The Bulldozer Distracted Me!

9:37PM

It started out great. Today I mean. I had planned to do 10 miles. Had a great running week last week. Ran 28 miles and mostly felt good with the exception of some hot temps, but overall, it was a great week. Especially considering that I didn't run at all the week prior. I wasn't sure how my first week back would go after I took 9 days off for tendonitis. But it went great. Have I said that already?

So I planned a 10 miler. I wanted to try a new route. I love my routes, but every once in a while, you want something different, you know? I wanted the last 2 miles of my run to be through Radnor Lake. I haven't gotten to run there in a long time b/c of the recent floods. The floods destroyed sections of the road at Radnor and the public hasn't been allowed to walk through there since May 1. It just opened last week so I was anxious to go back through there. One problem. The main road to get to Radnor Lake's road is closed this week for construction. I knew this but hadn't seen it. So I had a decision to make....

Do I skip the route and try again next week? Or do I risk it, assume it's only closed for cars and assume I can get through on foot? I chose option B. I knew it would be closed to cars, but I figured there had to be a way through for me, a lowly pedestrian. I mean the construction workers have to get through, right? Even if I have to walk way over in the grass on the side of the road, surely there will be a way through, right? Oh there was a way through all right.

The weather was perfect. Low 70's. It rained last night so it was even a little cool outside. It was going to be a great run. I could feel it. And the first half was. I ran 5 easy. Great pace. Felt good. It was going by fast. Then I approached the construction site. I could see the cones and barriers as I approached. I was kindof excited. It was like an adventure. Was I going to be able to get through? I figured at worst I would not be able to get through and I could just turn around and go back the way I came. The site was at about the exact 5 mile point of this 10 mile run. As I got closer, I could tell that I was going to be able to get through. There were 2 very large machines in the road and the road dipped down a little, but it was passable. My gamble had paid off. Or so I thought. That's when I made my big mistake.

Note to self and all of yous reading.....if you are going through a construction site or even any kind of bumpy terrain, WALK, DON'T RUN!! Why I decided to run it, I'll never know. But I did. I wasn't running fast, mind you, but I was jogging. I got through the first set of barriers, around the first big machine, over the dip in the road. All I had left was the 2nd machine. A giant bulldozer. It was really blocking the road. I was either going to have to go under the "scoop" of the machine or hold on to the scoop and lean around it. There was a ditch on either side of it. I was looking at the machine while running trying to decide which to do when it happened. I must have stepped on a rough patch or a rock. I honestly don't know. But it twisted BAD! My ankle that is. My right foot went up and my ankle went down. In other words, my ankle and foot made an "L" shape in the wrong way. It was quick but it hurt like the devil himself. I yelped and immediately knew it was bad.

This happened to me before. About 10 years ago on a school trip with my students, I stepped wrong and the same ankle did the same thing. I heard the pop then and I heard it today. I almost ran into the bulldozer from the stumble. I quickly decided to hold on to the scoop and lean around it. It worked. But I couldn't keep running. My ankle was gone. I hobbled over to the side of the road and tried to stretch it. It hurt. I thought about calling my wife to come pick me up but quickly remembered I don't carry a phone. I had already passed the site so I wasn't going back the way I came. It was 5 miles either way anyways. I started walking. I was limping. I walked about a half mile and then decided to run a little. After all, we go to church early on Sundays. I had to get home at a certain time. I didn't have all morning to finish this run. I could run but I looked ridiculous because I was quickly trying to get to my good foot so it was a very unbalanced run. I approached the road that Radnor Lake is on. To top it all off, my other foot was getting a blister between two toes (where did that come from - I never get blisters anymore) AND I had to go to the bathroom.

When I got to Radnor Lake road, I stopped to walk again. I quickly hurried to the welcome center at the park praying it would be open. It was. Yay. Bathrooms. "Sorry, bathrooms closed due to Nashville water shortage". What? You have got to be kidding me. I went back outside and spotted the 2 port-a-johns. Oh yeah, I'm going for it. I didn't care. When you gotta go...... I walked up the hill to the lake and walked a little more. I decided to run a little through the park. That's pretty much how the rest of my run went. Walk run walk run. For what it's worth, it was a beautiful run through the park. I saw no less than 10 deer. One was in the road right in front of me and I as I ran up, she casually and calmly walked just out of my range. I could've so easily reached out and touched her. Saw baby deer. Just awesome. Wish my ankle didn't hurt so bad so I could really enjoy it. As you leave the park, you come to a huge hill. Down. I decided to run it. It was getting slightly easier to run, but still hurt a lot. I ran the rest of the way home. About a mile. I got home and had averaged just under 9 min. per mile (after subtracting 5 min. for the port-a-john visit) which I thought was good considering.

I knew what my ankle would look like before I took off my socks. And it was. Huge and swollen. Just like last time. Looks like the picture even though that's not me. It's still swollen right now as I type this. I've been icing all day and have worn a brace (that I got from last time) almost all day. I tried to run a few steps in the backyard tonight just to see. Nope. Too soon. It hurts. This kills me. I can't stand not running. I already did that. 2 weeks ago! I don't know when I'll try again but I can't wait long. I'm sorry. I know I need to take off a while. I'll just have to play it day by day and see. Arrrrggghh! Oh well, I've officially failed in goal #11 over there - "stay injury free". After tendonitis and this episode, I can throw that one out the window.

I'll keep you posted. Pray for a speedy recovery. I am. Again, even though I can't at the moment, I hope you....

Keep runnin',
Albert

Tough Choice. Which Do You Like?

10:56 PM

I just went for a 5 mile run. Went pretty well. It's been so hot late into the night the last few days. It was 84 tonight and 86 last night when I ran. That's hot. There's a slight breeze but I can still feel the heat and I am drenched when I get home. Makes the runs a little tougher but I guess they are that much better for me. Ate a late dinner tonight so had a slight side cramp and bathroom urge while I ran. Sorry for that detail. Made it fine though.

I think the pool is going to work! We moved it into the flattest part of our yard we could find. I transferred the dirt to make it even flatter. It's still not perfect but I think it'll do. It's about 2/3 full of water right now and I've stopped it for the night. I'll fill it the rest of the way tomorrow and we'll see how level it is. But it looks good so far. Needless to say, if it doesn't' work this time, it's over!

Last thing. Meant to put this on here earlier. Many of you have heard about this so you can ignore, but Disney is allowing the public to vote on this year's marathon medal. The choices are below. You can click on it if you want to vote. You can vote as many times as you want until July 28.




It's a tough choice but personally, I am voting for #1. I like them all and so I really won't care which wins. I'd love #3 if it didn't have the chain and date hanging down. I don't like that detail. And I don't like that #2 has no color. So #1 is the best for me, but again, I'll be fine with any of them. Again, feel free to vote if you want. That's it for tonight. It's late and I'm tired. Good night.

Keep runnin',
Albert

Stupid Pool!

8:39PM

Ok, this has nothing to do with running but I'm about to go drain our new above ground pool after we've almost filled it up. It's very lopsided. I thought we got the ground level underneath, but apparently not. Arrrrgggh! Very frustrating. Apparently we have zero level ground in our yard b/c this is clearly the flattest piece and it still didn't work. I have spent hours today setting it up and it kills me that we have to start over. Oh well. Life ain't fair I guess. I'll live. Back to running....

I ran this morning for the first time in 9 days. I wasn't sure how much to run. I probably should've started out smaller but I decided to do 8 miles. I was going to do my normal Sunday 12. Then I thought that would probably be way too much to start out on so I went to 10. Then I smarted up a little more and settled on 8. Again, I probably should've just done 3 or 4 to start back up but the 8 went fine. The good news was that my ankle didn't really hurt at all. That was what I was worried about. It was a little bit of a tough run though just because I could feel that I hadn't run in a while. My legs were a little tight and I got tired pretty quick but I knew I'd make it. Overall, it was a good run and I ran it in an average of 8:30 per mile which is a little slow for me but not bad. One thing I need to do more of is to stretch AFTER my run. I don't usually do that but I'm going to try to start. Or even at random times. I think that will help my ankle to not start hurting again.

Last thing - I think I found my 10K. One of my goals this year was to run a 10K since I've never run that distance. At our Memorial Day 5K, I found a brochure for the Chick-Fil-A 10K on September 11 (my birthday coincidentally). It is in Murfreesboro, TN which is only 30 min. away. As long as my team doesn't have a Cross Country meet that day, I should be good to go. And I don't think they will. A few days after I got the brochure, a friend mentioned that I should run it and that she had before so that was a sign that I've picked the right race. I'm still gonna wait a little while to register to make sure I don't have conflicts, but that should be my next official race. Too hot to do any this summer! It's supposed to be 99 degrees here tomorrow. YUCK! Too bad we don't have a pool to cool off in. Arrggghhh - again!

Ok, off to drain. Hope everyone has a great week!

Keep runnin',
Albert

I'm Going! Not Sure About Coming Home??

9:19PM

Well, I'm going to Disney. Again. I booked my flight yesterday to travel down on Jan. 7 for the Goofy Challenge!! I'm very excited. I could only book my flight down because Southwest opened up their flight schedule yesterday through Jan. 7. I couldn't book my flight home. But I didn't want to miss out on the flight and wait several months for them to open it up more. So I know I'm going. Hopefully I'll get the flight home. If not, I could stay there for a while. Nobody at home really needs me, right?

I'll be traveling down to WDW on Friday, Jan. 7. I'll check in and head straight for the Wide World of Sports to register for the races. I'll run the half on Saturday, the full on Sunday, and then stay Monday to enjoy the latest Disney perk. Disney just came out with a new deal for this year's race. Anyone who runs the full on Sunday (not half - sorry halfers) gets to enter a park of their choice on Monday. Nice deal. I was thinking about getting a one day pass, but now I won't have to. Now I just have to decide which park to go to on Monday. I'll fly home Monday afternoon/evening so I won't have a full day in the park but a few hours will be fun. So now I'm officially official. I have to go. Don't want to waste a flight. Can not wait for this trip.

Not running this week has been weird but like I said, I have enjoyed the extra time. I've been living it up on this vacation. Naps. Reading. Playing games with the boys. Next week it's back to the grind. I still plan to start back Sunday and run. My ankles still hurt a little in the mornings. Hope I'm helping them by taking this week off. Not sure what I'll do Sunday. Time will tell. That's it for now. I also posted a similar report on the "Goofy Running" blog. Hoping more will post there as the race approaches. More later.

Keep runnin',
Albert

It's Gonna Be Weird

8:26PM

I'm not going to run for the next week. Say what? Yep, that's what I said. It's been a while - 3 years maybe - since I've taken a full week off. I usually take it easy after a marathon or half but I've never not run at all. I'll usually at least do a couple of 3 mile runs. But I'm taking the full week off. Actually, the last time I ran was Thursday so I'm taking 9 days off. I won't run again until Sunday, June 20. The reason??? Tendonitis. Tendinitis. Tinden... my ankle hurts. I went to the doctor during the last week in May and explained that my ankles often hurt, especially in the morning. And it's right on the bone. Especially my left one. He said it's tendonitis. He said of all the running injuries, that's the "best" one to get, but he recommended taking some time off. He said 2 weeks. I'll give him 9 days. I wasn't going to do it. My son and I had that race on Memorial Day so I knew I couldn't do it before that. And then, summer really began and I had more time to run. But the last few days, they've been hurting more than usual. Plus, I'm on vacation, so what better time to take off. I ran 21 miles this week and it was fine once I got going, but the first mile for each of the runs was tough. And the mornings after were ouchy. So I'll give it a shot. It's gonna be tough. I feel weird not running. Especially since I'm on vacation and we're eating a lot! I need to run. We will be walking some and swimming, but I enjoy running here. I'll be honest and say I'll enjoy the extra time away from running and not dealing with the heat, but it'll still be tough. I'm a little worried about losing my training, but I guess 9 days isn't too bad. Not sure how I'll start back, but I'll have to get back into it quick and start eating well again b/c I'm sure I'll gain a little weight. I actually already have since summer began.

But I'll get back into it. And I'll take the weight off once again. Gotta start thinking Chicago training for October fairly soon. Well, that's it. Quick update. Not sure when I'll post again b/c I won't be running. But I'll try to soon. Even though I won't, don't forget to...

Keep runnin',
Albert

We Have a Winner!

2:37PM

I mentioned in the last post that I'd put some pictures up from our trip to Disney, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to upload them on here. So I'll put the video I made instead. It's better than any pictures can do. Check it out - then read below.





Monday morning, my 8 year old, Carter and I ran in the Memorial Day Dash 5K here in Nashville. It started at Greer Stadium where our minor league baseball team, the Sounds, play. It started outside the stadium but during the first half mile, we were ushered into the stadium and got to run the perimeter of the field. We then ran up to Fort Negley which is a pretty big hill top fort in Nashville. I'm assuming it has some Civil War history to it. I teach World History, not U.S. Sorry. Then, we ran past the Adventure Science Museum and into the Nashville City Cemetery which does have a lot of Civil War heroes buried there among other famous Nashvillians. We knew the finish was going to be in the cemetery, but you get to it at mile 2 so they wind you around A LOT inside the cemetery. We could see the finish a half mile before we got there.

I had no idea what to expect. This was Carter's 2nd 5K race. We ran 26:23 in the first one. I never thought we'd beat that for 2 reasons:

1. We had not trained for this one like we did for the last. Plus, we were at Disney last week and he didn't run at all. Just walked a lot.
2. The first race was FLAT. No hills at all. This one had several. The downhills were nice, but that meant there were several uphills. Personally, I like to keep pace or go a little faster on uphills but not the boy. He told me a few times to slow down and it always seemed to come on the uphills.

So I was not expecting a PR. I was just trying to do our best. We hit our first mile at 8:17 which was really good. Last race our first mile was 8:30. We hit our 2nd mile around 16:30 which meant we had run faster for the 2nd mile. I knew at this point that he could PR if we kept pace but I wasn't sure if we could. It was hard to read him. He said he was fine but he wasn't talking much or giving me any good/bad signs. I tried to keep pace as much as possible. When we saw the finish with .1 left, I told him to give it all he had and he sprinted. He sprinted like crazy. I was so proud. We came in at 26:01 - a 22 second PR for him. I was so impressed. I don't know how we did it.

We stuck around for the awards not sure if he had placed. There seemed to be a lot of kids there but it was hard to know if they were in his 0-9 age bracket or not. We had passed a boy around mile 1 1/2 that I thought was in his age group. They went from oldest to youngest so we had to wait around until the end. They announced 2nd place - the boy we passed. Then they announced first place - Carter Thweatt. He won his age group! Again, I was so proud. He got a certificate which is now hanging on his wall. He was all smiles all day.

It was a great Memorial Day and a great race. If I had gone all out and run my hardest, I think I would've placed 3rd in my age group, but who knows. I don't care. I enjoyed running with Carter. I can't wait to see him race again.

Keep runnin',
Albert