Moving on

Well.....cutting right to the chase, I didn't run the half marathon this past weekend.

There it is, I said it. It took a lot of convincing on my behalf, but I slowly came to terms that I wasn't gonna be able to run without potentially hurting myself even more. A couple of the guys I work with that are competitive like me were telling me to man up, but it was a girl I work with who reminded me what happened with the Detroit Marathon last October - I ran thru the knee injury and ended up missing the next seven months. So really the cons outweighed the pros in this situation.

The weekend was exciting if nothing else, though. This is the first year of the race being a half marathon (it used to be a 10 mile race) and it is also the first year that they extended the festivities into a whole weekend. It was dubbed the Healthy and Fit weekend, and the kids races and expo were held on Saturday. The keynote speaker for all of this was Dick Beardsley, whom all runners should know as the guy who finished 2nd by two seconds to Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon, also known as the Duel In The Sun. Both runners set world records (Dick at 2:08:53 and Alberto at 2:08:51), but Alberto's time was the one that mattered. Dick was scheduled to speak Saturday night at the expo already, but he was nice enough to make an appearance at Playmakers on Friday night to sign books and also give a talk. His story is very interesting....he talked about his story when growing up and how he became a runner, then talked about the Boston Marathon, and went on to the cruelest parts of his life. A few years after the marathon he was in a terrible farm accident where he almost lost his leg, and a few years after that he got addicted to painkillers and even got arrested for forging prescriptions. His story about recovering from all of that was remarkable, and he definitely had a good message for the crowd. After hearing it, I bought his book and made sure to get it signed, because this opportunity may never come again.

What's really remarkable as well is that he still runs 70-90 miles per week and still has the ability to run a half marathon under 1:20. Speaking of half marathon though, it was definitely a great atmosphere on Sunday morning. It was partly cloudy, not too hot, not too cold....almost perfect. The race started at 9 but I got out there at 5:30am to help setup since I knew I wasn't gonna run. Eventually I drove with Steve (where's your blog, Steve???) to set up mile marker flags and at one point we had to jog a half mile to one point because it was on a trail away from roads. I knew right then and there that I had made the right decision of not running, so I felt a little better then.

There are three guys I work with who we've all been talking trash to, and rightfully so because we all possess similar speed and ability. One didn't run due to exhaustion from triathlons, and the other two finished in 1:25:19 and 1:26:20. My plan was to go somewhere between 1:20 and 1:25 so they were lucky I didn't run, haha. The cool part was seeing the winner of the male grandmaster division - Mr. Dick Beardsley himself, finishing 20th overall with a time of 1:21:04. Later I was thinking it would have been cool to say I ran in a race with him, but it would have been crazier to say (if I had actually done it) that I beat him in a race. But oh well, it was just a thought. Wouldn't that be weird though? Who am I kidding, it probably wouldn't have happened, haha. So that's that, and wouldn't you know....my leg/butt felt much better on Monday morning. But I'm moving on, and I'm trying not to dwell on it. I know I was looking forward to it, but there's nothing I can do about it now. As far as the leg goes though, I tried running today and it's MUCH better, but still giving me a tiny bit of pain. So that's good news, right?

And of course I gotta give my MSU football update before I finish. It was definitely an exciting back and forth game. It was expected to be a low scoring affair but apparently neither defense got that memo. MSU ended up losing 37-34 to the then-#9 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, but there were so many plays and coaching decisions on both sides that could have completely changed the complexion of the game. At any rate, it's a loss....the first of the season for MSU but from what I've read in the papers, they're keeping their heads up high. They went into a hostile environment and almost came back from a late 10 point deficit, so there's not much to be sad about. We'll just see how they respond this Saturday at home against Northwestern.

I'm ending with three quotes....the first relates to my constant injuries, the second has to do with the MSU game, and the third is just downright entertaining.

"It almost gets to the point where it's laughable. I take it for what it is. I'll be back." -Carolina Panthers linebacker Dan Morgan, on recently partially tearing his Achille's tendon and the fact that he has already missed 41 of 100 games in his career due to various injuries.

"There were about 20 instances where if you make a couple plays, you win the game." -MSU head coach Mark Dantonio, about this past weekend's game.

"They had to sedate me. So the doctor said 'take a week off.' But I'll be back for [this Sunday's] Dinosaur Dash." -75 year old local running icon Bobby Crim, who didn't run the half marathon due to a medical procedure three days prior.