DNR

I will be a "Did not race" on Saturday at the Monster Dash. It just doesn't seem right to me to call it a DNF. Isn't a DNF a race that you started but didn't finish?

Which is definitely a way to describe my runs lately. I am still having lower back/ right quad problems. I thought it was close to over after my finishing the TC10. Honestly, I really don't want to talk about it much. But I will explain it this way. Have you ever seen a car going down the street, with the camber of the tires off and the tires not balanced with bad shocks so its bouncing all over the place and looking dangerous to be anywhere near? Well, that's pretty much what my running looks like.

There are solutions though.

First of all, my last run/walk/Iwanttoquitathon seemed to actually loosen up some very tight psoas muscles on my right side. My lower back is feeling much better and I the stretches suddenly seem effective in keeping it that way. Second, I am back to the weight room and shorter runs for a couple of weeks. Lastly, I will be making an appointment to see Dr. Leisz. I don't know her but the Mn Tri Club site refers to her for screenings and I think I need to take advantage of it.

I have to admit that there is a little bit of depression going on about this. I don't mean this as a diagnosis but just a general feeling of frustration and not knowing.

It is something that time and service with others help to heal! Instead of the race on Saturday, I will be doing some cleanup and prep at church with my family and some members of our small group.

Also, I took Ang to Jane Eyre at the Guthrie! How do I clean up?


I really do need to learn to smile better for pictures!

I do plan on showing up at the Monster Dash to say Hi to IronJen, TacMan and TriMama!
Who knows, maybe the Dash people will let me downgrade to the 5K?

Addendum: Already heard from the Monster Dash. I'll be racing the timed 5K, known as the "the worlds fastest trick or treater" race.

Stride Right!

Hello Everybody (all 5 or 6 of you) ;-)

First things first. Jenny, I am glad you are on the mend!

I am pretty confident that I found out why I am injured. Now, maybe I have missed something, but whenever I have read an article about stride it is usually about stride length, pace, how to land on your foot, etc.

Well, let me explain what happened first! I went for a run after work today! The first 1.5 miles went great. Yes, I felt a tightness in my right outer quad but I can deal with a little pain. It's not the pain that bothers me, its the weakness and risk of further injury. Anyway, at 1.5 - 1.7 miles it started to hurt in the sense that it was locking up on me. During this time, I looked down and noticed something. When my rear foot/leg is moving forward and passing the ground foot it is only an inch to the side.

My stride needs to be wider. I haven't read about evaluating that before! Or at least I don't remember.

So I worked on it! At first the pain wasn't any better and after about another .3 miles, I walked. I ended up walking for about a 1/2 mile. My walk is the same, too narrow, so I worked on it then. It's kind of weird, I had to mentally think of a skinny book between my legs just below my crotch to keep my feet even in front of me.

After 1/2 mile of walking, I ran. Yes, the pain was there, but I was able to keep running for another 1.5 miles, constantly correcting my stride. It's going to take a while for that to be natural.

As short of a distance as that is, there is no way I would have been able to do that earlier this week.

I am not sure what my run will be like on Sunday. Obviously, it will not be the quality pace that I had planned. But for now, running the right stride and finishing the 10 miles (even with some walk, if I have to) is good enough for me!

For Now!

Stretching is going really good. I thought I was taking that seriously, but I was wrong. I am stretching twice a day until my flexibility maintains, then maybe I can decrease to 5X week.