Disclaimer: I received a entry into the South Shore half and 5k to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews
So I finally got into PT on Thursday, and he believes that my hip issue is from over use and my glutes not being strong enough. So I will now be working on that and going to PT twice a week for the next 4 weeks, but I have been told, Running in the South Shore Half and 5k will not be a problem and he will have me ready to go for the race. I am so happy about that, I miss running and man do I miss racing. I’m so glad my injury is nothing serious and just means that I need to be better about strength training and stretching once I get back into running. I highly recommend going to PT, I go to Marathon Physical Therapy in Dedham, MA and I highly recommend them.
I still have to adjust all goals for this year, but that just means 2018 will have some new goals.
Don’t forget, if you want to sign up for this race, go to https://racewire.com/register.php?id=8114 and use code BRSSH10 to save yourself 10% on either race. GO SIGN UP NOW
So, I’m injured, the IT Band in my right leg hates me right now. The act of running is painful and uncomfortable, so I have had to stop. I have been cross training this week and foam rolling like never before. It seems to be getting better, but I am still not ready to run yet. So, 5k this weekend is a no go, and so goes my goal to run a sub 25 minute 5k. Also, I will most likely not be running this week, I hope I can run the BAA half next weekend, but we shall see. Also, this knocks the big goal of a sub 2 hour half, out. I will still run the race, but now I will go for a smaller PR. Am I disappointed, yes, sad, yes, but I know this stuff happens, and you have to take care of yourself or you end up with worse injuries that require months off and I don’t want that. So for now I will bike, and strength train and foam roll, and hopefully get back to racing. I am excited to see what the rest of 2017 brings and already planning 2018, which looks to be a fun travel year. I hope to see some of you in my travels, and will of course update my upcoming race list.
So for now, I curse my IT band, and miss running, my god I miss it. But I know this will get better and I will be better for having gone through it.
Finally getting to this, and why did it take so long to do my review, well, I failed again, and man am I pissed about it. I finished in 1:06, did not break an hour and overall, just not pleased with my effort. I will get into that after, first let me tell you about the race.
Let me start with how well run it is, from bib pick up to parking race morning to taking off, there tons of signs, volunteers and just overall preparedness. No waiting at bib pick up and a nice little expo. All runners got a $3 Dunkin Donuts gift card and you could get an LL Bean gift card (I didn’t grab that, I don’t shop there). The shirts are nice and you got a cool poster too. Race morning, there were 4 places to park, I picked the one closest to my Aunts house and got there for 6 am, they had many buses waiting to take us to the start line. The bus dropped us off about a 1/2 mile away (odd) but easy walk, and then at the start line there was tons of water, Gatorade, food, bug spray, and sunscreen. Also plenty of room to sit and relax since I was there over an hour before the race start time.
The race itself is really a gorgeous course, lots of water views and tons of locals out to cheer you on. Even one family in front of their house with signs about buying the house, hey, you’ve got plenty of eyes going by.
The after party was great, lots of food, water and the medal was nice. The park where everything takes place is super pretty (it was foggy that day so couldn’t see much) but overall super nice and if you can get into this race, do it, everything about it is great.
Now my race…..shit, it was so bad. I took off WAY too fast (as I do), then I just didn’t push myself hard enough to make my time. I had no excuse, I was well rested, fed and not hungover. I could have done it but I wimped out, and I am super disappointed with myself. This week has been spent training for my half and really pushing my speed work, and I can push myself, I know I can, and running a 10k under an hour is very doable for me. Oh well, I will have to find another 10k to run later this year and try again, cause you don’t break any times if you don’t keep trying.
What do those numbers mean? 2:12 is my current half marathon PR, 1:59 is my goal for November. I started training this week, and so far it has gone well. But I won’t lie, this goal scares the shit out of me. I know this training is going to be hard, running 7 steady miles between 9:30 to 10 per mile today was hard. I know the speed work and longer runs with speed will be hard. I know this will all be so hard, but I want to do it, I want to get faster, I want to get better at running.
When I started out running, it was just trying to finish, that was hard, but I did it, and I got better at it. Now I keep trying to get faster at all distances, this coming Saturday I will be trying to run a sub hour 10k at Beach to Beacon, but the big goal, the hard goal is a sub 2 hour half. I am going to work hard, run hard and do all I can to make this happen. As my new a tattoo says, “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough”, this dream/goal is scary as fuck, but I will do all I can to make to happen.
I ran my 5th Run to Homebase yesterday, and as usual, it was am amazing time. Run to Homebase is the race I watched that got me wanting to try running and it really is an amazing cause, so this will be one I continue to participate in. I didn’t run last year, due to having to fundraise for Dana Farber for the Boston Marathon. I am so happy that I got to do it this year, and I already can’t wait to do it next year, I love this race.
The day always starts early, got to get parking around Fenway, and you have to be there for the opening ceremony, you have to. This is a fundraising race, to run this you must raise a certain amount of funds and they all go to the Homebase Program, which helps Veterans with PTSD along with their families. Here is the site if you want to learn more about it
This is the 8th running of this race, and has raise a lot of money for this program. The opening ceremonies always consist of Tom Caron from NESN and of course other dignitaries, but the reason you go, is to hear from a Veteran who has used the program, and let me tell you, you will cry, because it is always emotional, but then you will want to run, run through anything, it is the most amazing ceremony to be at. This year they also announced that they will now be helping Vietnam Vets, and there were a bunch there, it was amazing and inspiring and yes, I cried.
The race itself is nice, it is pretty flat, and you get to finish along the green monster and then you get to cross homeplate (walking and they take a picture of you doing it, still waiting for the pics) afterwards you get to shake hands with Veterans and the dignitaries and maybe get a selfie with them too.
I love this race, I always will and as long as they keep holding it, I will keep running it, so I hope I get more of you to do it and hopefully I will see you there next year.
Wally, Rep Joe Kennedy, Tom Caron and along the Monster
So, I wrote a post a couple weeks back about my fail at the BAA 10k, and I got a lot of feed back of, but hey you finished and you should still be proud. First off, thank you, I appreciate the support, but I want you all to know, it’s ok to fail and I am ok with it. First off, not all races are going to go well, I run so many, some are just going to suck, and that is ok. I am also not going to lie about it and pretend running is always sunshine and rainbow farts, cause it’s just not. Sometimes it is really hard, sometimes is just totally kicks your ass, and you have to step back and reevaluate.
Every race, even the good ones, have their own little fails and you know what, they teach you something, it can be as simple as, well don’t drink alcohol before a race (duh) to, learning how much water you really need for a race. All my races have taught me something about races and running and how to prepare and how to survive them. I try to remember all those things and put them into practice for the next set of races. Nothing is ever going to go perfectly smoothly and you just have to go with it and learn from it and that is what I do with my fail races.
I love running, it has saved me and everyday it makes me happy, and the fails that come with it just help me get better at it. So when I say I failed at a race, don’t worry, I have had my sad angry moment about it but I am ok, and I have learned what caused the failure and I will fix it next time. It’s all part of the process, one I do enjoy.
Disclaimer: I received free entry to DMSE Sports Classic as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
As you remember from a previous blog, or maybe you don’t, no worries, I am running the 5 & Dime at the DMSE Sports Classic on July 22. Well, I was planning on running twice a day to get myself prepped to run 2 races in one day, yeah, that’s not happening. I have gotten PF in my right foot now, so running twice a day, not a great idea. Instead I am trying to get more strength training in to get myself ready. I am back to taking boot camp classes twice a week, and I have added in a daily squat, lunge and push up thing, (I add one on everyday, starting with 10 and going up). The PF is not too bad this time, so I think I will be fine to race, and I am still running, but just once a day. I do have a race on the 15th, the Run to Homebase, so will see how I feel after that. Injuries come with this whole running thing, this one seems to be pretty mild so I am still looking forward to all my races coming up. I hope to see some of you there.
Don’t forget, if you want to run in the DMSE Sports Classic, you have 3 races to choose from, sign up with code BIBRAVE2017 to save $5.
Finally getting to this review, weekend was so busy, Sox game, race, then U2, and let me tell you, U2 was amazing, one of the best concerts I have ever been to, but man standing for 6 straight hours, hurts, a lot, and also noted, I am old. Anyways, onto the race review.
Let me start with, I was not prepped for this race at all, and I spent Friday night at a Sox game, then drinking with friends, and then did not have close to enough water on that Saturday, so basically, I set myself up to fail. And boy did I. Got into the 9 – 9:59 corral, hoping to run under an hour, got off to a great start, ran the first 2 miles at the perfect pace, and then, DONE. By mile 3 my legs were just like NO, and I was just constantly thirsty, it was hot, but not the hottest race I have run and I should have been able to handle it, but no, not handling it, not at all. By mile 4 I was taking walk breaks, at mile 5 I was still walk running and finally at 5.5 I was able to run consistently again. I finished in 1:08, not happy but, oh well, got to move on and start getting ready for my next race, and focus on breaking that hour goal at Beach to Beacon. We all have bad races, and this was bad, and all on me, but I still had fun and overall, the weekend was a blast. So onward and upward, almost time for sub 2 hour half training to begin, and I am excited.
WOW, that is how this will start, this was easily the hardest Marathon I have done, and yet, I set a new PR by 9 minutes, 4:44:46. Let me tell you about it.
First off, just let me say how well run this race is, the expo was great, lots of great vendors and spaced out enough that people aren’t on top of each other (like Boston) Also, everything is super easy to get to, and there is TONS of parking in Downtown Cincinnati. For race morning, they have so..many…portapotties, like so many. There were barely any lines for any of them, it was fantastic and I can’t harp on this enough, in Chicago, the lines were so long I couldn’t go and ended up having to pee the entire marathon, not this one, got in and got out and into my corral with time to spare. I met up with my pacers (the 4:30 group a mistake on my part) but they were super nice and were very positive. I just should have set myself with the 4:45 pacers instead. Once 6:30 hit, the first group was off and about 5 minutes later, my group was off, not much waiting and I appreciate that.
The race itself, hills, so many hills. within the first 4 miles you run over 3 bridges as you run through Kentucky then back into Cincinnati over the Ohio River. So, those are all hills, nothing too huge, but still, hills. Then you head through downtown, then into a park (I don’t remember the name) some of the steepest hills I have ever run up, but when you get to the top, oh man, the view is gorgeous and you can see most of Cincinnati from there, stunning. I was still keeping up with my 4:30 group, but this killed my legs, and at the next water stop, I lost them. I was keeping up a 4:35 pace though and so kept going on my own, by mile 7 the half marathoners leave, so now I was pretty much entirely on my own, which is ok, I’m used to it. But I thought the hills were done….NOPE. Between miles 17 and 18, STEEP ASS HILL, and this is when my legs finally go, “hey, hey you, you went out WAY too fast, we are going to be led now and hurt and all that fun stuff, enjoy” so I slowed down, a lot. By miles 21 and 22 I would have to take walking breaks and everything, I mean everything hurt. Also, my sports bra decided to start stabbing me, which is cool (not). I was run/walking for the rest of the race, and I could see the pace number getting higher on my watch and I started to get upset thinking I would not hit a PR, at that point Lars starting sending me messages through RaceJoy to pep me up, they mainly made me cry, but I needed those, god did I need them. I got to mile 26 and walked up the hill (yes another one) then ran down and just keep running to the finish Swine (line) and discovered, I had set a new PR, and by a good amount. I just wish I had started with a slower pace group, and maybe, the back end of it wouldn’t have been so much torture.
Overall, other then the hills, this race is great. So many aid stations, and tons of food options throughout the race, they also give out wet towels at mile 23. The crowds are awesome and there is music at almost every mile. I loved this race and I loved that I did so well, and it being hard was just another lesson to learn.
Now onto some time off, this next week is strictly yoga, and then back to walking and some strength training. Then adding running back along with boot camp, I want to get myself in better shape to start prepping for Sub 2 hour half training in July. But don’t worry, I have races to do all summer.
So last Sunday, I ran the Seabees Half Marathon, this is part of the Seabees running festival, they have a full marathon and a 5k. It takes place at Quonset Point, in North Kingston, RI. It’s an old Navy Base, so hence the Seabees thing. Nice pretty flat race, not super awesome scenery, but still cool to run through an old navy base. I wasn’t out to set a PR, just to run at a steady pace and I did, I averaged about a 10:20 pace and I am happy with that. It also meant Lars and I got to spend a night at the beach house, which was so nice, I love visiting the beach house.
Also, this half makes 10 half marathons that I have done, and I officially signed up for the 100 Half Marathon club, so excited to do many more
Today I ran the BAA 5k, I have run this before back in 2014, and it is still a huge amount of people and no one seeds themselves correctly. I spent most of the first mile trying to avoid running into walkers, even though I was in the 2nd corral. Anyways, still fun, and lots of people out to cheer us on. I got to high 5 Kelly Roberts (from RunSelfieRepeat) twice so that was super cool. Lars and I then went to the Marathon expo and I, of course, bought myself some new Sparkly Soul headbands and some nifty new lights for my shoes, I will test them out and let you know what I think.
This was also peak week for Flying Pig Marathon training, and I ran my 20 miler yesterday, so I am amazed that I ran so well in the 5k today. Overall I am feeling ready for the marathon, I am excited to chill for the next few weeks. I can’t believe it is almost marathon time, time flys when you run all the time.
Running for My Life 