First Quarter Update and My First Running Injury

I haven’t posted an update on running for a while, so I thought I would do that for this week’s post.

Running outdoors is very weather dependent.  And once you start enjoying running outdoors, the thought of running indoors, especially on a treadmill, is almost crippling.  I’d almost rather do anything else but run on a treadmill.

That said, we had a very snowy and icy winter this year.  Our Sunday church services were cancelled three Sundays this past winter.  Most of the schools in the area have started taking away holidays and days off to make up for the days the schools were closed this winter.  So, even on days where it was unfit to run outside, it was also too treacherous to drive to a gym or to the caves to run.  There were lots of days that we opted to stay home for safety.

For January, I again registered for the Battle of the Bean 5K.  This race was early Saturday morning, and we had a snow storm predicted for Friday night into Saturday morning.  At packet pickup, everyone was being asked if they were planning on attending the race.  If not, you were not given a timing chip.  I went to packet pickup with full intention of running the race on Saturday morning.  We all got a nice mug like last year except that they were blue this year.

As predicted, the snow and the blowing wind came.  The race was still on, but my friends and I decided that it was not worth the risk to drive across town and then run on a major thoroughfare and risk getting hit by a car.  And, after seeing photos from the race, it was clear that we made the right decision.

For February, I again registered for the Sweetheart Run 5K.  This was my third time to run this race.  We had had lots of snow and ice a few days before the race, so I did go check out the route when I went for packet pickup.  I was glad I did, as the parking lot was literally a sheet of ice since it was at a place that has closed and is no longer in use.  The route had lots of snow and slush on it, but I saw a snowplow working on it, so I was hoping it would be in better condition by race time.

Race time came.  It was cold, and crunchy.  All the snow and slush was now frozen into ice.  It was a whopping 14 degrees with a 13 mph wind.  The emcee was telling people that if they didn’t want to run that they could hand in their timing chip in exchange for their medal.  Most people were taking him up on his offer.  I thought about it, but decided that I knew I would get warmed up once I got started.

The race was slow-going but doable.  Everyone had slowed down to where it was pretty well one big pack.  It was cool, but I did get warmed up once we got going.  Then at the mile two marker I stepped on a ball of ice from the snow plow and rolled my ankle.  It was excruciating, but I did not think it was as bad as the last time I rolled my ankle.  I tried running after that, but couldn’t.  I had to walk the rest of the way, but I finished.  This was the coldest, crunchiest, iciest, and most treacherous race I’ve ever run.   This was also my first running injury.

March’s race was again the Hospital Half and 5K.  Actually, I believe they gave it another name this year, but we’ll go with this one.  This is my third year for this race as well.  I was still recovering from my ankle sprain and had done some walking but no running at all.  I had a friend that injured her knee a few days before the race, so we decided to walk the race together.

It was cold, and the wind was blowing.  The race also started and ended at a different location with a whole new route.  The vendor expo was inside, which was probably a good thing with the cold and wind.  The new route was extremely hilly.  I’ve heard that there were enough complaints that it will be a different route next year.

Once I saw the finish line, I couldn’t walk any more.  I ran across the finish line, which ended up being a wise decision.  This little sprint made me second to the last in my age group by two seconds!

This will give you a summary for the first quarter of 2019.   I will write more on what has been happening in my next post.

A plan in the heart of a man is [like] deep water, But a man of understanding draws it out. Proverbs 20:5

 

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