The MS Runner

This is my first entry using my new computer. After 7 (?) years, I finally got a new one. The old one still worked and would do most of what I wanted, but I could tell it was getting to be like me. Takes awhile to get going and it may sputter out before it’s done. My CD/DVD drive wasn’t working which was bad because I couldn’t upload any songs from a CD to my MP3 player and most importantly, I couldn’t install the software that came with my Garmin that Diane bought me for Christmas. Well no more of that gigabyte breath! Now I am totally hooked up and there’s no excuse for me to not make the Olympic Marathon team. Really, how did they run marathons in the old days without knowing elevation gain, mile splits, and a feature that gets you back to the start? Now I can upload my run for the day and it will tell me everything, even how long my bathroom break was. I’m just now starting to figure out the features of this and once I have that mastered, I will still be the humble person that I always was.

I did 22 miles today and my calves are rebelling against me. I’ve pretty much just stayed on the couch most of the rest of the day, and I even give my calves a gentle massage. But they seem to be mad at me. When I get up to walk, they crunch up in a little ball and refuse to move. Don’t say anything, but I think that they are a bunch of babies. Nothing worse than baby calves! My run itself was nothing much to write about other than some of the awesome views that I saw. At one point, I’m running around this golf course that is right at the foothills. Very nice.

I didn’t get a chance to run as much this week because I had a chance to have a root canal done on Tuesday. No really. I don’t know if it was luck, or karma, or someone watching over me, but I got the pleasure of someone drilling my tooth, and extracting the nerve. I think that right now I should stop writing and go get a lotto ticket. It just doesn’t get any better.

This past Saturday I ran 18 miles on a somewhat of a hilly route, and I feel great! I thought for sure that I would be moaning and groaning the rest of the day Saturday, and into Sunday. The weather was a tad chilly to begin with. Only 28 degrees and windy. Of course I took it easy though and my pace overall was 9:15. I started out real easy and for the first few miles, I was at a 9:45 pace. After 6 miles, I picked it up a bit and I was doing about an 8:30 pace. It felt real smooth and I probably could have done a bit faster, but I didn’t want to push myself . The last couple of miles were slow and by that time, the sun was really shining, and as I started to come down this hill, off to the horizon I could see Pikes Peak clear as day. It looked magnificent and I almost didn’t want my run to end.

Seeing that made me forget about how my legs ached going up that last hill. It made me forget about how cold it was when I first started out. It made me forget about how I forgot to start my Garmin when I started running. Was this mile 17 or 16? It just didn’t matter anymore.

Week one of my marathon training is in the bag, and I even got in a race today (Sunday).  I wasn’t planning on doing the run, but the race was just a 5K and it’s always nice to get the competitive juices going.  Plus the weather here (Denver, CO) is fantastic!  At race time it was 45 degrees, and right now it’s 65.  This is January in Colorado?  At least in the mountains it’s winter which is a good thing because they have the X Games going on in Aspen.  Anyway, back to ME.  I did 33 miles this week and even 2 yoga sessions.  Yes yoga!  Diane and I went to this one studio and tried out the class for free and decided that we liked it so we signed up for 6 classes.  It really feels good and I even worked up a sweat.  Oh by the way, the race I did today was a 5K, or 3.1 miles, but my Garmin actually measured it at 3.21.  Not sure what was up with that, but I’m going with 3.21 and I finished with a time of 24:27 which is 7:38 pace!  Being that I haven’t done any speed work for a month in a half and that I ran 14 miles the day before, I thought that was pretty darn good.

So it’s on to week two and I up my miles to 36 with Saturday being my long run at 16.  Hopefully the weather cooperates like it did this week.

Interesting post by fellow runner kch from The Web MD on traffic fatalities and marathons

I really can’t believe how expensive running is.  I thought that when I took up running, it would be a cheap alternative to any other sport that is out there.  I knew shoes wouldn’t be cheap.  A decent pair of shoes that you can get from a running store costs anywhere from $95 to $135!  And if you’re training for a marathon, those shoes may only last 6 months at the most.  If you are serious about running, it is a good idea to go to a running store to get your shoes.  They can do tests to see what kind of runner you are and what shoe would work best for you.  Or you can try this site from Runners World magazine.  But you may have to go to the running store anyway to get those shoes. For Christmas, Diane bought me a Garmin 305 GPS.  It is an awesome (and expensive!) tool to help a neophyte like myself become a better runner.  My biggest problem when I run a race, is my pace.  The 305 will tell you what your pace is, and many, many, many other things.

One good thing about running in the colder weather is that my MS symptoms are pretty much non existent.  Running in temperatures above 70 degrees can really make me fatigued and I feel the numbness in my side and my leg much more than normal.  I was looking forward to running tonight at The Irish Snug but Denver has gotten a lot of snow lately and it’s 15 degrees.  The cold temps don’t bother me, it’s the 8″ of snow I would have to run through.

You need to check out this site, Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy.  Funny stuff.

Jason and Michael (my 2 sons for those of you who may be reading this and don’t know) and myself are going to be running a marathon relay in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 8th.  I am running 13.1 miles, then Michael runs 3.1 miles, and then Jason finishes with a 10 miler.  It should be a lot of fun and it will be cool running a relay with my2 sons.  Hopefully the next time we run, we will all run together.  Jason and Michael are going to be running a half marathon on Nov 4, so it will be interesting to see how they do.  Jason has been training hard, and I know with Michaels work schedule, it’s hard for him to be consistent in his training, but he should be able to do it, just maybe not as fast as he wants.