Wrecked

I am completely wrecked after the 22 mile run Saturday on the rolling hills of Ada, MI. Every muscle in my legs where in absolute agony, from about mile 15 til now. At one point I said, "Why are we doing this? We're running the Chicago Marathon."(a notoriously flat course whose largest hill is about 20 feet). It got so absurd that we got to the top of one hill and me and 3 people I was with all audibly moaned because another sharp downhill lie ahead. Once your legs are this sore running down a steep hill hurts worse than running up one.

I ran 5 today and I think that helped speed the recovery some. I was more sore after this 22 than the last but I feel much better 36 later than I did last time so that is encouraging. Oh, and another positive thing was that my despite my legs being extreme sore they never cramped up during my run, the calves are what especially worry me. I think the calve sleeves are working! I did cramp up once after the run when I tried to sit down in the parking lot afterwards, one calf cramped up and one muscle in my thigh of the opposite leg. I was unsure about them when I bought them but I will definitely be wearing them come October 11.

After running a hilly 22 I went home and had to mow the lawn and get ready for the extended family. I will show you photos later but we had 14 of us in all. My aunt brought her grandson from New Jersey, might be East, East Pennsylvania she just moved so I am not quite sure, very close to the border anyway, just north of Philadelphia. We also had my other aunt and uncle from Chicagoland, whom were gracious enough to invite our family in for the marathon. Actually they are so nice and we have stayed there so often we pretty much invited ourselves and I just notified them! Also in attendance Saturday were my parents and my cousin and her husband.

Quote of the day: "If the leader pushes, I will go with him, even if I die by the roadside." Rodgers Rop, on winning the NYC marathon

Life with dystonia is never easy or boring

My wife and I are both having Dystonia issues, I mean more than normal! Robyn much worse than me, she had Botox last but her back is constantly sore and she is in serious pain all the time. She is contemplating trying the drug Neurontin for some more relief. Her head, which she can normally hold still with some effort, has become too much and started to turn and go back. So much so that she even broke down and wore her soft collar neck brace at work yesterday. She NEVER wears this in public.

It is ironic because I desperately want off Neurontin as well as Klonopin. I normally take 1 pill of each with or just after breakfast, yesterday I tried no pills and I didn't really notice any difference until the evening when we went out. Then it was more difficult to speak and I was jittery but there was something else, I don't know how to describe it, like there were voices in my head or more static really. When I would talk with someone it was like the voice was saying, "don't make of fool of yourself, get out of this conversation before you look like an fool." Instead of being even remotely focused on the other person it was all about me, trying to appear as normal as possible. I couldn't relax and have an enjoyable talk with someone I didn't know. Luckily my family was there and I could focus on them. This solved 2 problems, I was able to focus on them and take care of what they wanted while also keeping me occupied so I wouldn't have to have adult conversation. I am also up too high with the voltage on my DBS, I need to see my dr. and get back to where I was before the last adjustment.

Training: I ran 5 miles hard Monday night, felt great finished in a very respectable time for me, 34 minutes. Since I was going to miss the group workout I tried taking the kids to a local school that has a play area right next to the track. I planned on doing 6 1000's, 2 and a half laps each. I skipped the two mile warmup opting for 2 laps instead. Was shooting for under 4 minutes for each 1000. I did the first one in 3:43, I was stunned, but also a little concerned because I had 5 left and knew I couldn't repeat that 6 times. I fell back on #2 to 3:48, probably where I should have been at for #1. It was hot and humid and I had to stop at 5 with no 2 mile cooldown. I will have to make that up Thursday. I shouldn't have run so hard the night before.

I love my wife! Despite all her pain and head movements she is repainting our bedroom ceiling. After I ran yesterday I scraped some more of the old popcorn ceiling off and there was just a little bit left that I couldn't remove. She pushes it hard all the time and wants everything to be perfect by Saturday. We are hosting a family function with relatives from Chicago and New Jersey along with my parents and grandparents. Bless her heart!

Quote of the Day: "Love is everything it's cracked up to be. . . It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. " - Erica Jong

We went to downtown Zeeland Saturday for Dog-o-rama! It was a good time and the girls loved being out. Can you tell? Robyn had to leave before I got back from my run so she only took JoJo, the German Shepherd, along with the 2 girls, anymore would have been too much to control. Besides, we weren't sure the other 2 dogs aren't quite ready for a public gathering like that yet but we all went to the dog park today and I do think the other 2 would have been just fine. JoJo was looking rather somber there but she doesn't like cameras so that may have been a big part of it.

When I got back from my run I showered and rode my bike down there. I found the kids in the bakery with "Old Grampa" (their nickname for my grandfather). Zeeland Bakery has the best Chocolate Fried Cinnamon Rolls in the world (Maybe I can get a few free for the shameless plug!) so I had one, I showed great restraint in not getting 2 or 3. But the star of the day was JoJo and her award winning tail! She won second prize in the longest tail competition, see the top picture to fully appreciate the punishment it puts on our vacuum cleaner.

The training run was at Fallasburg Park. If you scroll back a ways you will find pictures of that hilly terrain there. Even though it was our down weekend (14 in between two 22 mile runs) it was a fairly tough workout. No river plunge this time for me, had to get home for Dog-o-rama.

I am still a little worried about my calf muscles holding up for 26.2 miles. I can't think of any more I can do. The calve sleeves seem to be working. The reason I am still worried is that last time I didn't have any problem during any of the training runs either. I guess the only thing I can do now is to continue training properly and pray for good legs during the race.

Quote of the day: "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire

Must remember this during weeks like this.

After doing 22 Saturday, the fatigue from the run and the lack of sleep are really kicking my butt this week. I just don't feel like training. So I am taking it slow and easy, nothing too fast or strenuous. Hopefully I can work my way back to normal by Saturday.

I took wife to get Botox shots Tuesday, she travels the 3+ hours to the same place I get my DBS tuned. She has a lot of pain her dystonia and by the time she needs the Botox she is in serious pain all day! So I wanted to be the good husband and take her since she sometimes has a rough time with all the shots. She slept for awhile on the way, so that was good.I think that was the end of the happy times that day.

While I was there I wanted to see if could get turned down one notch on one side, back to where I was 2 months ago. My last adjustment was up one notch and my voice seemed to get worse and my swallowing also. My doctor was doing surgery in Evanston so I inquired about Robyn's doctor doing it since I knew exactly what I wanted done but my doctor didn't want anyone else doing my adjustments, nevermind I had only seen this doctor once for one slight adjustment.

I am not sure why since I wasn't expecting to get an adjustment but that threw my entire day off. After that I got grumpy and was headed to IKEA, I would rather eat glass than be in IKEA. Robyn had probmised the kids a trip there before she knew I was coming along and the kids love the play area. We eat lunch and then went to the play area but it was full - I felt like Chevy Chase in National Lampoons Vacation after he found out Wally World was closed for repairs! On the way home I was completely disoriented and tired and missed 2 exits I had to stop for gas at the IN/MI border and had to ask Robyn if she felt well enough to drive. She did otherwise I would have needed a VERY large Mountain Dew to keep me awake.

We were lucky to get home with the marriage still intact. After apologies were said by both of us and a good nights sleep we were fine but I still feel like a horses behind for completely blowing the nice gesture of driving her by acting the way I did. I should have listened to my quote

Quote of the Day: "Let thine words be few" Ecclesiastes 5:2

Well, I made it 22 miles yesterday. I did struggle somewhat the last 2-3 miles as I was by myself at this point. I bypassed all our usual drink spots. We have jugs of water and gatorade set every 3 or 4 miles and for good reason but all too often they are like the watercooler at the office, instead of stopping for 10 seconds we normally stop for several minutes. I habit I have to break for my marathon training, I can only speak for myself but it seems completely different when w are racing and drinking on the run vs. run 4 miles stop, drink, catch your breathe for 3 minutes and repeat as necessary until you hit the desired mileage. So I skipped the aid stations on the back 11.

It became apparent that I am not quite where I need to be yet the last few miles but was somewhat encuoraging seeing as the race is still 2 months away. We are on a tough training schedule that has us doing three 22 mile runs and two 20 milers. Now doing 22 just seems like a regular Saturday long run, a bit tougher but not too daunting.

I need the group support and just the expectation of me being there helps a great deal too. Our training group is probably 100 strong so you get 60-80 people most weeks and they are all speed ranges so you soon separate on a run like this. I was with about 8 people that dwindle to 3 by the halfway point as people speed up or slow down. The legs got very heavy the last 2 miles and I looked for the parking lot around every corner as the last 2 miles as it was a new course for me.

Dog update: Having 3 dogs is as bad as it sounds! Roo, the new dog is having sleeping issues causing Robyn and me to lose a lot of sleep as well. Walking them can be a challenge, when they are going nice you could put a board across their backs, they are all that close in height!

Quote of the Day: "Let us run with patience that race that is set before us." - Saint Paul

The new dog and a personal best 2 mile run!

Roo, our new dog, is an Australian Kelpie just like Robyn's dog when she came to the States, which is why we had to have him. We heard he was drugged, given uppers to perform as some show dog and then downers so he could sleep and travel. He certainly doesn't look like a show dog now but I am sure he will perk up. His ears are pointed and supposed to be up like a Shepherd but they are mostly down yet like he is scared or at least unsure of his surrounding yet.

Robyn has taken him swimming in a local pond and creek. I have taken the 3 of them for a few walks at night and now Robyn is walking them in the morning as well. Roo could stand to lose a few pounds, Clancy as well.

On the running front my heel has healed up nicely and I did 16 very early Saturday morning before we went to get Roo, just before the skies opened and it downpoured. I talked to runners from the group and they said it rained for almost their entire run and as they were running one stretch on a bike path they said it was 3 inches deep, nothing like running in an ankle deep stream! One person said his shoes were still damp on Monday.

We ran a timed 2 mile run last night as part of our training, an event I ran in middle school. I finished in 12 minutes and 9 seconds! I was so proud of myself. I tried it a few years ago and I couldn't beat my middle school time of 13:01. Yesterday I was aiming for 90 second laps, I did pretty well but lap 3 was inexplicably 96 seconds while every other was 90 or 91. I was at 6:09 after 1 mile so that means I did the second mile in 6 flat. That is pretty much my top speed, I have to rely on endurance!

I have 25K figured out, I just need to learn to hold that for 11 more miles. I have only walked once in 5 local 25K races but was forced to walk in all 5 of my marathons. I have 2 goals for this race - finish under 3:15 and finish without needing to walk.

Slight injury

After racing last Saturday evening I had planned on doing a mild 10 mile run Sunday. It wasn't too long (comparatively) so I didn't take it too seriously - old shoes, old socks. Well, no matter how far you're going bad shoes AND bad socks are a VERY bad combination. The result was that I got about 3 or 4 mles and I finally checked my sore heel. Sure enough - it was rubbed raw and bleeding. Bad news, but even worse was that I was still a mile and a half from home so I jogged back sowly. This lasted a mile then I had to remove my shoes and run in socks. In case you are wondering why I ran - because it hurt to run or walk so why not run?

As a runner you have to know the differences between pains and what injuries you can run with and which you should rest. This one I could stick a band aid over and gut out the pain. I did the hard workouts but skipped the easy runs this week. It is nearly healed, another band aid treatment for a 16 miler tomorrow and with Sunday off should be fine for next week.

But the big news is tomorrow after the run we are going to get our new dog! I will likely nap in the car and let Robyn drive there and I will drive home. We will have 3 dogs all roughly the same age. They could even be exactly the same age since we don't know exactly when any were born. I am still trying to figure out how or if I can walk 3 dogs at once. It depends on how well-behaved the new one is since I have trouble walking these 2 wild beasts at once. They always want to be 2 feet in front of the end of the leash, if I drop the leash they will wait for me to pick it up. I often think the leash is only so they know where I am!

Another race I didn't win

I had an 8K race last night and didn't win again (someday I will win one of these obscure races!). The race was Streetz of Fire in Grand Rapids but it was from from the 90 and humid you would expect for a race on August 1st and starting at 6:30 PM. It was very humid and had a few rain drops before the race and I heard reports that it was pouring rain well after the race as we were safe in the Polish Hall where it was held.
The post race was pizza and beer. For me it was lots of pizza, I think I had 8 pieces but it may have been 10. I don't drink alcohol because of the drugs I am on, they don't mix well. I think it is the Klonopin. 1-2 beers and I fall right to sleep.

I did manage to get a medal for finishing 3rd in my age group. It was demeaned a bit since a guy I would have liked to beaten passed me on the 4th mile and finished 15 seconds in front of me, he did not receive a medal and he is 2 years older than me.

I think we are getting another dog, a 4 year old Kelpie. I am hoping he will teach the other 2 some better manners. Kelpie's are great dogs but 3 dogs will be interesting! We are planning on picking him up next week Saturday.

Quote of the day: "Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in the world" - Cesare Pavese