Just not willing to put in the effort for a clever title.

            It’s been awhile, but I’m back on the blog! A quick mental break from revising my dissertation needed to be in the cards for the night, so here I am. I don’t even remember the last time I posted on here, so here’s a bit of a summary (I’m probably not going to take the time to proof read this, so sorry for the typos):

Because life has been a bit overwhelming, running has had to take a bit of a back seat. When I moved to Minneapolis this past summer, I was coming off of a 1:07:26 half marathon (easily the best race of my spring season) and my legs were finally showing signs of coming back from the sacral fracture from the previous fall and my fractured knee cap that I suffered in the spring season. Running was finally on the upswing, but transitioning from being a graduate student to taking a new job at 3M left me a little pressed for time. Did I mention that I also bought a house and am still revising my dissertation? Through this transition, running was going absolutely great and I am pretty sure I was the most fit that I’ve ever been. However, I wasn’t exactly taking care of myself and I neglected somewhat useful things such as sleeping, core work, stretching, massaging, etc. I started to get a “tight” hip right before my first race in Minnesota, the Lumberjack 10 miler. I entered the race and 3 miles in I knew something was definitely wrong with my hip. As it turns out, I finished the race and I had yet another sacral stress fracture. This was my second sacral stress fracture in a year which left me a bit bummed and erased my goal of hitting the Olympic Trials time standard for the marathon. My time that I ran at the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon was 1:50 slow (I ran 2:20:50 and needed to run 2:19). In an effort to not lose all of my fitness and get outside, I took up cycling and before I knew it, I went on 100 mile ride. Shortly there after, I ended up piling my bike and breaking my collar. I must say, I really did not understand just how much I use my dominant arm until I couldn’t use it. Even sleeping became difficult because moving at night would pleasantly awake me with a jolt of pain. Sleeping on my back also took a little getting used to. 7 weeks after suffering my sacral stress fracture and 17 days after breaking my collar bone, it was September 11^th, and I ran 4 miles. I had to stabilize my right arm, but I was at least able to get outside and get my heart rate up. Before long, I committed to running Club Nationals with the running group that I have been running with in Minneapolis, Run N Fun. At that point, I thought I could run sub 32 at Club Nationals on December 10^th. Training did not go well. I felt border-line injured after completing any workout and my body did not respond well to anything. I hopped in a couple xc races prior to club nationals and they did not go well.

October 22^nd, Jack’s Race – 6k – 20:04 (5:23 pace)

November 12^th, Minnesota State Champ – 7.5k – 25:14 (5:25 pace)

To put these to races in perspective, I averaged 5:22 per mile at the Twin Cities marathon with falling apart the last 5 miles. I wish I could say training went well between November 12^th and December 10^th, but it really did not. I ended up having to take 2 days off and everything really was a struggle. 10 mile runs were becoming easy, but any workout essentially left me crippled. I ran a 21.5 mile run (which was followed by one of my days off) and I did everything that I could to get ready to run an xc 10k in Seattle. The great thing about running team races is you have to race to help the team. In my mind, I thought I still might be able to break 32 minutes and finish somewhere around 100^th despite the fact that no workout or race had indicated that I should be able to. As race day approached, I had been having an issue with my left foot. Unfortunately, it flared up right before the warm up. Remembering the 10 mile race back in July, I was honestly considering not toeing the line. Honestly, walking in my trainers was not even feeling ok. I talked myself into at least putting on my spikes and running a few strides. As it turns out, the spikes that I had with me didn’t really allow my foot to move and it made the foot fairly tolerable. Before I knew it, the gun went off and the race had begun. I started a couple rows back from the start line which left me a lot further back than I would have liked to start. The foot was responding fairly well and at the mile mark, I believe we had a group of 4 former La Crosse runners all within 10 meters of each other (Bill W. Cory H., Jimmy P, and myself). At this point, I could tell that I was definitely well outside of the top 100 so I decided to try to move through the field. From the mile to the 5k, I passed quite a few runners and was moving toward the top 100 or so. Right before the 5k, I stepped in a hole caught myself, but my hamstring cramped up. Disbelief went through my mind as well as a million additional thoughts. My lack of fitness and core strength really began to shine. At this point in the race, I was a scoring runner for our team and I really had no idea how well the other guys were running. I backed off for about 100 meters and my hamstring fell back into place and I was able to resume racing. I think I came through 5k in about 15:58. The second half of the race was somewhat uneventful. I held my position within the field for the most part. Maybe I passed a few more runners and was also passed by a couple. I honestly thought I was fading pretty badly, but I ended up crossing the line in 32:10, 109^th place (5:11 pace). While this isn’t even close to my PR, I was very happy with the performance since I had only been “running” for 3 months and I really struggled through training. The trip to Seattle was a lot of fun and a much needed mental break.

            In the aftermath of the race, my legs were extremely beat up and my foot was extremely sore. While the foot injury could be the beginnings of a stress fracture, I’m somewhat optimistic that it’s not yet. In the 6 days after club nationals, I have now run twice. I wasn’t planning on taking any days off originally, but my body definitely needed it. I’m hoping to get back to running every day and building a solid aerobic base from here on out. Until my thesis is completed, I’m somewhat restricted by the time that I can spend training and doing my normal recovery exercises. For the time being I’m just going to focus on being consistent, getting out the door, and enjoying being outside. While the last year of running has not been kind to me, I’m definitely not ready to give up competitive running, and I am focusing on getting better over the next 4 years. For me, that starts with getting healthy.

            It was extremely weird to not being racing at Club Nationals in a Playmakers uniform, but I am very fortunate to have another great shoe store/running club in Minneapolis in Run N Fun. I really have been lucky to land in areas with great running communities. I honestly don’t think I really would have gotten back into competitive running had it not been for Playmakers. I definitely will always be grateful to the store and people affiliated with it. It was great seeing some of the Playmakers guys out in Seattle, and I’m looking forward to my first trip back to Michigan (TBD). My plans for the spring racing season are completely up in the air, but I’ll post as things become a little clearer.