week of firsts

Well it certainly has been a very interesting week.
It has been a week of firsts for me.
To back up a little bit, on April 3rd I ran in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler. Had a great time and earned a PR!
I took it easy for the week after before I started getting back into training.
My sites were focused on participating in my first Duathlon and the next day doing a 10k. The same 10k course that I set my current PR on. I was getting excited. However I did have on my schedule a half marathon that I was focusing on as my "A" race.
So there I was a week and a day after Cherry Blossom and I was planning on doing my long run that I put off from the day before. I had time now as I got back involved with the Church Softball team and our games are on Monday nights. So I figured while I was waiting for the game to start I would go for a run. So I drove to the sports complex where the games were held, got my shoes on and off I went.
I ended up doing 7.5 miles on a warm and somewhat humid early evening. I was not out there looking to break any records, just wanted to get some slow easy miles in. I felt good.
So I went to the car to get my softball gear and get more water and to try some Hammer products. I bought some individual packets of the Recoverite to try. It was not bad. It says to mix with water but I am wondering if that is just a suggestion. I have used EAS protein power in the past and it says to mix with Milk or any of your favorite liquid. Anyway, it seemed to agree with me with no issues. Now to warm up my arm for the game.
So we are now into our second game and I am on first. The ball was hit and I was off. In looking at our third base coach he was waving me on to third. I touch second and start moving toward third and that is when I felt the pain. My calf. Now, I am not sure if I heard a popping sound from my leg or from my foot hitting the bag. I was in pain but able to limp over to third. I got someone to run for me and immediately put some ice on it.
The next morning I decided to stop by and see my doctor. Well I could not get in first thing but set up a time to come back later that day. After talking about a few things I guess she was concerned about my having a blood clot so they sent me to the hospital to get an ultrasound done. That was a fun experience. Well the technician came back in after and said that I did not have a blood clot. I thought to myself, duh! I am a little too active and I don't fly so........ anyway, I know that they were just being cautious. I mentioned to the technician that I was concerned that I might have tore something. She said that she could not tell that but that they would be sending the images over to my Doctor and I could discuss with them.
So the next day the doctors office called and confirmed that there was no blood clot and that I should rest the leg and ice as needed and to basically stay off until it feels better. I asked about a tear and they said that they could not tell but believe that it is only a bad sprain.

Ok. So I am following the RICE program. Its working pretty good. I am doing some cross training and upper body workouts just to try to stay as active as possible.
I do plan on visiting a physical therapist here in the next couple of days to see what he has to say. Just did not get that warm and fuzzy from the doctors office.
I will update on that later.

So not to cover the firsts that have happened for me.
I feel that I am truly injured, at least I am treating it that way. A little more then a year a go I hurt myself and was only out for about a week and a half. I feel that this is a little more serious then just a sprained muscle. I plan on being out for another week and a half to two weeks just to play it safe.
I was suppose to do my first Duathlon. Well I did not, but as luck would have it I was able to defer until the fall. I have never deferred an event before but they put on a Duathlon in the spring and one in the fall. So now I plan on doing a fall Duathlon.
I was suppose to run in a 10k, well that did not happen either. I was not able to defer on that one so count that as a DNS - Did Not Start. Another first. So I was talking to a couple of people and found out that there was a guy that wanted to run as his wife was running but they could not afford the entry fee. Well I let him run in my place. Was not concerned about getting the money back. It was good to see someone using it, rather then sitting on the couch.

tough week

“ A road well begun is the battle half won. The important thing is to make a beginning and get under way. ”Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and writer. When I first read this it struck a chord with me. This has been a mentally tough week for me. Not to bore anyone with the details, but it does help for me to write this down like I am talking about it. On April 3rd I participated in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington DC. I had a great run and tore up the course. This was my third time running in this event and I have improved my time each year. Back in 2009 I had just started running for a number of reasons. I remember it so clearly. I was so nervous. All that I had in my mind was "don't let the sweep bus get you". In my training leading up to it the furthest distance that I ran was 8 miles and that was tough. Anyway, I did get through it finishing before the 2 hour 20 min time limit with a 1 hour 54 min (and change) personal best and longest distance yet. Last year I took 10 mins off of that time. This year I completed it in 1 hour 35 min and 58 sec. I was so proud and excited. So were my wife and friends that were down there. Well, our kids were with my parents so my wife and I decided to go to a nice restaurant and then to a winery after we got home and I had a chance to get cleaned up. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening. The kids did not have school the next day so they were spending more time with the grandparents. Monday morning. Here comes the tough part. My wife gets a text from a co-Teacher, "check your group wise''. My wife logs in to her email, and there it is. Here Principal had lost her battle with Pancreatic Cancer and past away the day before. The good news is that she did not suffer that long. She had been diagnosed with it just this past February. The bad news is that my wife's Mom, my mother in law, lost her battle with Pancreatic Cancer in April 2003. Being that we went through this before we knew what was coming, but it is still hard to deal with. With that in mind it has been very tough to get a work out in. There had been days that I felt that I needed one to try to clear the cobwebs from my mind and just try to get some of the emotion out. It pains me to see my wife in such sorrow and pain and there is nothing that I can do to relieve it. Our schedule has been so crazy as well. We both have had different activities come up with our kids that it has been hard to sit down and take everything in and talk about things. Everyone at the school has been crushed. Some were under the believe that she was going to beat this thing. Unfortunately, my wife and I saw the writing on the wall all too clearly. So this has been a really tough week in focusing on exercising in general. This coming weekend I have a Duathlon on Saturday and a 10k on Sunday. Crazy I know. What was I thinking when I signed up for those?!? Well I am still in decent shape from my 10 miler that I know I will complete both events. This will be my first Duathlon that I will be participating in. The distances are 1.9 mile run, 10 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. I don't think that I will go all out at the Duathlon as this will be my first time. I just want to take everything in and be able to complete the course. The 10k I ran last year and it stands as my PR of 59:19. I want to keep the momentum going and try to get closer to 55 mins. I will update next week as to how the weekend went. Thanks for reading. It helped me greatly.

Cherry Blossom 10 miler - Race report

Well another race in the books along with a new PR! It was a great event. I had a negative split and finished with a time of 1:35;58 I am so exicted. In looking in the future, I am doing a 10k in a couple of weeks along with my first Duathlon. I am really excited about that but also a little nervous. Kind of like how I felt when I did my first 5k. I know I won't have any issue with the running part, it is just the transition to and from the bike. I believe it is just a sprint duathlon as the distances are 2 mile run, 10 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. I have signed up for another Duathlon which is 2 mile run, 26 mile bike and 4 mile run. Although I am very excited about how well I did at the Cherry Blossom and very excited for the future races, I am sad today. We found out this morning that my wifes boss past away yesterday from Pancreatic Cancer. This is the same evil beast that took her mother away 8 years ago. This will be a trying time for us as we both deal with the tradegy and try our best to support each other. I would like to write more and I do hate to end on a down note, but it is all that I have to say about this today. I will try to get some pictures up from the race to hopefully add some color. Pancan.org does have a marathon training team. Team Hope. They were just approved to be a charitable organization for the New York Marathon in November. I am thinking about joining. We shall see..........