I realize that it has been quite a while since I posted, but today I have completed a 2 month run streak that began on August 1. For the past 61 days now, I have run at least 1 mile every single day. As I am training for a half marathon in a couple of weeks, and a marathon in February, I do not run the same distance every day. Instead of taking a rest day, on my "off" days I just jog a light mile. My longest run so far has been 11 miles - until tomorrow, when hopefully I'll do 12. All in all, I am just under 200 miles for the 2 months, and should hit that mark tomorrow.
Complicating this whole run streak has been my back. Having never really had back problems at all until this year, I'm learning that being 40 actually feels like 40 sometimes. After seeking treatment from the chiropractor and having no luck, I did talk to my orthopaedic doctor and he was able to locate the source of my pain - the S.I. joint. Look it up. I can't say I know much about it, but it is a part of the pelvis/hip area. Anyway, he prescribed some meds and physical therapy, and I had my first PT on Wednesday. As the physical therapist was taking me through some initial tests, he said, "you're probably going to hurt worse after this." Unfortunately, he was not kidding. I haven't hurt this bad the entire time. This truly is the first time in 61 days that I have wondered about being able to keep up the run streak. I do believe that what the PT is doing will work and help, but getting to where it is pain free again will not be easy. Yet, today I still got out there and ran. Not far - only 2 miles - but still, I ran.
I've learned a lot of things about myself in these 61 days. Running is becoming almost as normal to me as taking a shower - which also happens to be something that I do every day. Seriously, a couple of times in this streak I have not done it in the morning, and my day just feels strange until I get my run in. I feel that even more than before, it helps me clear my thoughts and level me out. I've also noticed that while my back does hurt, amazingly enough, I've really not had any other pains elsewhere. When I would run only 3-4 times a week, it always seemed like something would hurt - my foot, my shin, my shoulder, etc. But so far through running every day, it's almost like I'm oiling the joints each day and it truly is becoming easier.
Tip for beginning runners: Do not just jump into a run streak, no matter how enthusiastic you may be. Take some time, and build up a bit of a base. I know that when I first started running I WAYYYYY over did it, and I ended up with 2 stress fractures. Build up your base first - go slow and not real far. Add little by little to you mileage, but make sure you do not go hard 2-3 days in a row. If you go hard one day, take it easy and maybe run/walk if you need to the next day.
Tip #2 for beginning runners: Inevitably, some idiot will let their dog out without a fence or a leash. You will get chased at some point. Fortunately, when this happened to me a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of something from when I worked for Carolina Power and Light many years ago: if a dog is coming at you, bend down to the ground and act like you are picking up a rock and throw it at the dog. Almost universally, a dog will turn away when they see you do that, which will buy you a little more time to actually look for something to throw. They may still bark and they may charge again, but almost always this will keep them off of you. Proof? I've had to use it twice in the past 2 weeks - once with one dog, the second with 2 dogs. If you're lucky, you'll actually find a rock to toss in their direction (don't hit the dog - he's just being a dog and really does not mean you harm).
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Run through the wind ... and back
I am proud to say that I am presently the owner of a 33 consecutive day run streak. Considering that a month and 2 days is not long enough to actually be called a "streak," I realize that is not a big deal, but for me it is a start. When I set out on August 1, I knew that I would face days with some challenges. I knew that I would eventually face weather difficulties; I knew that I would face health/injury issues. I did not know that I would simultaneously face weather AND injury issues.
Last Saturday Hurricane Irene hit the NC coast. Though we are a couple of hours inland, we still had some strong winds and rain throughout much of the day on Saturday. I had hoped to actually get up early enough to beat the wind and rain and go run, but it came sooner than I thought - in fact, rain and winds began picking up Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up and realized the power was out, though the ceiling fan was still moving above my head - thus I deducted that the power must have just gone out around 6:30 Saturday morning. The power did not return until around 7:00 PM Tuesday night.
Saturday was an interesting day. The boys and I would occasionally go out on the screened-in porch to watch the storm, and just the sound of the roaring wind through the trees was amazing. Every now and then the gusts would really blow, and it was fantastic to watch the trees bend and bend, only to stand tall again. I was really beginning to think that the streak may come to an end on day 27. However, as the afternoon wore on, the rain was starting to let up a bit, and the wind was not quite as bad. Our boys were starting to go stir crazy (and so was I), so I said, "Hey guys - how about we go on an adventure and let's go run a mile!" Jacob quickly bought into the idea ("We get to run through a hurricane?!?! Awesome!). Aaron was not so sure, mainly because he still has a cast from his broken wrist, but it did not take him long to decide to put a plastic bag over the cast and go for it. So we got all ready, and out into the wind and rain we went.
We only ran one mile, but come on - it was in a hurricane! Well, maybe more like tropical storm winds, but still. We live in an older, established neighborhood, and said neighborhood has a lot of old, large trees. Several of these trees were unable to maintain the fight against the wind and had fallen in battle. As we attempted our run, we had to climb over and through some of these fallen trees, as well as dodge downed power lines. It really was quite a thrill, even if running into the wind made it extremely difficult. The funniest thing was when we would see someone looking at us - looking at us like we were fools, which of course we were.
Sunday morning when we still did not have power, I knew that we would not be having worship services. Yet, I still got up dutifully early (thanks to my cellphone alarm), and went for a quick 2 mile run. I say quick, but it really was not quick. Every single street in my neighborhood - every.single.one. - had at least one tree blocking the road. Some of these trees were over a hundred years old. I began to really realize the how bad some of the damage was. Incidentally enough, some neighborhoods in our area never lost power and barely had any branches in their yard. Yet, our day was a long one, as when I made the decision to cancel worship, I told people to go out and worship God by helping a neighbor. So I figured that since I said that, I better be one who did it. The boys and I got our work gloves on and off we went through the neighborhood. We went to every house for 3 blocks cleaning up branches - large and small. One lady came out and told my guys that they were answers to prayer, because she had had surgery a couple of weeks before and she knew she would not be able to clean up the mess. I think that really made them feel good - I know it made me feel good. Unfortunately, all the bending, lifting, and pulling some of the larger branches and small trees did not help my back issue that I spoke of last week.
I wouldn't say that I re-aggravated it, because in reality it never really got much better. But I definitely irritated it a bit more. After 2 cold showers on Sunday (remember - no power) and holding some ice packs (that were still cold due to the freezer that was quickly melting), they seemed to help some, but not much. Fortunately we are very blessed to have some wonderful friends who lets us come and stay at their nice air-conditioned and electrified house Sunday and Monday nights. I ran in their neighborhood Monday and Tuesday, but my back was still bothering. I began to be able to pinpoint the exact location of my pain - directly at the top of my back left hip. After running again on Wednesday in my own neighborhood (because we finally had power), I realized that I would need to try the chiropractor one more time. Ran Thursday and again today, and had my appointment with him this morning. He says that I need to strengthen my core. He says that because I have a weak core, I am off-balance. So he says to me, "You know what you're going to have to start doing? Walking." I said, "Ugh - I was afraid you were going to say that." Then he proceeds to tell me that exercise, such as walking, will help strengthen my core. I realized that he didn't quite grasp that I am in the middle of a running streak, and so I said to him, "Well I run every day." He then asked me how often I ran, and I said again, "Literally, I run EVERY day." To which he replied, "Hrmm. Do you do any crunches? That'll help."
So . . . that was my last appointment for this particular problem. I will follow his advice and smartly work on my core. I've known for quite some time that I should work on my core and that it would help my running, but knowing something and doing something are two completely different things. I've looked up some stretches that I plan on doing, and I will continue to put ice on it when I am sitting around, and I will work on my core. But if the pain persists, Monday I'm calling a Doc. But I also still plan on running. Every day.
Seate Streak: 33 days
Last Saturday Hurricane Irene hit the NC coast. Though we are a couple of hours inland, we still had some strong winds and rain throughout much of the day on Saturday. I had hoped to actually get up early enough to beat the wind and rain and go run, but it came sooner than I thought - in fact, rain and winds began picking up Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up and realized the power was out, though the ceiling fan was still moving above my head - thus I deducted that the power must have just gone out around 6:30 Saturday morning. The power did not return until around 7:00 PM Tuesday night.
Saturday was an interesting day. The boys and I would occasionally go out on the screened-in porch to watch the storm, and just the sound of the roaring wind through the trees was amazing. Every now and then the gusts would really blow, and it was fantastic to watch the trees bend and bend, only to stand tall again. I was really beginning to think that the streak may come to an end on day 27. However, as the afternoon wore on, the rain was starting to let up a bit, and the wind was not quite as bad. Our boys were starting to go stir crazy (and so was I), so I said, "Hey guys - how about we go on an adventure and let's go run a mile!" Jacob quickly bought into the idea ("We get to run through a hurricane?!?! Awesome!). Aaron was not so sure, mainly because he still has a cast from his broken wrist, but it did not take him long to decide to put a plastic bag over the cast and go for it. So we got all ready, and out into the wind and rain we went.
We only ran one mile, but come on - it was in a hurricane! Well, maybe more like tropical storm winds, but still. We live in an older, established neighborhood, and said neighborhood has a lot of old, large trees. Several of these trees were unable to maintain the fight against the wind and had fallen in battle. As we attempted our run, we had to climb over and through some of these fallen trees, as well as dodge downed power lines. It really was quite a thrill, even if running into the wind made it extremely difficult. The funniest thing was when we would see someone looking at us - looking at us like we were fools, which of course we were.
Sunday morning when we still did not have power, I knew that we would not be having worship services. Yet, I still got up dutifully early (thanks to my cellphone alarm), and went for a quick 2 mile run. I say quick, but it really was not quick. Every single street in my neighborhood - every.single.one. - had at least one tree blocking the road. Some of these trees were over a hundred years old. I began to really realize the how bad some of the damage was. Incidentally enough, some neighborhoods in our area never lost power and barely had any branches in their yard. Yet, our day was a long one, as when I made the decision to cancel worship, I told people to go out and worship God by helping a neighbor. So I figured that since I said that, I better be one who did it. The boys and I got our work gloves on and off we went through the neighborhood. We went to every house for 3 blocks cleaning up branches - large and small. One lady came out and told my guys that they were answers to prayer, because she had had surgery a couple of weeks before and she knew she would not be able to clean up the mess. I think that really made them feel good - I know it made me feel good. Unfortunately, all the bending, lifting, and pulling some of the larger branches and small trees did not help my back issue that I spoke of last week.
I wouldn't say that I re-aggravated it, because in reality it never really got much better. But I definitely irritated it a bit more. After 2 cold showers on Sunday (remember - no power) and holding some ice packs (that were still cold due to the freezer that was quickly melting), they seemed to help some, but not much. Fortunately we are very blessed to have some wonderful friends who lets us come and stay at their nice air-conditioned and electrified house Sunday and Monday nights. I ran in their neighborhood Monday and Tuesday, but my back was still bothering. I began to be able to pinpoint the exact location of my pain - directly at the top of my back left hip. After running again on Wednesday in my own neighborhood (because we finally had power), I realized that I would need to try the chiropractor one more time. Ran Thursday and again today, and had my appointment with him this morning. He says that I need to strengthen my core. He says that because I have a weak core, I am off-balance. So he says to me, "You know what you're going to have to start doing? Walking." I said, "Ugh - I was afraid you were going to say that." Then he proceeds to tell me that exercise, such as walking, will help strengthen my core. I realized that he didn't quite grasp that I am in the middle of a running streak, and so I said to him, "Well I run every day." He then asked me how often I ran, and I said again, "Literally, I run EVERY day." To which he replied, "Hrmm. Do you do any crunches? That'll help."
So . . . that was my last appointment for this particular problem. I will follow his advice and smartly work on my core. I've known for quite some time that I should work on my core and that it would help my running, but knowing something and doing something are two completely different things. I've looked up some stretches that I plan on doing, and I will continue to put ice on it when I am sitting around, and I will work on my core. But if the pain persists, Monday I'm calling a Doc. But I also still plan on running. Every day.
Seate Streak: 33 days
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