Happy, happy, happy!

The pain in my right knee was bad, really bad during the last mile on Saturday. I tried everything - stretched/massaged/etc. to make it feel better so I could run (not walk) to the finish. I've ignored a lot of pain in the past 5 years, but this pain was too tough to ignore. After turning the final corner, the support from Jerry, the boys and friends helped me block out the pain and push to the finish.

During all that - I kept telling myself to find that 'line' of how far to push it - the race was important, running to the finish was important - but neither was important enough to cause long-lasting injury to myself.

Since I ran the 2nd leg of the relay I didn't run to the finish at that time, I transferred my ankle bracelet with the timing chip to the next runner and collapsed on the grass in pain.

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

Then later when our team finished, we crossed the finish line together - well, kind of together. My knee was killing me at this time and I slowly ran across the finishing mat. At the time, I was wondering if I'd done something serious to myself.

Went for a massage at a friend that lived near the race on Saturday afternoon and she gently massaged it. It hurt Saturday night, but not bad. By Sunday, I couldn't feel it at all when I walked, and only slightly when going steps. Monday, another massage and she said it is probably a stressed ligament and it needs time to heal. No running for a few days and when I run again - only run to the point of pain.

So the last few days I only walked and today I braved running again after warming up by walking for 3/4 mile. I'm thrilled that I could run 1 3/4 mile before I felt any pain behind my knee - yippee! That was much longer than I thought I would be able to. And since I don't like the treadmill, it was way to long for that :) Hopefully the weather will warm up soon, so I can enjoy some runs outdoors again.

Garden Spot Village Marathon

It was windy today.
Wind, wind and more wind!
As Pooh would say ... "It's a blustery day."
Jerry's assessment - the wind felt like a tornado without a funnel.
So windy you could sail from New Jersey to England in about 30 minutes.
When you used a porta pot - you made sure someone held it up, so it didn't blow over like a few others did.

Get the idea?

Other than that it's been a good day! Garden Spot Village's first marathon, my first race post-accident, 5 teams in the relay from our running club and/or friends I knew (with over half running a race for the first time) friends from Canada came to cheer me on, other than a sore muscle on my knee, I felt good - so it was a good day.

Quick notes of the day ...

• Most of us were there by 7:30AM to see the race start at 8AM (very cold at this time - I was annoyed and wondering why I had the 'great' idea of doing this)
  
• Our first 5 runners took off with the beginning crowd
  
• The other runners took shuttles or carpooled to the relay transfer spots, then waited (froze)
  
• One by one the first runners arrived - with a quick transfer of a velcro band put on the ankle containing the timing chip, each 2nd leg runner took off.
• I ran the 2nd leg, so I warmed up with a short walk around 9AM knowing Lee, the runner before me, would take a little over an hour. By this time, excitement had replaced the annoyed feeling I had earlier and I looked forward to beginning the run I had recently been dreaming about and training for. Lee arrived, we transferred the chip and I took off. Actually 'took off' is a relative term, since that start was due west into the wind (had to be careful not to have both feet off the ground at the same time or I think I would have gone backwards!) Running into the wind was hard, but I felt good - breathing was fine and legs didn't hurt more than normal. A few times through the 4.6 miles - cheering would erupt along the way or from cars driving by, the support of friends was such an encouragement. During the last 1 1/2 miles - a muscle behind my right knee that I had some aching in lately, really started hurting. Hurting to the point of needing to walk/massage/stretch it to keep going. Coming into the relay transfer spot was encouraging as Jerry, the boys and friends cheered me in. I was hoping to finish under an hour, I made it in an hour and 2 1/2 minutes - with those winds, I'm happy with that.
• Now it was time to cheer the others on - I loved this!!! Pre-accident I did a number of races, but rarely with anyone. This time there were 20 runners/walkers on our teams, plus I knew some other people that were participating - so the 'cheerleading' was fun!
• Jerry (my wonderful chauffer) took me from one relay transfer spot to the next to watch and cheer during the transfers of our teams.
• Our teams finished between 4 hrs/4 mins and 4 hrs/40 mins!
• Everyone I talked to was happy with their run, except for the wind.
  

Great job all runners and/or walkers!

Runnning - because I can!

Webcam for the Garden Spot Village Marathon Today!

Picture at 6AM

Race Day Course

Race Course

This is the course I will be running in 12 hours ... omg, am I ready?

About 1 to 2 miles south of New Holland, I will be starting at the corner of Peters and Mentzer Road around 9AM. I go west on Peters for a short distance, then right on Hollow. At stop, I'll turn right (west) on Ridge Road for about a mile, then right on Hollander Road. The first left on Scenic - then right on S. Groffdale Road, left on Musser School Road and there's the relay transfer spot - yes!!! I made it - I'm done!!!
Oh wait, I'm not there yet, just writing directions about being there. Well, hopefully sometime between 9:45 and 10:15, I will be there.

Rest Days

Well, the training is done for now ... and these are the rest days. Part of me loves a few days of no running (especially in the rainy and/or windy weather we've been having) but the other part of me finds it hard to rest because I want to go run, so I can run well on Saturday. Part of me feels like I need to train more and so I should be running NOW. (I just want to do one more long, hard run and lose 10 lbs - why didn't I do that a month ago?)
But wisdom tells me it's not good to starve myself now and it's too late to train more, any training I wanted to do needs to have already happened. The best thing I can do for my legs now is give them rest, so they feel good for tomorrow and eat a healthy, balanced diet so I have energy.

Telling myself to remember it's one step at a time - I know the best way for me to do that is to spend some time today doing what the Psalmist said centuries ago ... "Be Still and know that I am God."

Marathon story on WGAL

Marathon story on WGAL

Garden Spot Village Marathon on WGAL - Wed. Morning

This morning, I saw a brief blurb on WGAL with Jere Gish saying the report about the running club I am in and the Garden Spot Village Marathon will air tomorrow (Wednesday) morning between 6 and 7AM.