The light is ready to turn green!

This internship is taking a lot out of me. I did 50 and a half hours for it this week, which explains why I haven't posted since Monday...though I have the whole next week off.

Good news on this side of the computer though! My leg had generally been feeling better as of late and I knew I could get back to running soon because this weekend will mark 4 full weeks without running. Wednesday I did 4 miles on the elliptical in the morning as usual and really didn't expect too much movement at camp during the day. That is, until we needed extra tennis courts and the coach sent a group of kids to play at the courts behind Fee Hall. The campers had to jog to the courts (sucks for them!) which were about a mile away (sucks for them!), and they had to take a detour because the straightest route was blocked by construction (sucks for them!)...and Coach told me to run behind them to make sure the slow runners didn't get lost (oh shit...). I'm the kind of guy who doesn't easily make excuses and say no, so I did it. Little did I know, or expect for that matter, it felt pretty good! And the best part is that nothing hurt afterwards either! To say that all made my day a good one is an understatement.

On Thursday, there were a few kids who needed ice from the training room, so when that crisis came up, I decided to jog there just to see if I could get the same results as the previous day....and that worked too! My ant-tibs were sore from Wednesday, which usually happens when I take a little layoff from running, but I took the pain as a compliment because it meant that I'm finally on my way back to what I love doing. It's weird how that works sometimes.

Today was a semi-rest day....no exercise, but I was busy all day with different things. Tomorrow is the big day though! It will be 4 weeks to the day since I last officially ran, so I'm gonna try a 3 mile run, and stretch it into 4 if everything feels good. You can bet I can hardly contain my excitment... :)

Does anyone else ever think about all the stuff you wanna write about in their blog, but then forget about it when you're actually writing it? That's a problem I'm trying to solve...

I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa...

If there's one thing I've discovered, it's that I've been MEGA busy as of late, so it's been tough to find time to type a post.

Me and my buddy Greg ended up biking 21 miles on Saturday. It was nice because we don't see each other too much anymore. He just graduated from Western Michigan and is about to head down to Florida to start his new career. We went on a pretty good pace for the whole ride with a couple of stops in the middle, and it was a good course with plenty of nice but not too steep hills. On the last mile, we both agreed to do one final sprint, so we both biked as fast as we could and that really helped. We were so dead at the end, it made us wonder how the heck some people have enough energy left to finish Ironman triathlons! I mean, we know it's all about the training but still....that's a lot of work. Oh and Greg told me he reads this, so I gotta give a shoutout to him.

Sunday I took a day off, but my calf was feeling much better. Today (Week 4, day 2 without running) I did an early workout before the tennis camp by doing the usual 4 miles on the elliptical. No news is good news - I was able to pedal forward and backward without any pain. Everything seems to be feeling so much better, but I still can sense something there. Mostly I think that I'm making it do that because I tend to think about it a lot during the day. I've gotta stop overthinking.

If there's one thing to be really happy about, it was my day at camp today :) Part of my internship with the camp is to work on general fitness and get the campers in better playing shape. So what we did today was some jump roping, then the game where there's 5 cones and they gotta put one ball at a time on each cone, and then some general shuffling and hopping skills. We also made one of the groups do suicide sprints because they weren't listening to directions at all. If you don't know what that is, it's where you sprint to a line, then sprint back, then sprint to a line a little farther away, sprint back, sprint to a line still farther away, sprint back, and so on. We made the kids go 5 lines today, but we did in a competitive way. One of the "teams" had one less person than the others, so I jumped in as the extra person. I was a bit worried of what might happen with my calf...but to be perfectly honest, it felt a lot better after I was done. How does that work?!? Then we did a little partner drill with the jump rope and one person didn't have a partner, so I went with them. Jump roping felt just fine too! So I really think I'm about to come back to running. Hell yes!

I've also mentioned in previous posts that I spend time working with a kid with Down Syndrome for a summer class I'm taking. Well, tonight I was to do my last hour and half with him. When I got there, the parents asked if I was hungry, I said yes since I hadn't had dinner yet, and they said they'd take me out as a token of their appreciation of working with their child. Next sentence - "You like PF Changs?" If there's anything that could cap off a good day, it was that :) So we spent our last hour and half by eating gooooood food. When they brought all the meals out though, the dish they gave to Jason (the kid with DS) had chicken and not shrimp. Jason HATES chicken. So, on account of their mistake, they told us to just keep the dish and they wouldn't charge us for it, and they'd bring Jason the correct dish. And if you've been to PF Changs, you know that their portions are large and in charge. Well, I finished all of mine....I can be a beast at the dinner table. But there was still a ton of food left on the table, so we boxed it up. Jason's parents said that they'd probably end up throwing it out, so they gave it to me so that me and my roomates can eat it. All in all, we have a bunch of food from PF Changs in our fridge...which is nice :)

One more note - congrats to Oregon State on winning the baseball national championship tonight, but the intriguing story is of the coach's son. He's been brain damaged since birth, but LOVES his sports. Check it out here. My brother is autistic, so that's why I find this to be extra special.

Mass chaos

To be completely honest, I really haven't had any free time since Monday night, so this is the first chance I have had to create a post. This internship I'm doing with the tennis camp is really keeping me busy!

So we're on week 3, day 6 without running. That jog with the dog didn't count because it was just a jog for a maybe a quarter mile, if that. First things first though, I had a flare up in my leg on Tuesday. It was enough to get me frustrated and also make sure I'm still really being careful with this. So I tried to sit down as much as I could when I got the opportunity on Tuesday, and then did the icing/warm compress routine when I got home. On Wednesday it was raining, which was good for me because obviously we didn't have to be outside helping the kids play tennis. Problem was, we had to squeegee (sp?) the courts....and let me tell you, that is probably one of the most boring jobs ever. We've got a lot of courts out there too, I think there's like 20. But really, that's all I was ever on my feet during the course of the day. We also started a mock singles tournament during the afternoon after the rain stopped, and all we had to do was sit and watch them while giving tips and help when they needed it. So that was great. Wednesday night we took the kids to play frisbee and soccer on the indoor field in the football building. The field they have there is that new turf stuff where it's ground up tire rubber...that seemed to be very kind to my leg, because I did a bit of jogging to catch up to the frisbees and nothing really bothered me.

Thursday and today were pretty much the same deal as Wednesday, but this time we put together a Davis Cup style doubles tournament. To make a long story short, I didn't have to do much on either day, so I often got to sit and watch some good tennis until something came up that I had to attend to. One of those things that I had to attend to was taking kids to the training room in the football building if they got hurt. The good part about this is that I was able to ask a trainer about what I should do with my leg. I told him what the doctor said, and he pretty much said the same thing of icing/heating as well as stretching. He gave me a couple stretches that I've already been doing, but he also gave me a couple of new ones that made sense, but I just never thought of them. So during the past couple days when I was resting and watching tennis, I made good use of the time and did some of those stretches/exercises. Low and behold, they really did wonders for me because I'm feeling tons better....I'd say I'm back to where I was last weekend.

Yesterday (Thursday) I got up early and did 4 miles on the elliptical before the internship, and today we got out at 12:30pm, so I did an afternoon workout of 3 miles on the elliptical and then lifted weights. I mixed in some forward pedaling and some backward pedaling on both days, and none of that bothered my calf, which is still a very good sign. Tomorrow I'm planning on going biking with my buddy Greg out in Williamston, which has some open roads about 25 minutes east of here. We agreed on 15-20 miles, but we'll see how we both feel tomorrow. Even though I REALLY wanna get back out there and run, I feel like this is sort of a blessing in disguise because I feel like I'm cross training more than ever and it's maintaining my fitness level better than I thought it would.

Tennis, anyone?

Tonight I've gotta recap three days of total craziness, so bear with me...

Saturday: I did 4 hard miles on the elliptical and then did a bunch of mostly leg exercises in the pool, so basically I kicked my ass in the form of cross training. But oh was it a great workout :) It was cool because I got one of my out-of-shape roomates to come with me, so that gave me a sense of self satisfaction....or whatever they call it. The workout also felt great because NOTHING HURT! Usually when I'm on the elliptical, I pedal forward for a few minutes, then pedal backward for a few minutes, and then repeat the cycle as needed. That way I can work all the good muscles in the legs. Problem is, I haven't pedaled backward at all recently because it made my calf hurt, so you can imagine how happy it made me when I didn't feel pain this time around!

Sunday: I don't think I've mentioned this at all but today I started my internship with the Nike Tennis Camp here on campus. Basically they have me doing all the dirty work of getting things organized, setting things up, helping transfer kids to places, etc. Today wasn't bad at all, as I was mostly sitting down and greeting kids, and then making copies of stuff. Then at night, I had to go dog-sit my sister's basset hound while she, her husband, and her kid are in Chicago for a couple days. This dog isn't exactly skinny...so when I got there, the first thing I did was take the mutt for a walk. And I stress the word walk. Little did I know, this pooch packed a punch! He started out running as fast as he could, which made me jog, and I figured his girth would give in and make him slow down soon...but this dog kept going! It was almost as if the poor thing was challenging me. Well, seeing as though it's been 15 days since I last ran, I decided to chance it and see what happens. Turns out, nothing hurt at all and everything felt as good as new. Good stuff :)

And now, we go to today. And what a day it was. I had to do the internship today from 8:30am til 5:30pm and then work with my kid with Down Syndrome at 7pm, so I decided to an early workout this morning at 6:15am. Seeing as though it would be my first full day of the internship and I wasn't quite sure what they'd have me doing, I decided to do 3 more miles on the elliptical even though I REALLY wanted to go running. Turns out it was a great choice, because I was on my feet and outside for the whole day today, aside from the hour and half for lunch. My leg feels ok, but I really think the muscles are just tired from standing so long. From what I hear, tomorrow won't be so bad...but we'll see what it brings. I'm gonna try running Wednesday, probably in the morning, but I'll decide that based on how I feel when I wake up.

So that's the craziness in a nutshell. Cheers!

Is it Christmas yet?

Soooooo....I saw the doc yesterday morning. Problem was I didn't feel any pain, so I had to convince myself that this appointment was worth the time. When I got there and I was sitting on the table waiting for the doc to come in, I felt a dull pain, but it was almost like it was just there because I was thinking about it. Like I willed the leg to hurt....that just sounds weird. Anyway, I was very honest with the doc and told him about everything that has happened and where I get pain, so he did a couple of stretches on my lower leg to figure out which muscles/bones were possibly involved. Fibula? No. Peroneals? No....there went my best guess. Calf? Yes. He said that I have a tightness where the soleus and gastrocnemius meet up with their respective tendons....or, tightness in the musculotendon junction. He said it's just something that comes up every now and then in runners for some reason. I told him I haven't run in almost 2 weeks, but that I have been biking/swimming/elliptical-ing to maintain fitness and stretching/icing/generally taking care of my lower leg, so he said that if I were a regular run-of-the mill runner he'd recommend staying away from running for 4 weeks. But since I'm feeling better, he said it's a judgement call for me and he trusts me to make the right decision. He finished the appointment by diagnosing me with "leg tendonitis" and telling me to see how it feels in the next week. If it feels bad, then he said to make another appointment and he'll refer me to a good physical therapist.

So how is it now? Great. I really feel a LOT better. It's funny because I was reading the latest post in Eric's blog ("The Pool Update") and he seems to be feeling the same thing that I am. A week and a half ago, I had some difficulty walking with pain, and going down stairs were the worst. But now, walking is just fine and stairs seem like the easiest thing in the world.

Today I was gonna go on an elliptical at the rec center but as I was biking there, I was like "Ehhhh let's bike a little bit before hand."....because the rec center is only like a third of a mile from where I live. So I ended up biking 11 miles and scrapped the elliptical workout. The leg did get a sort of burning sensation at the beginning but then it quickly went away and felt good for the whole ride. While I was biking, I was catching up on my episodes of Phedippidations podcasts, and I listened to episode 46 - "Running Legend: Terry Fox". If any of you want to hear an inspiring story or just need something good to listen to during your next long workout, check out that episode. It's on iTunes, or check out the web page.

For this class I'm taking this summer, I have to work with a 13 year old kid with Down Syndrome and teach him various sports skills. He really gets into it, so it's fun working with him. Anyway, as I left my house and was halfway down the street to go there, I realized I left my wallet in my other shorts. So I drove back and without thinking, ran from the car to the front door because I was already late. When I went in the house, I stopped and realized that I didn't feel any pain! So that was a really really good sign. Then while I'm working with my kid, there are times when he throws a ball really far and/or completely in the wrong direction, so I have to go get it. At one point, I sort of jogged to get it, and again felt nothing. I didn't wanna chance it, but it still made me feel good. I felt like that kid at Christmas time who knows what he's gonna get for presents but still makes an effort to try to get a sneak peak in and see if that's really what it is. So the kid has to exhibit a bunch of self-control and wait patiently for that day. Oh how happy I'll be when that day comes...

One thing that made me happy today was my chance to finally cook for the first time in a while. I've been so busy lately that I've only had time for regular old pasta or sandwiches or something like that. But tonight I made caribbean polite chicken....because it barely has any cayenne pepper in it. The first time I made it for me and my roomates, our mouths were on fire for forever. So yea....twas a good meal :) I swear, any girl can win me over by just giving me food. Or by giving me a back rub.

Hit or miss

Week 2, day 4 without running. Well...real running. Today I went swimming because it was really nice out, and I figured I should give myself a good cardiovascular workout since I haven't really had any of those lately, and I did some aqua running for the first time ever. My friend Katie lifeguards at the pool here on campus and she's done it a few times, so she was showing me what to do. It looks simple, but it really is pretty tough. Especially if you're like me and don't really ever swim.

About the injury...I really don't know anymore. It was fine up through my last post, then I woke up the next day (Tuesday morning) and it seemed to have flared up again. Nothing big, it was just....there. So I definitely decided to take Zeke's advice and schedule a doctor appointment for tomorrow morning. The problem with that is now it's a lot better again. It was sort of like magic, like how some injuries just go away for no apparent reason. It went away Tuesday night and I felt good all day today, but I'm still gonna let the doc know what's been going on. It's better to err on the side of safety on this one, especially with marathon training coming up. And really...if it's still nothing, a co-pay is the worst thing that comes out of this appointment.

Just in case though, I iced my lower leg a bit today, and at one point I was icing my ankle while I was laying on the couch and watching the soccer game between Germany and Poland. Problem is, I fell asleep....and 45 minutes later I woke up and realized I still had ice on my ankle! Haha, only I would do something like that :) Good part was my ankle/foot weren't too numb, but it sure woke me up for good. And what a game that was! I couldn't believe those last few minutes....it may have been a 1-0 game but it sure had a bunch of excitement at the end.

On a random note, my buddy Aleks started the dodgeball club here at MSU (there's a few others at other campuses too), and he's sending a little highlight video to everyone he knows so that maybe other schools will maybe see it and start a club of their own....thus expanding the level of competition. Check it out...

Maybe it's all that I needed

First things first, credit needs to be given where credit is due....many thanks to Susan for helping me with the new header! Check out her blog if you haven't yet, she's always got something good to say.

Week 2, day 2 without running. And again I did 4 miles on the elliptical while watching the Czech Republic toy with the US team in the World Cup. Did we even show up? Anyway...things still feel better. Maybe every once in a while during the day I'll get some dull pain down in my lower leg, but it is TONS better than it was last week. Even so, to make a reference to baseball, I put myself on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 3, so that means I'm not even gonna try running until at least the 18th, which is Sunday. Zeke posted a response to my last post saying that I really should go see the doctor, but a good majority of me is thinking that now I'm not going to because I feel so much better. I really think it's the heat and compression that I've added in recent days that has done the trick. I was also on my feet for 5+ hours straight each of the last two days and nothing bad came out of that. I may still call the doc just in case...I wanna see how I feel tomorrow.

Tonight I saw a girl wearing a hooded sweatshirt that said "Columbia Roadrunners" on it. Seeing it as a chance to make small talk with someone, I asked her if that was referring to running and yea, she runs cross country at Columbia. So I had a very small conversation with her about marathons (very small because she was with her dad), and when I mentioned I'm doing Detroit this fall as my first one, her dad was like "ohhhh you probably shouldn't do that..." Hahaha, just what I don't wanna hear :) But the girl said she ran it and it was fine. Being Michigan and the end of October, she said the weather plays a vital role in how well you run.

I swear there was something else I wanted to write about, but I can't remember...I feel like I've got so many things on my mind right now. I need to find an internship for this fall semester. I need to figure out what I'm doing after I graduate. I need to complete my applications for med school. Argh...

On second thought...

Week 1, day 7 without running. I went 4 more miles on the elliptical today while I was watching the World Cup, and I started thinking about what I posted yesterday. I mentioned something about how my ankle excessively pronates when my foot strikes the ground and how it makes the peroneus longus muscle work harder to keep the ankle joint stable...well, what if this isn't a stress fracture on my fibula and it's actually something wrong with my peroneal muscles? I've been icing this injury to no end but I haven't been treating it with any heat. So while I was in the shower after the workout, I took a minute to massage the area under the hot water and it actually felt great after the shower. So twice more today I iced the area and then massaged it with a warm washcloth - it really seems to be helping. I guess it also helped that I wasn't on my feet much at all today.

Depending on how this injury heals, I'm thinking of crossing the two 5Ks in July off of my list and just concentrating on the Run Thru Hell 10 miler in August. I'm also still planning on starting marathon training on July 10 as of right now, so that will give me a good 5 weeks to get back in the swing of things. Just thinking about that puts me in a good mood...I guess it's part of that first marathon excitement :)

Speaking of the World Cup...when players get slide tackled and hit the ground, why do they ALWAYS have to lay on the ground and writhe in pain? Not 10 seconds later, it seems like they're always back on their feet and running around as if nothing happened.

Anyway...we'll see how my leg feels after tomorrow and then I'll make a definite executive decision on calling the doc.

Coming to terms

As frustrating as it is....I was doing some research last night on my pain and I feel I've come to the conclusion that I have a stress fracture on my right fibula. I've also decided that I'm gonna try to get in and get it checked out on Monday. Really the only bad part about all of this is that every source was consistent in saying that these things take 4-6 weeks to fully heal, and RICE is really the only way to go. One source also did a study on various stress fractures of the lower leg, and found that 7% of people with stress fractures of the fibula recover in 2-4 weeks, 75% recover in 4-8 weeks, and the rest take longer....so I'm really really hoping I can be part of the statistical 7%. Everything made sense, too, as I was looking at the causes of the stress fracture. For one, excessive pronation of the ankle upon foot impact leads to it, and I tend to do that. It leads to the injury because the peroneus longus muscle that runs along the lateral side of the leg is working harder to keep everything stable. Number two, the big one, it is often caused by an abrupt change in weekly mileage. BINGO! Check this out: My weekly mileage counts for 2006 were 13, 15.5, 19.5, 19.5, 17, 17, 19.5, 21, 21.5, 23, 18, 21.5....and then the week of March 27 - April 2, I did 31 miles. I broke a cardinal rule of running by increasing mileage way more than 10% of my previous week. I noticed it right then, too, when I was adding my miles for the week and all I could do was hope that nothing would happen. Sure enough...I have written down on April 5 that my calf area was tight. It went away in the next week but came back in the beginning of May, and I wrote so much about all of that in my first posts as a blogger.

So here I am. Week 1, day 6 without running. I've been icing it and everything like a madman and it actually feels better than it did last weekend. I've been trying to stay off of it as much as possible too. Today I just HAD to do something though, so I hopped on the elliptical at the rec center and did 4 miles. Watching Germany/Costa Rica in the World Cup took my mind off of everything, so that was a welcome surprise. Then when I came back home, my roomate said he and couple friends were going to the lake near here, so I went with them because I've been in a rut lately and needed to go have some fun. We played frisbee and I didn't make much effort to catch most of them, but I noticed that I had some pain when I tried to even jog a couple steps. I was barefoot on grass too, so I don't know how much difference that makes either.

I also bought some pre-wrap and training tape too because I figure that's a good way of providing compression. I took a couple classes on athletic training during my freshman year so I know a little bit about taping. So last night was my first night of trying it out, I wore it while I was sleeping and it actually felt good in the morning, so I'm gonna try it again tonight and see what happens.

Tonight I saw the Da Vinci Code movie with a couple of roomates, even though I think I'm the only one in this world who hasn't read the book yet. I know it has gotten a lot of bad reviews, but I actually liked it. It was a bit hard to follow, but I like movies that make you think. It was interesting with the kind of logic they used...like how they got to certain conclusions and stuff like that. Then after the movie, my roomates were talking about how it sucked because it was so different from the book. Guess I wouldn't know!

And on a final random note...I'm sure some of you use frozen peas when you're icing something that hurts. Do you guys end up actually cooking and eating the peas? There just seems to be something weird about it...

It's not confidential, I've got potential

So the whole blogging website is down right now, so I'm typing this up on Word so I can get my ideas out while they're still here. First things first - the calf feels ok. Not good, not bad. Though I think it's getting better, which is really a good sign. I've pretty much been studying all day for this exam I have tomorrow (I'm taking a summer class) so I haven't been on my feet too much. I was thinking of maybe going swimming today but it's been raining on and off, and then I thought about going on the exercise bike at the rec center....but ehhhh I really need to study. It's one of those things where the test is tomorrow and I didn't start studying til yesterday....oops! Oh well, I'm more than used to it by now.

Tomorrow's gonna be an off day as well, though I am going to lift weights in the morning. I may do some leg extensions/curls if all feels well, just so my quads and hammies aren't atrophying too much. Is that even a word? Atrophying....the process of atrophy....hmm.

That race from Friday night also got me thinking....if I ran 17:21 in 70 degrees with no speedwork or long runs in the previous 4 weeks, can you imagine how I would have performed if it was cooler and I was on my regular training schedule and not hurt? I recognize the potential in me, I've seen it ever since I first ran cross country in high school. It may have been a lofty goal from the start, but at the beginning of this year I set the bar at a sub 17 minute 5K, and now it doesn't seem too far fetched. Taking 21 seconds off of my last race or 18 off of my PR isn't that much time. It's all just a matter of me staying focused and running strong.

Oh and I think I'm a firm believer of pain being in your head. I mean, it only hurts if you think it's going to hurt. I've noticed this with my injuries...it just kind of nags you but then eventually it seems to go away because you're focusing your attention on something else. I don't know, maybe that was kind of vague. But relating this to my calf injury now, I was sitting in class yesterday and was focused on what we were learning and nothing hurt. Then I shifted attention to the calf, and I felt a dull pain...and I wasn't hearing one word of what the prof was saying. So I made a new "game", so to speak. Whenever I think about my calf hurting, I'll choose something in my field of vision and name 5 characteristics about it. So yesterday I chose the overhead projector - made by 3M, can project things onto a screen, is sitting on a table....and it may seem easy but I've found that the 4th and 5th characteristics are difficult enough to think of that you totally focus your attention on that and not on whatever hurts. It works for me, at least.

The lecture notes in class also had a quote in it, which I really liked....

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." --Benjamin Franklin

It's one of those quotes that I think every runner can relate to in one way or another. Now if only we all knew how to prevent every injury from occuring...

Race pictures!

From Friday night...the first one is me and my buddy BJ (no shirt) and a couple of other guys looking like badasses, the second one is the start of the race, and the last one is me and my new SHORT shorts near the finish.

No, really....you've gotta be kidding me

By refraining from starting out with a few swear words, let me just say that I've got bad news....I'm hurt again. It's frustrating in two ways:

1. I was almost all the way better and was doing everything to get better and prevent this from coming back, and
2. I told myself not to force it, and I did.

So yea. I did a short 3 mile recovery run on Saturday and everything felt OK. I mean, it was nothing out of the ordinary, really. I came home and was adamant about icing it and everything. Saturday night I had to work and I was on my feet for most of that time and nothing felt bad. Afterwards we went out to get pizza, and when we were done, I got up and BOOM. Sharp pain in my calf! "Fuck this." That's all I could think. So it hurt all that night and most of Sunday. Today it's ok...but I decided that I'm gonna take this whole week off so I can figure out what's going on with this. I'm still definitely gonna lift and ride a bike, just so I can stay active without putting too much stress on my lower leg.

One thing about me is that 'quit' is not in my vocabulary. I've always been a small guy and I always like to prove my worth, in a sense. So it's surprising that I almost broke down and told my parents that I wanted to see the family doctor about this. I know I still probably should...but I'll see how it feels after a week. I was reading on Zeke's blog recently that sometimes a runner just has to stop running in order to heal. But it's so hard! It's the last thing that you, me, or any other runner wants to do. Sigh....

If I had felt good today, I was planning on doing a semi-long run, probably 7 miles, just so I could get back on track with my training plan. I ended up running 19.5 miles last week, which is right on average for what I've been doing this year.

Are you kidding me?!

Tonight was race night! The only bad thing about having a race so late (7:30pm) is that you sit around all day and try not to think about it and get nervous....at least that's what I do. I'd much rather have it at the buttcrack of dawn and get it over with. It's kind of like final exams here, some of them are at 7:45am and while most people complain about it, I like it because you just wake up and do what you have to do. Anyway it was nice and sunny today and in the mid-70's...not particularly great race weather because I like it to be a little cooler. Around mid-afternoon I checked out the weather report and noticed a big area of rain coming toward us. Great! Though I'm not a fan of running in the rain, I did run my PR in it...so I guess I wasn't too worried about that. I mean, everybody else has to run in it too. There ended up being only a brief shower that passed through but it was nice because it clouded things up and made it a little cooler.

While warming up for the race, my calf did feel a little bit tender so I was telling myself that I didn't want to force anything during the race. Kind of like this....

Mind: OK, we're not totally back at full strength, so we're just gonna run a nice, smooth race.
Body: Yea yea, OK, whatever...

Then I got to unveil my new short shorts. I felt like I was naked! Haha, I'll post a pic of the race as soon I can get my hands on one. Anyway, the gun sounded and we were off. As mentioned in previous posts, I've been injured for most of the past month and have only recently gotten back to real running, and before tonight I hadn't done any speedwork since my last 5K on May 5. I wasn't expecting anything exciting tonight and really only thought I'd be lucky to break 18:00. So I wanted to run around a 5:40 first mile, but I passed the first mile marker in 5:21.

Mind: Dude, what are you doing? I wanted you to start out a bit slower than usual!
Body: Don't worry, just let me do my own thing here.

So in order to run even splits, I kept up my "blistering" pace and ended up passing the 2 mile marker in 11:00 flat. WTF! When I ran my PR back in April, my two mile time was 11:04.

Mind: Are you out of your mind?!? Haven't you listened to anything I've said?
Body: We're fine! Stop your bitching! Just calm down on this last mile.

So now I thought I really had a chance of setting a new PR. The only problem was...I was in no-man's land. There were 3 guys about 20 seconds in front of me, and I couldn't really hear any footsteps behind me. So it was tough to push it on the last mile because I wasn't really gaining on the 3 guys and nobody was pressuring me from behind. All of a sudden, with about a half mile to go, I did hear footsteps and eventually this old guy (he was 41) passed me with a HUGE kick, I couldn't believe it! So I tried to keep up with him, and with about 150 meters to go, I noticed the clock strike 17:00. All I had to do was sprint hard....but see, this is where no speed work in the last month came into play. I had absolutely nothing left, and I finished three seconds slower than my PR, in 17:21. But still, 3rd in my age group, 8th overall, and my second best 5K time ever put a smile on my face. Plus my calf felt great during the run and didn't bother me at all afterwards. I celebrated by coming home and taking an ice bath and watching the Pistons get annihilated by the Heat :-\ Oh well....at least there's still the Tigers, riiiiiiiight?

Mad props go out to my buddy BJ too. He's fast, but recently had bronchitis. He usually runs in the 16's but he told me he was probably gonna finish around 17:30. Yea, well 3.1 miles later, he finished second in 16:27, only two seconds behind the winner. He's my motivation, someday I'm gonna beat him...

And in continuation of the story from last post, I never saw the girl that I met at that party. I was joking to my racing buddies that I probably scared her away, but when they posted the results, I noticed she finished 2nd in her age group. At least I thought it was her. So I paid attention during the awards ceremony to see if she went up for her award, but she was a no-show. Oh well. I went back to my car thinking about how I ran, and I noticed I had a voicemail on my phone. It was her! She said she busted out early so she could watch the Pistons game, but wanted to know how I did. And that was her that finished 2nd in the age group. So yea, there's a happy ending after all. With the way my luck goes with girls, I bet nothing will come of this....but you never know.