Running In Place

subtitle: I guess it’s all relative…

This weekend Jennifer was digging into a tough 25K trail race, Annalisa and Dianna were rocking a tri, Jack was cruising through his 20 mile long run, Marshall was getting up at 1 freakin’ 45 AM to do 22 trail miles. I was running a pretty 5 mile race on a lovely day and bitching the whole way!

This run was on Molly’s turf but she hadn’t been sure if she was going to do it due to some ongoing calf discomfort. As it turned out, she was able to make it and we met up at the registration area. Visions of our victorious Boilermaker finish were floating through my head and I was all 5 miles - feh. I laugh in your general direction you silly 5 miles!

Molly had sent me a mile by mile course breakdown, and I was somewhat familiar with the area, so I knew we would be running a few hills. The registration form had indicated a “fast, rolling course” but those Madison County folks live amongst the hills and their definition of rolling is evidently different than mine.

We started out in town, through the village green area - where a festival with music, farmers market, and artisans was set up - and out towards the lake. The first mile was pretty well flat and Molly and I ran along together, planning not to go out too fast as we knew it wouldn’t be so flat down the road. My left hip/groin immediately began to feel tight despite the fact that I had been doing the PT assigned stretches religiously. I also began breathing hard and just feeling like I was putting in a tremendous effort right away, which was a little discouraging.

The second mile was where the rolling started, and though I’ll not remember every hill we went up and down, suffice to say that the rest of the run was mostly some degree of up or down. Honestly, not big hills - they just felt like it. I couldn’t seem to quit huffing and puffing and was dismayed that I really wasn’t able to recover my breathing much on the downhills. I think this is also the mile where an F-bomb got hurled at us by an irate driver. If I had any complaint about this race it would be that they didn’t close any roads, though in fairness, some were main thoroughfares that would be difficult to close and others were side roads that didn’t generally have alot of traffic. Unfortunately, quite a few cars didn’t see fit to slow down for us and some came uncomfortably close!

Miles 3 and 4 were more ups and downs and where I did most of my whining in earnest. Wah wah wah. Molly, who I had surprisingly kept up with to this point, patiently indulged my complaints until mile 5 when she beat feet and pulled away. I trudged the last mile, which was mostly flat except for one small incline, and clopped across the finish. There’s no kick here. Afterwards I visited with Molly for a few minutes (she was all like yeah, that was nice nonchalant) and walked around the festival till I found some homemade zucchini bread to renew my spirit.

Subjectively, the race felt terrible. Time wise, it really wasn’t terrible. All told - 54:20 with an average pace of 10:52 - not my best 5 miles and not my worst. The good news is that, after the first mile or so, the tightness in my left leg went away and - better still, I had no discomfort after the run or the next day. It seems as though the stretching is helping.

So that’s it. No worse for the wear. Next weekend I’ll head up north for a 10K and hope that my body and soul are a little more spry.

Oh, and Jennifer might be playing coy but I’ll happily blab. She and Molly and I will be meeting for an evening cross country run on Thursday while she’s visiting family in NY State. So stay tuned for pictures of Jenn and Molly perkily jogging along and Lara bringing up the rear, waving a white flag.

P.S. Ok Jon, Jennifer’s coming allllll the way from Texas, no more excuses for you .