See Diva Run

The topic of discussion for “Take it and Run Thursday” at The Runner’s Lounge is injury. How timely! There is a lot of great information to be found in the related posts, and I encourage everyone to check them out if you haven’t already done so. As I read through the posts I found a recurring theme. People who became so caught up in running that they continued running even after the warning signs of injury started to appear. Why would they do that? They are runners. It is what we do.

We runners take the words “I am a runner” very seriously. Whether we run fast, or long, or both, or neither, running helps define who we are. But we are more than runners. We are husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. We are employees, club members and volunteers. Running is something we love to do, and it is an important part of who we are, but it isn’t all that we are. We shouldn’t become so obsessed with running that we do it to the detriment of other aspects of our lives. I said “shouldn’t”. Most of us do.

Runners are goal oriented, and we believe that if we run the distances on our plans, we will run our races at our intended pace. But life is messy, and despite our best efforts to avoid all forms of unpleasantness through careful planning, most of us will have to cope with the occasional unhappy outcome. When it comes to running, the difference between positive thinking and denial is often hard to ascertain. Speaking as someone who has experienced a variety of running related injuries due to obsessive behavior, I’d like to offer a few words of wisdom. “Keep your life in balance.”

Running may be your true love, but remember to take time for the other important things in life. If you are side lined with an injury, try to make good use of the extra time. Spend it with non-running friends and family that you have probably been neglecting. Read a book, possibly a book that isn’t about running. Stretch. Strength train. Go for a leisurely walk. Get some extra sleep.

I usually experience a mild bout of depression when I reach the point that I finally stop running and start resting. I stop blogging and don’t visit blogs and message boards. It’s not like I run because I have a lot of free time, so for me, an injury is an opportunity to catch up on work, household chores, etc. Soon the depression is gone and I am coping with life without running. There is more to life than running. It might be part of who we are, but it isn’t all that we are.

Wishing you the wisdom to avoid injury if you can, and the resilience to cope with injuries you can’t/don’t avoid. Like the saying says, “that which does not kill us makes us stronger”.

Once upon a time I was a runner. I ran and ran. I ran so far away… I ran as many as 200 miles in a month, and I felt great… until I didn’t. There was that time in late 2006 when I went a little overboard with Nike+ challenges and ended up with a groin pull. I took a couple weeks off and then came back with a light schedule, running 30 minutes every other day. Before long I was running even further and faster, with many new PRs. Then one day in June there was an odd pain in my ankle, followed by a pain in my calf. Soon there was pain everywhere. There I was with 3 races in one week, and sub-par. By the time I completed the Seafair Marathon, I was falling apart. With a little time off and a gentle return, I was able to get back on my feet and soon I was racking up big miles. This time the discomfort didn’t really go away, but it was manageable… until it wasn’t.

By December I was experiencing a lot of heel pain, and thinking that I might have plantar fasciitis. I bought everything I could find that was labeled as a potential cure. I was also icing my heels, stretching and taking lots of ibuprofen to relieve the pain, but I was still running. Eventually I realized that my goal of getting my 2,000th Nike+ mile by the end of the year was going to interfere with my goal of running a decent pace at P.F. Chang’s Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Arizona, and I took some time off. This time was different. Time off didn’t help. I vowed to work on core strength, and switched to the FIRST training method so I would only have to run 3 times per week. On the other days I worked out on the rowing machine. I even made an appointment with a podiatrist.

I saw the podiatrist in early February. He X-rayed my feet and assured me that I didn’t have a stress fracture. Based on my ability to pinpoint the pain source as being near my ankle bone, he was able to diagnose peroneal tendinitis. The peroneal tendons are small tendons that extend from your ankle down the side of your foot, and under your foot to the inside of your arch. The podiatrist assured me that it was on the mend, but said I could have a cortisone shot if I wanted to speed the process. I passed on the shot, and ran the Birch Bay Half Ultra and the Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans. I was running long, but much slower than normal. The heel pain endured. In the weeks since the marathon I’ve only run a few times, and for short distances. Not running hasn’t made a bit of difference. Sitting, standing and walking are all quite painful and seem to put enough stress on the peroneal tendons to keep them from healing.

Running web sites are full of advice about how to treat achilles tendinits and plantar fasciitis, there is a derth of information regarding peroneal tenodinits. I found myself visiting sites like FootPhysicians.com trying to decipher articles written by doctors, for doctors. I learned that peroneal tendinitis is most common after an ankle sprain. I’ve had many sprained ankles over the years, but none recently. My right ankle is somewhat unstable, and my right foot has a tendency to roll. Perhaps this is part of the problem. I’ve been working on balance exercises like standing on one foot, and using a wobble board. So far I’m not seeing any improvement. Perhaps I’m overdoing it? Overdoing is something I am pretty good at.

My first run for the month of March was the 3.5 mile St Paddy’s Day Dash on 3/16. It was harder and slower than it should have been. My second run was a 1.6 mile outing on Sunday, to try out my new Garmin 305. After several weeks of long days in front of the computer, my body complained loudly about the effort. My abdominals were cramping. I thought I might throw up. How can 1.6 miles at a 10:00 pace be so difficult for someone who rand a 27:17 5K last spring? Today I ran 2 miles with my new Garmin. I discovered that I run faster going downhill, and slower going uphill, and that the amount of slow is much greater than the amount of fast!

I found a web site with information on how to strengthen your ankles. I’m going to keep working ankle strength, but carefully so I don’t make things worse. I’m going to continue to work on core strength. I’m going to keep rowing. It’s the running I’m not so sure about. On the one hand I have all of these cool new running clothes, and a cool new Garmin 305 to play with (an anniversary gift from Mr Diva). On the other hand, the pain is getting old. Even though not running hasn’t given me any relief, I can’t shake the idea that it isn’t helping, either. So for now, I’m going to take it a day at a time. I may run a little, but I’m not going to do anything that might be perceived as training. I probably won’t be blogging much either. I will still try to keep up with my blogging running friends, so I can share in their victories.

My peroneal tendonitis has been particularly bad since the Mardi Gras Marathon, so I’ve been enjoying some time off. My work schedule has been pretty tough, so having one less thing to worry about has helped. I did come out of retirement briefly on Sunday to run the Henry Weinhard’s St Paddy’s Day Dash in Seattle with Mr Diva. We ran it last year in the pouring rain, but still had a good time. Most importantly we bought special hats that we’ve been saving for a year, so of course we needed to run it again. It also helps justify the expense of all those green running clothes St Patrick’s Day is a big deal at the Diva house, not so much because of my Irish heritage as that is both the anniversary of our first date and our wedding anniversary.

The St Paddy’s Day Dash is the biggest running event in Seattle, with over 15,000 participants. It is also the largest St Patrick’s Day running event in the U.S. I read that in the newspaper on Monday, but now I can’t find a link! Oh well, perhaps it’s blarney.

We got up early Sunday morning, commenced with the “wearin’ o the green” and drove to Seattle. Contrary to the instructions they sent with the e-mail, race day packet pickup was not near the bus loading zone, it was 3.5 miles away at the starting line! Good thing we showed up early, as we had to run back to our car and drive back to the Seattle Center, find another parking spot, pick up our packet and get to the starting line. By the time we found this out, we only had 25 minutes until the start. Fortunately for us, they still had about 5,000 people waiting in line for a shuttle bus, so the race started late. We had plenty of time to get where we needed to go!

The shuttle bus line disappears into the horizon, where it goes around a corner. This is not the end by the way, it is several blocks from the end. I’m not sure how many shuttle buses they were using, but I am sure that it wasn’t enough!

We ran in the “red wave” which is the non-competitive running division. You can choose to run with or without a chip. We took the chip out of habit, and not because we thought it was going to be a time worth recording!

Do we look ready to run?

As always, the crowd was lively and fun. This year the prospect of a dry race made everyone a little cheerier!

Somewhere up there is the starting line. Somewhere behind us, people are still getting off of shuttle buses!

It wasn’t raining, but it was about 42 degrees. I took off my jacket before the start of the race, but felt no temptation to remove my shirt or pants. I chased this guy for a block to get a photo. He was putting in a pretty good pace. Maybe he was cold? I didn’t get in front of him, so I don’t know if there was shrinkage, but anybody who was in front of him would!

What’s long and dark and smells like 30,000 sweaty armpits?

The Alaskan Way Viaduct!

Hey look, she has the same hat! Mr Diva catches up with her. She got her hat at Disneyworld n February.

Another runner in mouse ears? Maybe we aren’t as clever as we think we are?

It’s a great day to run, and the view is great when you aren’t staring at “runner butts”!

After the red wave is an untimed gold wave. There are several thousand people behind us. I wonder if they are still getting off shuttle buses?

Yippee, it’s the finish line. Time for hot soup and cold beer!

We wandered from booth to booth, collecting our “free stuff”. Qdoba was there serving hot tortilla soup again this year. It tastes just as good when it isn’t raining.

Last year we left our ID in the car, and were denied entry to the beer garden, even though we were grandparents! This year we planned ahead. Henry Weinhard might have sponsored the dash, but they were making their investment back on $4 beer. We split one and started the 3.5 mile walk back to the car. We attracted a few stares a the Public Market. We still had our mouse ears on!

It was a fun race, and I’m sure we will do it again next year. That way we can amortize our investment in green running clothes

Even more photos can be found here.

This should be a race report for the St Paddy’s Day Dash, my first run during the month of March, but I’m too tired, so instead I’m sharing a photo of grandson Kane celebrating his first birthday. Don’t believe the date on the photo. His birthday was last week.

While most of our time in New Orleans was spent on marathon related activities, we did have time to wander around a bit. Saturday afternoon, while wandering in the French Quarter, on Chartres Street we were surprised to hear music, and see a crowd of people come pouring out of the building on the corner. First out the door were members of a band, and right behind them was a wedding party. They formed a circle around the bride and groom, and danced around while waving handkerchieves in the air. I later learned that this is called a “Second Line Dance”. It was one of those “magic moments” that continues to endear New Orleans to my heart.

Our friend James captured part of it on video.

If you haven’t been to New Orleans, you really need to go!

We spent our evenings in clubs listening to Zydeco and Blues. After the marathon I was invited to “jam” with the Zydeco band as a guest washboard player. To be honest, I was pretty happy just sitting on the bench, and the prospect of walking across the bar so I could play washboard and dance didn’t totally speak to me. I showed Timmy my finisher’s medal and said “Do you know what this is?” He says yes. “And you still want me to do this?” He says yes. I hobble across the floor and make by best effort to remain on my feet while rubbing spoons up and down the washboard. I’m so tired I can only make my arms go in unison. They keep sliding off the washboard. The other guest players were great. I suck. It is a very long song, but finally it is over. Timmy looks at me and says, “so what did you do this morning?”

For some reason, Mr Diva didn’t feel like getting up off his stool to get a better shot, so we will have to make due with this one.

I love youtube! A quick search turned up a video of the Bourbon Street Cajuns taken about a month before we were there.

We also caught a great blues band, The All Purpose Blues Band while we were there. They were fabulous, and best of all they didn’t recruit me to play washboard after the marathon. We came home with lots of new CDs.