Today was day two of the
Running Ragged 20in20 Series. Our course
today was one I’ve never run before. It
was a paved trail at the Sartell Community Center. I was excited to be running on pavement. Not only was it surface with sure footing, but
it’s a good surface for walking.
Our course was an out-and-back loop. We ran from the aid station to a pond. Then we ran counter-clockwise around the
pond, turned around, and ran clockwise back around the same pond. Finally, we turned and ran back to the aid
station. We needed to do this 18 times
I arrived a little earlier
today, because we were taking a group photo as a tribute to Ila Brandli. Ila has been a regular with Mainly Marathons,
but she’s not here for this series, because she’s recovering from surgery. Ila often dressed as Wonder Woman, so several
of the other runners ordered Wonder Woman shirts. Those of us who didn’t have a Wonder Woman
shirt wore something red, white, and blue.
The temperature at the start
was in the low 50s, which was similar to yesterday. Unlike yesterday, there wasn’t any threat of
rain. The sun was out, so I expected it
to warm up during the race.
I had another concern besides
my right knee. I was also worried about
my left Achilles tendon. Earlier in the
year, I had a case of tendonitis at the insertion point that took months to
heal. I thought it was fully healed, but
that same Achilles tendon has been feeling tight during my last three
races. One bright spot is that I was
running on pavement today, so I didn’t have to worry about uneven footing.
Yesterday, I did far more walking
than running. Today, my plan was to do
more walking and work on walking at a faster pace. I knew walking would be easier on my knee
than running.
For the second straight day, I
opted to start running without any type of support for my knee. If it didn’t hurt, I would continue running
that way. If it did, I could stop and put
on a knee strap.
As I started running, I noticed
some slight discomfort in my right knee.
It wasn’t a big deal, but I noticed it more than yesterday. That only lasted for a minute or two. Once I got warmed up, my knee felt about the
same as yesterday.
While my knee got better, my
left Achilles tendon got worse. It felt tight
within minutes of starting. Then I felt
a few brief twinges of pain. I was
suddenly much more worried about the Achilles tendon than I was about the knee.
I considered walking, but I
didn’t want to walk for the whole race.
I held out until I reached the turnaround point of the first lap.
I walked slowly around the
cone. Then I accelerated into a
race-walk gait. I haven’t done much
race-walking lately, but I have done a few workouts. It was just enough that I’m starting to get
my form back. I could walk fast,
although I knew I would eventually get tired.
I was really working my hips, and they were bound to get fatigued.
I didn’t know how my Achilles
tendon would feel when I was race-walking.
To my relief, it felt just fine.
My knee also felt fine. Race-walking
was an option, but only if I didn’t get too tired.
I was curious to know what my
pace would be when I was doing half running and half walking. If I could do my laps in 20 minutes each, I’d
be on pace for a six hour finish. When I
finished my first lap, I eagerly looked at the clock. That lap took 16 minutes. At that pace, I’d finish in 4:48. That’s faster than yesterday, despite doing
much more walking. Perhaps it was faster
because I was doing much more walking.
The more I walk, the faster I walk.
As I left the aid station to
begin my second lap, I switched back to running. My knee felt no worse than yesterday. It didn’t quite feel normal, but it didn’t
hurt. My Achilles tendon again felt
tight. During that lap I felt another twinge
or two of pain, but it seemed no worse than the first lap. Maybe it was better.
I once again race-walked the
second half of the lap. As I started
running again at the beginning of my third lap, I no longer noticed my right knee
at all. It actually felt better than
yesterday. Meanwhile, my left Achilles
tendon was still a bit tight, but I didn’t have any more twinges of pain. Running the first half of each lap and
walking the second half seemed like it was going to be manageable.
Through my first five laps, I
continued to average 16 minutes per lap.
Then I had to stop to refill my bottle, and for the first time, I fell
behind that pace.
Someone asked me how fast I was
walking. I didn’t actually know. I only knew my total time for each lap. I didn’t know how much was running and how
much was walking.
On my next lap, I checked my
time at the turnaround. I was running
the first half of each lap in seven minutes and walking the second half in nine
minutes. I had to wait until after the
race to calculate my pace. It works out
to a running pace of 9:37 per mile and a walking pace of 12:21 per mile.
The first time I tried to eat some
solid food, I realized I was doing things in the wrong order. Yesterday, I was starting a walking break
each time I left the aid station. That
meant I was always unwrapping and eating food while walking. Today, I was always running as I felt the aid
station. Eating a small candy bar while
running isn’t that difficult, as long as the wrapper comes off easily. A few laps later, I tried to eat a
Nutri-grain bar. It wasn’t as easy to open
the wrapper while running, and those bars break apart easily. To keep from dropping crumbs, I had to open
one end and then basically slide the whole bar into my mouth at once. I had already left the aid station, so I had
to chew and swallow it without any water or Gatorade. I didn’t do that again.
I considered switching to
walking the first half and running the second half. That would make eating easier, but I would
need to walk the first half of one lap immediately after walking the second
half of the previous lap. I didn’t know
if I could walk that far at once.
Because of my fast walking
pace, I was putting much more energy into the walking. Walking gave me a break from running, but
running also gave me a break from walking.
Each gait used different muscles, and of the two, walking was more
tiring.
Because we were doing a shorter
loop today, we made more visits to the aid station. I was drinking Gatorade more frequently, so I decided
that I didn’t need any more solid food.
I continued running the first half of each lap. For the rest of the race, I just drank
Gatorade.
I reached the halfway mark in
2:25, which put me on pace to finish in 4:50.
I was beginning to slow down, but I was still going much faster than
yesterday.
During my 12th lap, I started
to notice some pain in my big toe. I
assumed it was a blister. I’m much more
prone to developing blisters when I race-walk, so I assumed it was the walking
that was causing it. Usually, I get them
around the back of my heel. I assumed a
blister on my toe would be easier to drain.
I had enough discomfort in my
toe that I seriously considered just running the rest of the way. The running actually felt easier. Most people who do run/walk pacing consider
the walking to be a break from the running.
Increasingly, I was finding the running to be a break from the
walking. My running pace felt casual,
while I was putting a lot of effort into my walking.
I still had six laps to go, which
is a third of the race. Running the last
six laps seemed like too much. I stuck
to run half, walk half for another lap and then asked myself the same
question. It still seemed like too much. One lap at a time, I kept doing the same
thing.
With five laps to go, I had to
refill my bottle again. With four laps
to go, I had to make a bathroom stop. My
walking pace was slowing down, and these delays made my laps even slower.
With three laps to go, I knew I
could run the rest of the way, but I liked the symmetry of always running one
half of the lap and walking the other half.
I could tolerate the painful toe.
I just wanted to make sure I was still on pace to break five hours.
With each passing lap, it
seemed more obvious that I could maintain my current run/walk pattern and still
break five hours. Midway through my last
lap, as I transitioned to walking, I looked at my watch. I had less than three quarters of a mile to
go, and I had almost 15 minutes to do it.
That was enough time that I could walk it at a casual pace. I continued to walk at the best pace I could,
although I could tell I was slowing down.
I finished in 4:54:18. I slowed down some in the second half of the
race, but that was to be expected. I haven’t
done enough race-walk training recently to sustain my pace. Still, I was much faster than yesterday, and
I did it with far less running.
It seems like I’ve found a
template for coping with my injuries. By
the end of the race, I wasn’t noticing my right knee at all. My left Achilles tendon is a long-term
concern, but the walking breaks kept it from getting worse. It actually seemed to get better. It was really only bothering me in the first
two laps.
If only all of these races had
a nice smooth paved course like this one.
This surface was ideal.
Most of the other races, unfortunately,
are some type of trail course. They’re
not technical, but the uneven surfaces make race-walking more difficult. I can’t get into a nice smooth rhythm.
The fastest two runners form
yesterday’s race weren’t here today.
There were other new arrivals, however, and they had fresh legs. One of them went out at a pace nobody else
could match. He led the race from wire
to wire. Despite walking half of the
race, I came in second.
I’ve finished the first two
races, but I still have 18 to go. Before
the race, I overheard another runner talking about her experience doing 11 in a
row. She said for the first four days,
each day got harder. After that, they
all felt the same. I could live with
that.
I have an insulated bag that
can hold at least two gallons of crushed ice.
When I got back to the hotel, I made a trip to the ice machine to fill
it. When I got back, I took off my shoes
and socks. My big toe was now so painful
I couldn’t wait to get my shoes off.
The sock on that foot felt really
snug on my toes. When I pulled it off, I
saw the source of my pain. I had a big
blood blister under my toenail. I was
wrong about it being easy to drain. I
couldn’t see any easy way to relieve the pressure under my toenail.
The toenail with the blister
was on my left foot. I got the ice so I
could ice my left ankle. I pushed my
left foot into the bag filled with ice.
While icing my ankle, I also iced my toe. I propped my right leg onto a chair and put
an ice pack on my right knee. Might as
well ice everything at once.
After I was done icing, I took
a hot bath to loosen up my muscles. Then
I did all my usual stretches and massages.
My knee and my ankle are feeling OK.
My toe still hurts.
I’m hoping the blister was caused
by a tight sock, rather than by my race-walking. If that’s the case, I just need to be more
careful putting on my socks. I’m hoping
my body will gradually reabsorb the fluid under my toenail. We’ll see.
Every day seems to bring a new adventure.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:54:18
Average Pace: 11:14
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
407
Minnesota Marathons: 60
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