Sunday, May 9, 2010

Broad Street 10 miler done!

Weeeellll! I haven't been on in a bit. The Sunday before the big 10 miler, I ran 5 miles. At the end of the 5 miles, my left leg felt funny. It progressed into me limping. It felt like someone kicked me in the shin with steel toed boots. I didn't hit it or bang it. I was able to do my spin class on Monday night. It still hurt but didn't get any worse. I had a friend xray it for me - negative, nada. The 10 miler was fast approaching. No way was I going to punk out.

So I taped my leg up the wazoo. I didn't sleep much Saturday night because I was so nervous. Up at 5 and over to Phila. We parked and took the subway - can you say mobbed? I am still new to this and have never experienced a porta-potty debacle like the one at the start of the race. OMG. After a 50 minute wait in line, the dun went off promptly at 8:30am. The people near us didn't move. No one got out of line for the potties. By the time I got to one - eeewwwww!!! Humans actually did this????

Get in line to start the race with hubby. I was #27711 and he was 27712. They started our corral at 9am. Did I mention that it was 90 degrees out????? I don't do well in the heat. We brought our own water bottles with us and kept filling it up at the water stops. One really quick mile down and I started to limp-run. My left leg was killing me. So we slowed to a quick walk. That's the way it went for the rest of the 9 miles, run a little and walk a little. We finished in 2:23. It wasn't pretty but I finished.

Did I mention it was 90 degrees? People were dropping like flies. The City turned on the fire hydrants to sprinklers all the way down Broad Street. While it felt good to get hit with the cold water, my sneakers got soaked. I have never had a blister problem before. Well, my feet blistered because of the wet sneakers.

We had to fly home, get showered and run back to Phila to make an appearance at my nephew's Christening party. My month long abstinence of alcohol was over and I couldn't wait. Well, lack of sleep and run/walking 10 miles will tire you out - I was too tired for movie night and fell asleep on the couch.

A week later and I am still limping. I am supposed to run a 5K in 7 hours (I am working a 12 hour night shift right now) and I don't think I will be able to do it. I may just walk it. It is in the park next to my house. I have lost 36 pounds so far and wanted to lose 5 more pounds before we leave for Las Vegas in 9 days!!!!! My exercising has been severely curtailed because of my leg.
Here were are after the 10 miles!




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3 comments:

  1. BootchezMay 9, 2010 at 11:05 AM

    Congrats on your big race!! You're something, running through all the pain. Now that you've met your immediate objective, LET IT HEAL!

    Gotta love the perks of the job, those clandestine xrays ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah KMay 11, 2010 at 4:53 PM

    Congratulations on your race! 90 degrees is no joke!

    ReplyDelete
  3. SusanMay 12, 2010 at 4:55 PM

    90 degrees?? That is H-O-T and I live in Alabama! Congrats on finishing that race, you had a lot of obstacle and yet, you finished! Way to go!

    ReplyDelete

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Getting ready for my very first run!

After I renigged on my promise to run the Broad Street 10 miler with my friend Chrissy D - I decided to make it up to her by running the Ben Franklin Bridge 10k. Did you read below where I NEVER ran before? She told me that if I cancelled on her again, she would drag me across the bridge by my hair. Okaay then.

I was in shape until a work injury side-lined me (a patient decided to herniate two discs in my neck and tear my shoulder in two places - thanks!) So kiss that bikini goodbye. Pain and inactivity followed. I found myself unable to sleep and in front of the pantry at 3am - everything screaming "eat me!" My day consisted of Percocet, Valium, Red Bull. Percocet for the pain, Valium for the muscle spasms, Red Bull so I could pretend to play mommy for my children. So, physical therapy, epidurals, steroid injections and 40 pounds later, I decided that getting ready for this run was going to help me get back into shape. (I decided against 3 surgeries at this time.)

I had already conquered the ellipticals at the gym. I could do them for an hour on level 6 and barely break a sweat. Surely I could run a measely 6.2 miles. I moved on to the treadmill. I couldn't even run .25 miles continuously. This was a lot harder than it looked.

The Ben Franklin Bridge is almost 3 miles back and forth and it went up, up, up!! and then down. The first time I crossed it (walking, mind you) on the pedestrian cross-walk, my calves were cursing me in three languages. What did I sign up for - who was I kidding?

I downloaded inspiring, fast beat music to keep me pumped up and ready (Britney, Buck Cherry's Crazy Bitch (yep that's me), Pink, PCD, etc.) I decided that I would go for distance and not speed. I discovered that I had exercise-induced asthma when I pushed a little too far (anything at that time was too far). Soon I was able to run a mile, then 2 - at once. I continued to "do" the bridge and even took my kids a couple of times. I had to find a better way to keep my iphone close. They didn't make an arm band that I liked so I found a "runner's belt" online and soon had it. I tried it out one day in the park. My 11 year old was with me and started laughing when I put my iphone in it. "Seriously mom, a fanny pack?" It is not a fanny pack, it is a belt. It stays still, doesn't ride up and I can put my keys in it too. So there!

The weight was slowly coming off. I decided to take a drastic measure - no alcohol at all for the month before the race (oh no, what was I thinking.) My goal was 20 pounds by race day. I continued to plod along on the treadmill. I was up to 5k with almost no problems. However, when I tried to run outside, my body rebelled. The park trail was 1.3 miles - however, it was not flat (but hey - either was the bridge). I was a wheezing, sweaty mess .4 miles into the "run." I was running faster than I was used to on the treadmill. (GPS is a wonderful thing - an app I downloaded on my iphone let me know my distance, speed, and even mapped my route - love the gadgets!)

Strep throat struck my son (11) and he generously shared it with me two weeks before the race. I bought new sneakers (Asics Nimbus Gel 11) and my shins and calves let me know it was not a good idea to change things two weeks before the run. So I went back to my Nike Lunar Glides and made everybody happy. My 16 year old decided he would like to try on the Swine Flu one week before the run. My throat was still bothering me from last week and my chest was tight. I was having some serious doubts if I would be able to finish this race. Not to mention Lysol toxicity from degerming the whole house.

I completed 5.5 miles on the treadmill on my birthday, 6 days before the Sunday race, and for the first time I thought I might be able to do it. It rained for the next two days, so I didn't run the bridge (think shuffle up and run down). I worked Friday night and had off on Halloween. Was I ready? I made my goal of losing 20 pounds two days before the run - yeah me! (20 more to go!)
P.S. Read posts bottom up :)

Ben Franklin Bridge

Ben Franklin Bridge

Kids on the Bridge

Kids on the Bridge