I'm Digital!

Just in case you still have refused to go out and pay a few bucks to buy the magazine, it appears that the April issue of Men's Health is online now.

Check it out!

Belly Off!

Countdown!

9 days until the Illinois Half Marathon!!! Knee issues, chance for rain, lack of training over the past few weeks....no excuses!! This could be an interesting race folks!!

C U THERE!

Suck it Up and DRIVE ON

Today I reached a milestone in the p0st-cortisone knee recovery period. It's down to the wire on the Illinois half marathon training, so today was a pretty critical training day. I tried to run on Thursday, but made it to 5 miles and the knee had enough. I took Friday and Saturday off, icing and Aleve'ing. Today was the day. I decided I was just going to run until I couldn't handle the pain.

I picked a fairly flat route and set out to build my confidence for 1 MAY. I did the first 3 or so and felt decent, so I decided just to do the same loop again. By the time I reached the 6 mile mark the knee was definitely barking....but, I felt like I could endure the pain for a bit more. So....I drove on. Mile 7....feel the burn, suck it up.....mile 8....wanna quit, suck it up.....mile 9....good to go. 9 miles today....I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't easy and it certainly wasn't painfree. It wasn't fast either, but I learned a very valuable lesson. I can do 13.1....it's going to be painful and it's not going to be at PR pace. But, I can do it. You know what though?....it's NEVER been easy. I don't expect that to change. My knee hurts like a sunuva-you know what, but I'm not about to quit....even if I have to crawl across that damn finish line. Yeah, that's how I roll. :)

Kneed a New Posting

Dear loyal bloggies, I sincerely apologize for the delay in my postings. I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting the next update from Running on Ginnis. I haven't posted much because quite frankly....I haven't had much to post about. I've had a few good runs over the past several weeks, but not nearly as many as I would have liked.



But for good reason....for around two months I've been dealing with some soreness in my knee. Well, about 2.5 weeks ago I did a nice 10 miler (in the rain) and I had to negotiate a significant obstacle.....a huge ass hill!! Seriously, it had to be around a 1/2 mile. After negotiating the hilly obstacle, I felt fine. But once I reached my FOB (forward operating base....aka home) I immediately began to feel pain...not soreness, but pain, in my right knee...which lasted for a few days.



I tried to get a few runs in afterwards, but the knee just wasn't having it. My mileage has been extremely low and with the Illinois Half coming up in less than 3 weeks, I knew I kneeded to take action.



I took a trip into a sports medicine office today and had some xrays taken. Good news: nothing is structurally wrong with my knee!! Bad news: lots of inflammation and fluid. So, the doc laid out my options: 1. lay off the running for even longer, continue to take Ibuprofen, and gradually work my way back to higher mileage 2. Get a cortisone shot and possibly be ready to go in two weeks or less. I told the doc that I don't do well with gradual and slow healing....and then said I was leaning towards the cortisone.



I asked him if the shot hurt, he said yep. I said, let's do it doc. Yeah, cuz that's how I roll. (note: please do not validate this story with the doctor....due to doctor-patient confidentiality reasons, of course). Sooo....after the doc provided me with SEVERAL warnings about the EXTREME pain, I decided that it was time to drive on anyway. He pulled out a needle, which appeared to be a good 3-4 feet in length, and poked me with the good stuff right in the sore spot.



The doc said some people begin to notice improvement within a day or two and some people feel it after about two weeks. I have no time to waste, so I'm hoping I begin to feel the results soon.

See said knee below. WARNING: Due to the graphic nature of this picture, I strongly urge you to restrict viewing by minors and non-runners.

15 for the Constitution

Yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful so I decided to get my long run. I had to go into work for a class and as soon as I was done I gathered up my gear, found a place (phone booth) to change into my costume, and I was off. I haven't ran in B-ton in a very long time, so prior to getting started I did some route recon. The Constitution Trail is a very nice benefit to the Normal citizens of B-ton (insert corny drum sound here) and it sounded like a good place for me to start.

I parked on one side of town and decided that I would run out about 7.5 and then turn around. It kind of worked.....except the trail ended just before I hit the 5 mile mark....soooo, I had to improvise a bit. Anywho.....it would have worked out swell, except I wasn't feeling too great for most of the run. I had stomach cramps for the first 7 miles....by the time I started feeling better my legs started cramping up. Then and mile 10 I actually had to stop for a second and suck down some Gu and Gatorade. That seemed to help with the stomach issues, but my dogs were still barkin pretty bad. I was VERY close to stopping at 10 miles, but like a good little soldier, I sucked it up and drove on. I was happy with my distance (15 miles), but I wasn't too pleased with my speed. I was waaaay too slow. I suspect the stomach issues were related to my diet.....I probably hadn't eaten enough. I downed a full bagel with jelly in the early morning and then had a banana about 3.5 hours before I started the run. Me thinks my tummy needed more fuel....plus, I was not properly hydrated. Oh well.....15 slow miles is a heckuva lot better than nuthin.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27441617

I'm still planning to do some intervals (5 miles?) and arms/shoulders tomorrow, but so far I'm at 36 miles for the week.

St. Pat's 5K - 20:56

Well, I was planning to do a 10 miler today.....but, the weather was crappy and I just wasn't feeling the treadmill. Soooo.....literally 30 minutes before registration ended, I decided to run the St. Patrick's Day 5K race in Bloomington. I changed out of my comfy Sunday rags and I sprinted out the door at a few minutes after 12:00...registration ended at 12:30....on a good day, it takes 35 minutes to get from my house to Bloomington. I arrived at the VFW and managed to find one illegal parking spot available.....after a mad dash into the VFW Hall I reached the registration booth with seconds to spare....whew. Unfortunately, I was too late to get a cool race shirt! :(

I've never ran this race, in fact, I didn't even know about it until a co-worker mentioned it to me on Thursday. It was a nice flat course and had a really good turnout. I finished in 20:56, which is a new 5K PR for me! I placed 45th out of around 596 (I was bib 638....not sure on the final count yet...I might have been the last runner to register...). I was 6th place in my age group....damn those speedy 30-34 year olds!!!

Overall, this was a fun race and I'm glad I decided to run it. I had been thinking about doing a speed race or two before the Illinois Half and this one was a great way to start the 2010 race season.

Hot Off the Press!

Extra, extra!! The April issue of Men's Health magazine is now hitting stores. Be sure to checkout page 50!! I'll try to post the article as soon as I get my own copy.

All autographed copies must be ordered at least 2 days in advance....HA!!!!!!!!!