The Song Remains the Same

First Race in a While

Summer is officially over.  I had been sweating it out on hot, humid runs all summer long - and somehow loving every minute of it.  Loving waking up at 6am every Saturday to run, loving escaping to the shady trails, loving refilling my hand bottles at every water fountain I could find, loving running shirtless and still sweating everywhere.  All that stuff is tough - but somehow I thrive on it.  Racing in cool, dry weather is that much better once you have slogged through a D.C. summer.

Only downside is that while summer can get you incredibly fit, you can't really race in the heat, and you never really get to run at "race pace" (just "race effort" as I call it).  So next up came the Parks Half Marathon in Maryland.

Race: Parks Half Marathon
Date: September 9, 2012
Time: 1:27:07

Recap:  I went into this race with some fairly high hopes, I wasn't planning on going sub 1:22 or anything, but my half-marathon PR was almost 2 years old and I was in much better shape than I was back then.  So at least beating my old time of 1:25-n-change would be nice.  I soon figured out this would not be the time (or the race course) to go for a PR.

The weather in D.C. is notoriously hot and humid all summer, and magically the night before this race things cooled off from a 85 degree and 90% humidity Saturday (with the help of some violent T-storms), to a relatively cool and dry Sunday morning of around 65 degrees.  I should have remembered that while this seemed relatively cool, it was still way to hot for ideal race conditions.  I like it around 45 at race start - if you aren't shivering waiting for the starting gun to go off, its too hot!

So it was too hot for a PR - I also soon figured out this was not a PR course, no matter the weather.  After a couple miles on roads (rolling hills but still runable), we switched onto the Capital Crescent paved pedestrian path.  While trails like this are fun to run on normally, they are not fun to race on.  I soon fell victim to steep up and down hills, sharp turns, puddles, and bumpy sections that required "tip-toeing" to get around.  If that wasn't even my stomach for some reason wasn't completely settled, eventually causing me to make a quick port-a-pottie stop around mile 9.  It was worth it - this wasn't going to be a PR and there is no point in being uncomfortable otherwise.

I slogged it out, running past the beautiful (and ominous) Latter Day Saints temple in Bethesda around mile 10, came to another out and back U-turn portion, up and down a few more hills, and then finally the finish (up another surprise mini-hill) in downtown Bethesda.  Glad to be done.  The half marathon is such a tough distance - you want to "race" it fast (like a 10k) but 13.1 miles is a significant distance to hold pace at a near-lactate threshold effort.  You might feel good 6ish miles in, and then realize you are less than half way done!  To make matters worse my left ankle was feeling sore, painful to the touch and detectable while I was running toward the end of the race.

So, fun race? nice atmosphere? pretty scenary? community feel? YES!!  But if you want a PR Course or something to nurse an injury...not quite...

Posing with some friends and friends-of-friends at the finish.

Race Finish in Bethesda, MD.

This race draws some real talent out from
the area, not sure why (sure isn't a PR course).

After the race my sore ankle continued to trouble me.  Though at first it felt like it could be an acute injury (such as banging your knee on something), it was definitely an overuse injury - something that flares up from too much stress due to overuse, running in the wrong footwear, running with improper technique, or running (and stomping) on uneven ground.

After a little research online I determined it was a mild case of Posterior Tibial Tendonitis.  This is a small tendon running on the inside of the ankle, right behind the little bump out ankle bone, and wraps under the foot.  The job of the PT Tendon is to help stabilize the foot from rotating (either pronating or supinating).  I'm dealing with it with the typical R.I.C.E. methods - no more running (as planned) after the race Sunday, Monday I did a spinning class (with no running), and Tuesday rested completely (though I did take a long walk).  I ice several times daily and take NSAIDs (but never more than a couple days at time, they aren't supposed to be very good for you).

I'm pretty sure it was from too much forefoot (or "natural") type running too soon, especially in my new Newtons.  I should have eased in to natural running even more gradually, but when something feels great its hard not to get into it quickly.  I am going to back off the natural running for the next few months and hope to pick it back up after race season.  I don't think it helped that the Parks Half Marathon course had tons of steep little hills, sharp turns, and twists and turns that kept me off balance a lot.

Needless to say this has me concerned with 4 week until Chicago Marathon - where I'm hoping for a big PR.  If I can just make it through one more peak weak of miles ill have a good 2 and a half weeks to taper and should be home free.

Runners taking the Bethesda Metro (the D.C. area's subway
system) back to the race start in Rockville, MD.