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The
Las Vegas Half Marathon - December 6, 2008
Well, you haven’t heard from me in quite a while now
- and not because there is nothing going on, but because there
is too much going on. Things are busy and exciting and that’s
always a plus! Our office went paperless and I was spear-heading
that project – we are in month three of it now and things
are going very well – not without the little bumps in
the road, but going well nonetheless. The other big project
we have been working on has been the Journal of Prolotherapy
(see www.journalofprolotherapy.com) . This is a great thing
if you have not checked it out – but more about that
later…back to my training…
Well, I was training for the October Whistlestop Marathon in
upper Wisconsin. My mileage had gotten up to 16 milers on the
weekends but something was not right. I was doing a strength
program on top of my running, and the only thing I can think
of is that I somehow strained my hamstring/groin area. But
I tried to fight my way through it. I got a lot of muscle work
done, did some Prolotherapy, and tried to rest it. Unfortunately,
as soon as I started putting in the longer miles, the pain
would return. So after a couple of weeks of trying to do the
training, I aborted the plan. So, that left me with getting
more Prolotherapy treatments and cutting my running way down.
So for nearly two months, I would just run a few miles per
week here and there and focus on strength training and cycling.
I started running again in November and felt pretty good. Even
now, as I write this, I still have a little pain in the hamstring
area. I ended up getting Prolotherapy to the front of my hip,
the back SI joint, as well as my ischial tuberosity (all on
the right side) – yeah, that was a fun one! But this
seemed to do the trick to get me back to running.
I started back to a three-day per week running schedule with
a couple girl friends. We ran 3 or 4 miles on Tues and Thursday,
and then longer on early Sunday morning. I had worked back
up to nine miles on the Sunday run. My husband Ross was signed
up for the Las Vegas Marathon on Dec. 6, 2008. So of course,
I was going out there with him to make sure he didn’t
kill himself. When we arrived, I saw that the half marathon
still had open slots, so I thought, “what the heck, I’ll
just try to run it.” Why? Well, granted I was not really
that well-trained, in that I had just been back running for
about a month. However, the weather was going to be cool and
dry and the course flat, so I thought – this would be
a good test. So I signed up for the race!
We had to get up at 4:00AM because the race began at 6:00AM.
But we were a little jet-lagged from the time difference from
Chicago time, so that really didn’t make much difference.
Ross was running with some running buddies from Oak Park who
were all hoping to run between 3:10 and 3:30 full marathons – they
are good runners! (And they all did great).
Anyway – I had no expectations for the run, felt great
the entire time (except for the fact that there was no Gatorade
available on the run), and I managed to run it in one of my
better times – 2:28! So it just goes to show you that
you can do what you set your mind to AND that pH matters? What?
Who mentioned pH? Well, I did – sort of! I know you may
not remember, but in past articles I talked about running in
the heat and how I don’t do well in the heat due to my
tendencies toward alkaline blood pH. Since it had been cold
out (cold weather acidifies the blood) at home, my blood was
in the neutral range, right where it should be (like a Hauser
Bear). The weather on race day was cloudy and in the forties
which was an ideal day for shorts and a t-shirt for me! (Freezing
after it was over though!). So I didn’t overheat, vomit
(Disney marathon) or anything gross like that. All in all,
it was a great experience.
I wish that the race had more Gatorade, as well as had some
corrals for the start of the race because it took almost eight
minutes to get going once the gun went off…but hey,
who’s counting? It was a fun and awesome experience!
So what’s next? Well, the air temperature was -17 this
morning. I am a hearty winter runner, but that’s even
a bit cold for me. A few days ago a ran in the snow and 14
degree temps. But yesterday I was inside on the treadmill next
to my friend Karen. We are training for the March Madness Cary
Half Marathon on March 15. Tomorrow I’m trying my hand
a snow shoe-ing. I’ll let you know how it goes! |
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