the course that leads to life-long running.

Running a marathon is difficult. Its a grueling distance that tests endurance, stamina, and smarts. Unfortunately, I do truly believe that without the proper base, you ARE likely to get hurt. And, without the proper knowledge and experience you get from having some miles and some time running under your belt, I think you ARE more likely to make a critical mistake and suffer from overhydration or heatstroke. Veteran runners are not immune to making mistakes or getting injured. But I think the probability is much higher for a new, relatively clueless runner.

I don’t want to see runners get hurt or burned out on the sport by trying to tackle a very difficult distance and doing too much too soon. I don’t want to see runners get sick (and I sure as hell don’t want them dying!). And I don’t want them to have their marathon experience be so miserable that they end up hating running.

I would much rather see runners do 5K and 10K distances the first year and gradually increase with the marathon being the culmination. This allows new runners to build their endurance and allows them a chance to learn about race etiquette. It gives them an opportunity to get the right shoes and talk to veterans about training and learn about potential dangers like hyponatremia. It raises the chances they become … a lifelong runner.

What can I say, I am selfish. I want you in my sport for life.

All that said — those are my reasons, not the author’s reasons. Reading between the lines, I think he is angry that his own accomplishment of running a marathon has been cheapened, in his own mind, by the fact that now basically ANYONE of reasonable health and now say THEY are a marathoner. He no longer feels special. And that’s his problem, not mine.

St. Angela Fun Run

I ran in a local 5K race today sponsored by a Catholic Church. When I say local I mean local. The race started a block from my house. I was not going to do the race, and was not preregistered, but I woke up early this morning and figured what the heck? How often do you get to run a 5K that close to your house? Homefield advantage, baby!

It was a decent day for running. The temp was perfect — probably in the low 50s with clear skies — but the wind was kind of gusty (18 mph out of the east-southeast which is an unusual pattern for here).

The race went well. I wore my Mizuno Wave Riders. The only problem was the kids. This race attracted tons of them and they were not well versed in race etiquette (some for that matter did not seem versed in <em>any</em> sort of etiquette at all!). I had a great finishing kick.
I was not expecting any hardware. However, for some reason I stuck around anyway. I was outside jogging around when a woman told me they were looking for someone with my number. I went back inside and they needed my age. So I told them and they said I should stick around so I did. Because of being told to stick around, I was expecting a third place medal which would be awesome — I don’t take home hardware, like, ever. But it turns out I actually WON my age group. NO WAY. I got my picture taken, a big (kinda ugly!) trophy, and a gift certificate for a free pizza and wing dinner from a local place. REALLY COOL! That made suffering through winter kind of worth it.

So all and all it was a great morning.

The Fall Classic

Ran in the Cleveland Fall Classic today.<br />
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Since I haven’t been feeling well, I really debated doing this run. My training runs have been a real struggle. My legs seem to be fine but my breathing is all messed up. I feel a little congested and I cough a lot. I seem to have a fever at night. I am tempted to go on Web MD (aka hypochondriacs unite dot com) to see if I can figure out why. I suppose it could still be the wisdom teeth.<br />
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But, anyway, I was already registered and the weather forecast (which had been ranging between bad and terrible) had changed — this turned out to be a stunning day, really gorgeous: the high ended up begin around 55 and it was a beautiful sunny day. You can’t ask for more in middle November in Cleveland.<br />
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Hmm. I just found out that GERD (which I most definitely have) can cause night sweats and a cough. HMMM.<br />
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Oh yeah. Back to the race. It was pretty easy to get there: I just hopped on the parkway (at Mastick) and drove straight through the Rocky River Reservation on into Mill Stream. When I got there at 8 AM, there was already parking problems, so I parked along the parkway and walked in — it was COLD. I picked up my packet with no hassle. The Fall Classic gives out REALLY nice mock turtle neck tech shirts. Very nice design, conservative, perfect for running (maybe I will wear mine tomorrow if I run).<br />
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I took my bag back to the car and I sat there until 8:50. I saw when I picked up my packet that the 5K started at 9:15. I got out of my car and jogged down to where I saw people lining up for the half-marathon. When I got to that area, I saw one of my friends and we hung out together. The half-marathon, scheduled for 9:00, took off about 9:15.<br />
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Then we lined up for the 5K. I was really cold by this time. I would guess it was in the high 30s or low 40s. Finally at about 9:30 we were off. I decided I was going to take this race slow and be very conservative. I did the first mile in 9:15. The pace felt ok, not too hard. It was an out and back course, turning around at the tobaggon chutes. I was still doing ok there, but things just weren’t right. Kept looking for mile marker two on the way back. My split for the second mile was 18:29. So the second mile was also almost exactly 9:15. I wanted to pick up my pace but I couldn’t. I don’t know; I think its part mental (I lost my confidence) and part I’m just not breathing too well these days. I ended up finishing in 28:06. Yeah, not good.<br />
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After the race, I hung around some with my friend. We did some light jogging and watched some of the half-mary. Then I decided around 10:30 to take off. Didn’t get any food, but I heard the spread was really good.<br />
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I drove home and ate a PBJ for lunch. Went to the mall and wandered around. My left ankle hurts. Got the hiccups twice (haha). Didn’t buy anything. <br />
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Watched “Gettysburg” tonight. Wow. I hadn’t watched it in awhile.<br />
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Going to take a shower and get ready to watch “Family Guy” at nine o’clock. And hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. But I’m not holding my breath right now.

a PW becomes a PR

How to turn a personal worst into a personal best. An essay by thelearnedfoot.<br />
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So, I’ve run in two 5Ks in the past two weeks. Two weeks ago, I set a three-minute PR. If you tuned in last weekend, you were treated to my description of how to run a 5K in a blinding thunderstorm.<br />
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There was no plan to race this weekend. This week hasn’t gone very well. I’m tired and a little bit sick — I have wisdom teeth that every few months or so (the last time was during the bar exam) decide to shift position. When that happens, I get aches and a fever and chills at night. I’m now a few days into this round of wisdom teeth fun and have a cough and feel drained on morning runs. Its a real struggle to finish a run without walking.<br />
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Anyway, I go down to the park where I do my running and the local race organization is doing the “Trophy Run.” Everyone gets a t-shirt from a prior race. After the race, the runners (in reverse order of finish) get to pick a trophy from a prior race. I’ve no use for the latter, but I like shirts and I’m there anyway and the weather is great for Cleveland in November (high 40s and sunny), so I pay the very modest entry fee and decide to give it a try. The race is billed as a “3 mileish” run but most everyone I talk to is convinced its a 5K. <br />
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We line up in a field. Its pretty wet. Most people around me are talking about next weekend’s Fall Classic. They ring a bell, we all take off across the field. Its soggy but the footing is pretty decent. We run across the field for maybe 50 yards, then we take off on the asphalt all-purpose path. This is a two lane path big enough for about three or four people to run across, so its crowded. My legs feel awesome, but I feel like I’m physically dragging. I think I’m doing around 9 minutes for the first mile; turns out I did the first in 8:02. That’s too fast. I try and back off but my darned legs won’t hear of it. We turn off onto the bridle trail to head back. Shortly thereafter, I met a new running demon. His name is Mr. In Step Cramp and he carries around some sort of sharp pointed object and jabs it into your foot. I hope you never meet him. My foot is actually having spasms inside of my shoe. What the heck? Yes, I know 8:02 was too fast, but I’ve run miles that fast before and nothing like THIS has ever happened. <br />
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I try everything to perusade Mr. In Step Cramp to go bother someone else. I try slowing down to apease him. When that doesn’t work, I speed up to try and shake him (which my lungs don’t particularly care for). I offer him money. I offer him free legal services. Nothing convinces him to stop jabbing his hot poker into my foot. I manage to make it to the 2-mile point in 16:20. Mr. In Step Cramp is now crawling into my ankle. All I want is for my foot to stop hurting — I don’t care anymore about running or PRs or anything. I stop off to the side and try desperately to stretch my foot. Mr. In Step Cramp is here for the long haul, though, and no amount of stretching is going to disturb his party. Walk a few steps, no better. I start running until the pain in my lower legs becomes too much, then I stop and try to stretch. Repeat numerous times.<br />
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As I’m doing mile three, I keep thinking “where the HECK IS THE FINISH LINE!” This seems like a very long last 1.11 miles. Finally, mercifully, we turn out of the woods and there’s a volunteer saying “200 yards to go.” I somehow run all the way in to finish in what I assumed was by far a personal worst: 31:something.<br />
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I wanted to leave. Ugh. But after the race, I couldn’t drive home right away. My foot was still literally spasming. I limped over to a picnic table and took off my shoe and sock and tried to massage my foot. I found that my ankle was really swollen, very tender, and bruised. I’m wondering if I somehow turned my ankle, but I definitely don’t remember doing it. After five minutes of massaging my foot, Mr. In Step Cramp finally decided he’d had enough fun with me and he went off to bug someone else.<br />
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The only good thing about sticking around was I heard the race director announce that the distance was actually 3.4 miles. So my personal worst for the 5K turned into a new personal best for 3.4 miles. Which is pretty fun in itself. I doubt I’ll ever run THAT distance again!<br />
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But definitely something isn’t right. Between the wisdom teeth and this weird foot cramp … My body is messed up right now. I’m signed up for a 5K next Saturday (last of the year for me); I’m considering going to the race, getting my shirt (its a cool tech shirt), and asking if I can just be a volunteer instead.<br />

Murray Ridge

Murray Ridge was one for the ages. The grizzled veteran runners even said that they’ll be talking about THIS one for 20 years.

I was worried about the weather, as you can see from my prior blog entries. The weather forecast as the days went by went from so-so to progressively worse. But, I woke up Sunday morning and my legs — after a horrible run the day before — felt good. Springy. Fast. When I dragged myself out of bed, the weather wasn’t THAT bad and upon checking the Weather Channel it looked like there would be a window to run the race — most of the rain was past. Plus it was warm — probably around 60. I think I run best around 50-60 degrees and I knew I won’t get another crack at temps like that this year. So I decided to go.

The race was really out in the sticks, farm country. But I didn’t have much trouble finding it. So I get to the race. Do some warm up. Decide for some reason to try the New Balance 901s even though I haven’t really done any training in them. The runners all line up for the 9AM start — the half marathon and 5K go off together, then split after half a mile. At this point an anemic sun is peaking through the cloud, but it is rather dark and threatening to the southwest. After remarks from the Race Director, we’re off at 9:11 AM.

I started up towards the front, for once. The faster runners carried me out, and I was running along great. They had no one calling times, but I did wear my watch and they did have mileage markers along the course. I hit the first mile in 7:52. I’m right on target for my sub-25. Whoa. AWESOME! I tried to slow down a little so I wouldn’t totally crash and burn. I hit the turn-around point and still was feeling pretty good. I hit mile marker 2 in 16:08. Perfect. Sub-25 is ACTUALLY in sight. I feel good enough that its possible — or at least I think I can come close. The goal I thought I’d get NEXT year is actually in sight.

Then it lightnings. A rumble. Then it lightnings again. This time it was one of those really dangerous bolts that jumps from the clouds to the ground. And then the wind starts to blows through at SIXTY MILES PER HOUR. The man in front of me asked — and I think he was serious — if this was a tornado. I look at my watch — the storm hit at 18 minutes. If the race director had started right at 9, I’d be done by now (even if I completely fell apart). C’est la vie. Then the rain started. It rained SIDEWAYS. With the wind, the rain was blowing over my head, swirling around me, blowing into my face. I have lived in Cleveland my whole life and I played soccer growing up in some awful conditions, but this was by far the absolute worse. It rained so hard I could not see. The wind blew water into my mouth and I had to spit it out. My shoes were quickly soaked so badly that they squished (ew). I kept trying to run but I had to keep my head turned to the side because the wind was blowing so powerfully. It began to hail (someone else I talked to later thought it was sleet but I think it was too warm so it must have been hail) and it HURT. I had red marks on my face and legs from it pelting me. The temp began to drop quickly. My shirt was so wet I could have wringed it out. At 23 minutes into the race, nearly blind and thoroughly depressed, I walked for a minute. Then I got mad at myself and started running (head turned sideways) again.

There were no other runners around. No one close behind me, no one close in front of me.

Final time for this fiasco: 26:48. Not bad, considering in perfect weather I ran 26:22 the weekend before. But I think this was MY day. :( You know, those elusive days when you can run fast and effortlessly. And nature completely and totally conspired against me.

I finished third overall for women. I have to go pick up my trophy. I was too wet and cold to stick around. When I took off my 901s, water poured out.

Many of the half-marathoners came back. I don’t blame them. A lot finished, though.

So Murray Ridge was one for the Ages. “the witch of November” had definitely “come stealing.”

Great Pumpkin Race

I did the Great Pumpkin Fun Run and 5K Race today. This was my second 5K race and it was sort of a goal / see where I am race. Here’s my report. Warning: its marathon-length (haha I’ll never be able to physically do a marathon so I’ll have to stick to marathon length reports). I know its long, but I like to have detailed reports to include in my blog and training journal, and I am prone to write epics. You’re more than welcome to just skim. Thelearnedfoot is short on cardio endurance but long on passion. :^O<br />
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I didn’t sleep very well on Thursday night — I make it a goal to try and sleep well two nights before a race. But, that simply was not going to happen because bar exam results were to be released on Friday morning at 7AM. All day Thursday I was really nervous and my stomach kept angrily gurgling and burning. I think I slept about two hours off and on Thursday night. I signed online at 7:15 am and was promptly instant messaged by my law school best friend. We looked at the results together. Our names were both on THE list. I was really happy. It was so much better because my friend and I BOTH passed. The very best thing is how proud my parents are.<br />
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Anywho, I did manage to sleep ok on Friday night. I woke up around 7:30 and got dressed. It was really cold this morning. I debated what to wear. I settled on racing in my favorite blue and white nike running shorts and a longsleeve white Adidas half zip top. I also tossed my gloves and hat in my bag. I layered a pair of wind pants over top my shorts and put my jacket on, grabbed my bag, and headed out the door. After scraping a thick layer of frost off the car windshield, I was off.<br />
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My driving directions turned out to be pretty good and I arrived at the race with minimal hassle. I walked over to the pavillion and obtained my race number and shirt. The shirt was pretty cool: long-sleeve, black, with a big fat orange pumpkin on the front. I wasn’t happy with my race number: 66. Six happens to be my unlucky number so TWO 6s wasn’t good.<br />
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It was now about 8:30; the race was at nine. What to do for half an hour? Hmm. I ended up heading back to my car because it was so cold. I sat and listened to my ipod for a while, then took off my wind pants and jacket. I debated which shoes to wear. I have a pair of lightweight trainers (NB 901s in that “interesting” neon yellow/green) but I only have 15 miles on them. I decided to just stick with my trusty Wave Riders. I put on my gloves and hat and stepped out of the car. I did a few minutes of very easy running and stretched my hamstrings and calves. Then it was about five minutes before race time so I joined the group of runners lining up.<br />
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My goals for the race were to not injure myself (always important) and to set a PR (my prior best time was 29:25). Since my training pace has been around 9:30 for easy runs and 9:00 for hard runs, I felt I could run a time in the 27s. My ultimate goal is to run sub-25 for a 5K, but I knew I was far from that right now.<br />
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Like in my first 5K, I lined up near the back of the pack, though this time not at the very back behind the walkers. With no fanfare (all I saw was the people in front of me start running!) we were off. It was a beautiful day to run. It was a bit too cold for my liking — I think it was probably in the high 30s and I think I run best at about 50 degrees — but the sun was shining for the first time in almost two weeks and the trees looked really nice decked out in flashy red and glittering gold autumn garlands. I spent some time at the very beginning of the race dodging and weaving in and out from behind slower runners. But eventually I found stride. My only real complaint for the first mile is my legs were really cold and thus felt stiff. Still, I did the first mile in 8:57 — and at just a tad harder than conversational pace. Good. A few minutes later, I saw the lead runners coming back. I picked up my pace a bit and passed a rather friendly look fellow. I said to him, pointing towards the guys coming back, “I wish I was that fast!” and he laughed and agreed. More and more runners were coming back. After running a little longer, I too hit the turn-around point and started back. I passed the second mile in 17:32. My pace was now “comfortably hard.” My legs were awesome and felt fast (I’m an ex-100 meter track runner so I am very fast twitch), but my cardio endurance still hasn’t caught up to them.<br />
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I passed a few people for another half mile or so, but then I started fading a bit and I didn’t pass anyone else (then again no one passed me either). The legs weren’t the problem, as usual, it was running out of air. Obviously I need to keep working on my cardio endurance. Also, my stomach hurt a bit which is somewhat unusual. I made the final turn and approached the finish line. Last time I almost ran over the guy in front of me when he stopped suddenly at the line and I also had people hot on my heels. This time I finished all alone — there was no one really near me which surprised me given the size of the race (it was quite well attended). I’m actually disappointed there was no one directly up ahead because even though I was tired at the end, I would have tried to use my sprinter speed to outkick someone if they had been available! Official results haven’t been released yet, but I think my time was called out as 26:22, which is very respectable and a bit better than I hoped (though of course its still not my magical sub-25!). That’s a three-minute PR in one months time!!!<br />
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I do have to say the out and back course was interesting (my prior race was a loop). For awhile, it was depressing to see all the people coming back who were in front of me. Then again, it was kind of cool to see how many people were actually behind me on MY way back. My guess is I finished somewhere in the middle of the race.<br />
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I was fairly spent right after the race and needed a minute to recover, but I caught my breath quickly and I then jogged for about ten minutes to cool down. I then walked back over to the pavillion and picked up a bottle of water, banana, and a bagel. I ate my bagel and banana, drank some water, and then I left. I didn’t stay for the awards — I’m in the female 20-29 age group and I’m quite positive I didn’t come in the top three — but they had nice looking plaques.<br />
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On the way home, I stopped at Walgreens and picked up a package of M&Ms and a bottle of Coke. I felt good, but not elated. When I got home the mailman was just leaving my house. There was an official looking envelope from the Supreme Court of Ohio (my OFFICIAL bar results yay!!!) and a couple letters from my law school and other local bar associations welcoming me to the legal profession. I ate lunch (a peanut butter and jelly sandwich) but then my stomach had had enough. It cramped up and has been upset (just icky feeling, nothing major) since. I know I didn’t drink enough water the past two days and was a little dehydrated. It also must partly be due to the stress of the bar and the race. I’m hoping rehydrating will help. I also feel tired and maybe like I am getting a cold, so I’m going to eat some strawberries after dinner for the vitamin C.<br />
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Thanks for reading and I hope it was entertaining. :)<br />