The MS Runner

Running While Battling Foot Blisters, Leg Cramps, Black Toe Nails - and MS

Archive for the ‘Colfax Marathon’


The Gas Cap

I don’t usually endorse products on my site, or have any ads for any products. There is a product that I came across recently that I thought I would share with you. It’s called the Gas Cap

I wore this last weekend at the Colfax Marathon and I thought it was great. It’s a running hat that you can store your goo’s and gel’s in. It has slots on the side that hold the gels and when you need one, just give it a tug and there you go. No fumbling with the zipper of the pouch on your heavy fuel belt, or for those that pin them on your shorts, no more trying to open the pin while running. The gels stay in place while running, and slide out easy when you need them. This was invented by a runner named Carla Melton from Longmont, Colorado in January 2007. She sells these at race expos across the country, and also online at www.gogascap.com.

The Lowdown on The Colfax Marathon

The Colfax Marathon is over, and I wonder if it will be around next year. There was only 488 marathoners that ran, which seems really lame. I’m not sure of the half marathon or the relay teams, but the total number of people was way down. Plus, they just don’t seem like they know what’s going on. At the Expo the day before, I went to pick up my bib and they had me listed in the half marathon. And they even ran out of shirts for the marathoners. How could you run out? There wasn’t even 500 of us.

I went into the day hoping to hit about 3:50, but the weather forecast made me adjust my prediction. I knew the 2nd half of the marathon was going to be hot, so I was hoping to at least get under the 4 hour mark. The heat is the worst enemy for people with MS. There are a lot of people that can’t even go outside in this type of weather if they are infected with this disease. I know that by the time I finished, it was in the 80’s and no clouds.

My first 18 miles weren’t too bad. I was hitting my times that I wanted to and still feeling okay. At about 2 1/2 miles, the run took us right in front of The Irish Snug Pub, and Frank, the owner, had a Guiness waiting for me! How many runners can say that they had a beer at any point during that run? Maybe I should of had one more towards the end. At mile 10, my quad was hurting, but not to the point where it was affecting my run. We hit the halfway point and turned around and headed east right into the sun. The good thing was that it was mostly downhill. I was feeling good and confident. But then at mile 18, I had to go to the bathroom, and yes, it was THE dreaded bathroom break. I lost 4 minutes at that point, and for some reason, I lost my energy. The run from there took us into downtown Denver and as you know, it’s always hotter downtown. There was also a couple of nasty “hills” to deal with which is always a challenge at any point of a race. I decided on one incline that I better save my energy so I walked up and that was even hard to do! With 3 miles to go, I knew that I wasn’t going to break 4 hours, so I think that at that instance, I kind of gave up. I still ran, but not as hard as I should have, because I figured, “what’s the point?” I look back now and I realize that you should never give up. Those last few miles of the marathon are very important to whatever level you are at, and if you can dig deep within yourself, that will just make you that much stronger for your next marathon or at whatever run that you do. Anyways, I finished at 4:09:56, which was a PR for me by 5 minutes. Here are my “stats”;

Overall - 177 out of 488

Age Division - 20 out of 50

Gender - 136 out of 307

10K - 55:11

15K - 1:23:04

25K - 2:16:48

30K - 2:47:41

From this point, I’m not sure what I want to do. I’ve talked about taking a break from marathon training and maybe just running some half marathons. Maybe when my brain gets un-fried, I’ll be able to think better and make a rational decision. We shall see.

It’s almost here! And I’m not ready

The Colfax Marathon is almost here. May 18th to be exact, and I am tapering down. But I feel like I should be getting in more miles since I missed quite a few runs with my quad problem. But wisdom tells me that I should not be getting in more miles, and that I need to taper more than I need to get more miles in. So, it doesn’t appear that I will break any records, so I’ll just take what I can get. The leg feels almost 100% better, so in that respect, I am happy. I ran hard for the first time last night, and I could tell that I have lost some speed. I guess the Kenyans and the Ethiopians are safe for another year.

After this marathon, I think I will take it easy and just run to keep in shape. Possibly run a couple of half marathons, and some 10K’s, but not do another marathon this year. At my age, 43 53, I need some rest. I keep getting injured, so it’s either my mechanics, or I’m over training. Either way, I’m going to take it easy on myself.

Coming up after the Colfax, is The Bolder Boulder, which is an awesome 10K. I think that they said that it was the largest 10K race in the U.S. Last year they had 50,000 runners, and my son Jason came in from North Carolina to run it. Of course I beat him, and in fact I beat him so bad that he’s not coming this year. Too bad.

A Runner’s Number One Fear

Well after a whole week off from running, I ventured out on Saturday to test my leg and see how it would hold up.  I was quite surprised that after 5 miles, I felt great.  I was scheduled to do 20, and I was hoping for 10.  So instead of turning around at the 5 mile mark, I pushed onward.  At one point, between 7 and 8 miles, I came to this uphill portion which in itself isn’t bad, but then Mr. Wind decided to exhale and it seemed like I was walking for a mile.  In Colorado near the foothills, it can get extremely windy.  I think at that point, I would have been wise to turn around, but as I’ve said before, I’m not too smrt smart.  I turned around at 10 miles and headed back knowing that for most of the run, it would be downhill and the wind would be at my back.  My leg was feeling fine and I was determined to grind it out.  The only problem was that my body had other plans for me.  At about mile 14, my leg started to hurt, but not really too bad.  Then the unthinkable happened.  Yes, my friends and family, I got gas real bad!  Hey!  Someone has to admit it, and that someone is ME.  I stopped running for fear of having my nice $40 running shorts ruined.  How embarrassing.  I ended up walking the final 4 miles with my butt cheeks firmly clamped together.  After awhile, it all made sense.  My body was telling me that I needed to take it easy on my leg, but instead of making my leg hurt, my body gave me gas.

Today I feel great.  My leg is a little sore, but overall it feels fine.  I think that this week will be the deciding point to see if I’ll be running The Colfax Marathon on May 18.  After this week, I start to taper, so I need to get in some good quality workouts so I can gauge my fitness and see how my leg is holding up.  I’m confident that this will be a good week and that I will be back on track.  I just need to find the bathroom.

Now you’ve gone and done it

I had a feeling this might happen.  I woke up Saturday and drove to the Greenland Trail race that I was going to be doing, and my leg felt pretty good.  There was still some soreness, but not too bad.  Before the run, I was able to do some easy quad stretches, and I didn’t feel any pain at all.  As I stated in earlier post, I have been having a sore quad muscle.  Anyways, I started out running slow, mainly because of the trail conditions, and the number of slow runners in front of me.  After mile 1, the elevation started going up and within a span of 4 miles, went from an elevation of 6,875 to 7,425.  I believe that was my downfall.  I still ran (of course.  I am a male!) and once I started going back downhill, I thought I’d be fine.  The course is 8 miles, and I was going to do 16, which meant doing 2 loops.  I hope I didn’t lose anybody there with my overly educated math skills.  I finished the first loop and started back on the 2nd 8 miles.  Well after a little bit of elevation gain again, I was toast.  My leg really started hurting, and I tried to over compensate for it and ended up starting to put a strain on my knee.  At this point I stopped, put my tail between my legs, and turned around.  I was officially a DNF (did not finish).

It’s not so much that I didn’t finish, it’s that I think that I really did some damage to my leg.  Today it hurts like hell and I had a hard time going up and down stairs.  I’m really worried that this is going to set me back on my training and maybe even make me postpone doing The Colfax this year.  That would really suck.

Colfax Marathon warm up

This weekend I am going to run in the Greenland Trail 50K.  Not that I would run 50K though.  There’s actually a 25K and an 8 Mile run.  I’m going to do the 25K which is about 16 miles, on trail, with altitude.  I was thinking of wearing a back pack full of rocks just for fun also.   I was going to run this as a race, but my left quad (I love saying quad.  Quad, quad, quad) has been hurting the last couple of days, so if it’s not better by Saturday, I’m going to take it a bit easy.  My marathon is 4 weeks away, so I don’t want to be doing anything stupid.  But then again, I’ve never been one to be real smrt  smart.

How do you like my baseball prediction so far?  2 ways you can look at it.  The Tigers suck and they are in last, or the Tigers are just getting warmed up and they are only 4 1/2 games back of first.  I’ll go with the latter.

I never did do my 6 word memoir.  I’m such a slacker and I apologize for my slackification.  I was thinking of this;                                                                                      

                                 “I used to be wild and crazy, now I’m just mild and lazy”

I think that’s slightly more than 6, so I’m still working on it.

I know weather is crazy all over the country, but this is ridiculous.  This past Tuesday in Denver, it was 85 degrees!  Then on Wednesday, it was 35 and snowing.  It’s global warming mixed in with the new ice age.

The Real Training Starts Now

Well now it’s time to get serious again.  I’m going to be running The Colfax Marathon which is about 16 short weeks away.  Although I have been running every week, I haven’t put in too many quality runs, and my diet and exercise regime has been pretty sad.  So time to eat right, get more exercise, start my running program.

It looks like my hip problems are more about not stretching enough than anything else, so I will concentrate on stretching more and maybe even join a yoga class.

I also need to concentrate on exercising to build strength in my abs and my back.  From all that I’ve read, building that core will help a runner significantly.

My diet is not all that bad, but I guess it could be better.  I tend to eat way too much crap on the weekend, and then try and make up for it during the week.  I think that once football season is over with, I’ll be better.

I went running the other night and the wind was so bad that at one point a gust of wind hit me and almost knocked me over.  And it actually blew out one of the lenses from my brand new glasses!  The wind must have blown it far away, because I could not even find it.  Luckily, the eyeglass place replaced it for free.

I know that I will get in a few races before my marathon.  Here’s a couple that I’m looking at;

Runnin’ of the Green Lucky 7K – March 16 – Downtown

Denver

Greenland Trail Run – 25K – April 19 -

Greenland, CO at an altitude of 7,000 feet!

 

Next Marathon?

I’m struggling with what I want to do for my next marathon.  I originally thought I would go back to Michigan and run in a marathon in Traverse City in May, but now I’m leaning towards the Colfax Marathon.  They changed the course a bit for next year and it may actually be somewhat of an easy run.  It’s still at high altitude, but the course is mainly flat with few elevation changes.  I also know many other runners that will be running this one and it’s always nice to see some familiar faces when you’re out there running.  They also have a deal going until the end of the month whereas you sign up and a friend can sign up for free!  I asked a few runners that I know if they want to do that, but so far no takers.

I ran 12 miles Saturday morning and, Oh my gosh!  It was cold!  When I started out, it was 4 degrees, and by the end of my run, it was close to 20.  At least the sun was out!  I also had to wear my Yaktrax since there is snow on the ground

We had an office party the other night and my crew bought me a light to wear around my head when I’m running for my present.  I can’t wait to try it out.  It’s tough running these days because it’s dark when I go running after work and I really don’t want to go indoors yet and run on the treadmill.  I’m hoping the light keeps me from running into trees anymore.