BRATS T.A.P.S. 5k

Last week I ran the Veteran's Day 5k and felt pretty decent and ended up with a low 22 min 5k.  Horrible any other time but since I haven't ran much all year, I was happy with it.  The whole week I was dealing with a sinus infection that just seemed to never get any better.  Went on to the doctors on 11/11/2015 and they gave me a bunch of medicine that I probably didn't need as the infection was on its way out.  I ran two miles on Tuesday and then 4 on Thursday.  After the 4 miler on Thursday, I felt my left hammy tighten up during the run.  Of course, I finished the run but on Friday knew it was a little more sore than usual.  Both were tight as were my glutes so I did some yoga with Heather and then stretched some more, rolled and did the stick.  It started to feel better but the next day I was supposed to run the TAPS 5k with the family.  So I woke up, took a hot shower and hoped it would feel better.  Didn't.  Hmm, ok, let me get the clothes on and see how I feel when I get there.  Of course, it was about 40F with 15-20 mph winds which made my hammy feel like shit.  I decided I would warm up and it felt ok enough to run but not run hard.

The race was at the Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, VA so we go there around 0730 for an 0830 race.  Went inside to packet pickup, bib'd up and started to see if I could run.  It felt tight at first but started to loosen up which made me feel better.  I ran about a mile just to get loose and walk down to the start which was behind the church.  The RD said we would have to wait 10 or so minutes b/c the paving company was paving a road on our course.  Meanwhile, the wind is whipping pretty good I am freezing my ass of.  Finally, after ducking in and out of the church to stay warm, he announces he is going to start the race.  He says GO and we are off, of course half the kids are out of the gate like Usain Bolt up a nice incline.  I hold back hoping I don't feel any pain in my hammy and I don't which is good.  We make the turn onto the road by the church and its a straight shot to Wellington which is about 1 mile away.  The first mile had us running directly into the 20mph wind and it was like, fuck are you serious.  The time for the first mile was 7:11 and the hammy wasn't feeling great but not hurting, the second mile had us run up Wellington to turn around and then come back to the Church.  The second mile for me was a 7:13, still shitty.  Somehow, I ran a negative split third mile with a time of 6:42 for a time of 22:13.  The results had me down for a 6:51 pace which means the course had to be 3.24 miles long yet I didn't have that.  Whatever.  The last mile, I was behind the master's winner and could of caught him however, I told myself not to run hard as it may injure my hamstring even more and so I ended up 7th overall and 1st in my AG (40-44).  Of course, Nic won his age group which was the 10 and under crowd with a time of 24:33 and Zach came in 3rd in the 11/12 group with a time of 24:59.  Not bad for the boys.  Heather got a 25:04 but this was a tempo run for her and knows she could of ran harder.  Her A race is in about 2 weeks so we will see if she can get a PR.  Me, I am going to rest the hamstring for 2-3 days and see how it feels for a small run Wednesday or Thursday.  If it feels ok, I should be ok to run the Thanksgiving race on the 26th of November - we will see.

Below are some pics of us at the award ceremony afterwords:

Me, receiving the 1st place aware for the 40-44 males.

Nic receiving the 1st place award for the 10 and under boys.

Zach, for receiving 3rd place for the 11/12 males.

Hopefully the hammy is just a tad strained and will see how it feels in a few days.

PR IBC Veteran’s Day 5k

 After taking 10 days off running to heal my "pain" on the right lateral side of my right foot and dealing with a above average head cold, I figured why not run a 5k today.  We decided to run the PR IBC Veteran’s Day 5k in Fairfax, VA.  Nic had a 9U Cannons tryout later in the day and Zach had a VSA game in West Virginia so Heather and I let them take the 5k off.  However, Heather wanted to get a tempo run in and I just wanted to get a run in b/c I had run 2 miles in 10 days.  The 5k was at 11895 Grand Commons Ave., Fairfax, VA 22030 at Fairfax Corner, VA and it was a course we had just run two weeks prior so we both knew it.  My legs were pretty fresh but with the head cold just wanted to see if I could get a decent run in.  I had no idea what time I would run.  So Heather and I do a .75 mile warm-up.  I could feel week from not running and being sick but figured getting a nice run in would be good. 

The race started at 8:00am so we got to the starting line around 7:50am.  I usually like to hop in the front b/c I can usually keep a nice low 6 min pace but today, I figured I would be a min slower so I stayed in the back and wasn't in a real hurry to get out.  Anyhey, the gun goes off and the first mile is a tad up and down.  After the first mile, I had a decent split of 6:55, not bad for not running at all and just coming back from peroneal tendonosis in my left ankle.  My next mile sucked as the second one always does which was a 7:16, I followed it up with a 7:15 third mile and sprinted to the end for a 22:05/7:03 pace good for 37/216 males and 5th out of 28 males in the 40-44 crowd.  PR races are always stacked especially on Veterans day when the services run against each other.  Anyhey, the only issue I had was a little aching in the left peroneal after the race but that was probably more tightness in the left calf area.  Below are some shots of me in the race:

Me finishing the race - I sprint the last .2 of a mile so I was wiped out.

Another shot of me coming into the finish line.

I think this was around mile 2.8 or so coming into the final turns of the race.

Beginning of the race.

Love that heal striking!!!

Goblin Gallup 5k, Fairfax, VA - Finally back running!

Well, its been a tough 7 months.  I am not back to full form but I am running which is alot better than where I was just 2.5 months ago.  In March/April after a hard training cycle in the Winter, I rolled my ankle at Battlefield during a 7 miler and it developed into peroneal tendonosis in my left ankle.  I think I was already on my way to developing it but the roll didn't help.  Two negative MRI's and 12+ weeks of rehab, many othro visits who wanted to do surgery (even with no tears), it finally started feeling better.  During that period I hiked and biked but unfortunately, rest and limited strengthening was the key to getting it better.  Additionally, massage therapy on the ankle that contained all the scar tissue on that tendon helped as well.  During this entire period, it felt strong but was aching just under the ankle bone and was tied to two knots in the gastrocnemius muscle part of the calf.  I am still in the process of trying to keep my calves loose during all my training.  Additionally, in coming back, I ended up getting orthotics.  For me it was a big mistake as it caused issues in my right (non-injured) ankle.  So I scraped the orthotics all together (after 2 months) and bought a pair of new Brooks Ghost 8 Aurora's and have not been using any other soles than the ones that came with the shoe.  So far so good and I am back up to around 20 a week although this week was a short week due to me rehabing the right ankle.  Below is a snapshot of my comeback miles:

As you can see from the graph, I started back running 3 miles in early August, then moved to 5 miles, then slowly moved up from there.  Next week, I plan on getting back to a 20+ mile week again.

Goblin Gallup 5k:
So we arrived at Farifax Station around 7:30am, hit the dumper as usual.  Zach and Nic had baseball tryouts the night before so I knew they were pretty tired and didn't know how they would do or even if they felt like running.  I was somewhat excited to pace Nic as he had been doing better and better each 5k he ran.  His previous 5k PR on this course was 25:13.  The 1k fun run was at 8:30 in which most of the kids dressed.  Meanwhile, nic, zach, and I warmed up with a small .75 mile jog.  After that, we head over to the start.  9:00 rolls around so we are at the line and we are off.  Nic takes off in a dead sprint, you know, the kind where they run balls to the wall and just know they can't hold that pace.  I told him to just go at his pace and I would follow.  I lagged a little behind b/c this was my first race back and didn't need to injure anything again.  I look at the watch after .50 miles and its in the high 6/min mile range and am thinking thats pretty fast for an 8 year old.  Finally, we it the first mile at 7:32 which on this course was pretty good.  Just a note, it had been raining pretty decent most of the morning so the road was kind of slick but nothing that bad.  His second mile was his worst which was a 8:19.  To be fair, it had a decent amount of hills in that second mile.  So at mile two, he asked me if he could run harder and I said, umm, your not running hard now?  He gave me no response and he took off like he had at the start of the race.  Straching my head, I just didn't know how he could go from running to sprinting at mile two.  Oh well, I let him dictate the pace and we had a couple nice hills the last mile.  He powered up them and got a 8:09 third mile and finished the 3.14 mile race in 24:55/7:57 pace for a new PR.  However, since he is competing against all 13/14 year old, he came in 8th out of 32nd and 41st out of 150 male runners.  Not bad for someone who doesn't run at all.

Me, I felt pretty good the whole way.  After the race, the left ankle was aching a tad but that is usually b/c of the tight left calf which felt better after I stretched it.  Oh yea, I came in 5th in my age group but wasn't really running since I was pacing Nic.  Big Zach who took a baseball off his face last night, powered through with a 25:50 for a new PR himself.  I could tell his face was hurting and he is just like me.  I had to work for every improvement I got - nic, it just seems to come easier.  Mom came in 27th out of 100 females, not bad for not running hard.

Here is a pic of us goofing around before the race:

After the race, Mom was quick on the phone to snap these:

Other than that, its nice to run a race and not be in pain.  We'll see how the rest of the fall goes and see if I can get back into Marathon shape for early next spring.  I am going to run some smaller races this Fall while trying to up my mileage.

What Happened to the Other Three Running Duricks?

We are still running.  I just haven’t blogged since January which is insane.  The kids have been doing great in their races lately.  I had some epic winter training and then got sidetracked with a minor foot issue and ended up bailing on my spring races.

Run Your Heart Out Finish

In February the boys and I did Run Your Heart Out 5K.  It was a new course for this race, and there were some hills at the end.  We had a great time at the race, and even got some warm weather for February.

Run Your Heart Out 5K

 In March we did Run for Haiti 5K.  We love this race because it’s for an amazing cause, and the energy at the race is always terrific. 

Run for Haiti finish

14 and under age group awards with Moise Joseph from the Haitian Olympic team

The boys killed it at this race putting up big course PRs and also grabbing 2^nd and 3^rd places in the 14 and under age group.  This is huge for them because it’s always hard to get an age group award at a Potomac River Racing event.  The even bigger news was that even though I thought I ran a bad race I also ended up with 3^rd in my age group for the event.  It had been my goal for the year to age group in a Potomac River race so I was excited about that.

Some friends and I...we all won age group awards!

 

We were busy with other sports in April so we didn’t do any formal races, but the kids and I hit up the 6K Walk for Water at the State Department in DC.  We elected to run our 6K for water and had a great time on the course. 

 

Next up was Bodies in Motion 5K in May which has an insane amount of rolling hills.  The boys did a great job and PRd the course as well.  Nic just straight killed this race and took 8 minutes off his time from last year.  He almost broke 26 minutes and is having a great year with 5Ks so far with all 5Ks sub-27 so far this year.  I got a 3^rd place in my age group at Bodies in Motion, but they only gave awards for the top in each age group so no fun prize for me.  This was Zach’s only race this year with a 27+minute finish, and he had a rough go of it. 

Zach finishing Bodies in Motion

Some friends and I pre-race

No racing in June, but July brought us the Freedom Firecracker 5K. Fast, flat course that was a revisit of the PR setting Thanksgiving race.  It was rainy to start and humid at the finish so no PRs, but the boys once again brought home 2^nd and 3^rd in their age groups.

So let’s talk about the ultra season that never materialized for me after my huge winter training cycle.  I felt stronger and fitter through this past training cycle than I ever had.  I had done tons of strength work and a lot of specific workouts and had insane volume for me.  I was at multiple 50+ mile weeks.  About a week before Blue Ridge Marathon, I started to experience pain in my left 2^nd/3^rd metatarsal area which was particularly bad during hill work.  I went and got checked for a stress fracture.  Phew!  No stress fracture, just inflammation.  After thinking it through I decided to withdraw from Blue  Ridge in an attempt to save the bigger goal of Mohican 50 in June.  The hills of Blue Ridge would have really put me out for a long time.  I mostly biked and did some running leading up to Glacier Ridge Trail 50K.  I was really excited for GRT and thought that I could do really well at it.  I did really well and was killing the course and feeling very strong running the hills particularly the downhills aggressively.  It was unseasonably warm, but I was dialed in with hydration and nutrition and feeling good. 

Feeling the heat at the GRT

 However, by the 25K mark, the rocky terrain and constant rolling hills on the trail were wearing on my foot.  I could have pushed through and a year ago I probably would have pushed through, but I made the decision to drop at the 25K point.  Oddly, I wasn’t upset and felt really calm with my decision.  Truthfully, I just didn’t have the fire for it.  As many others who have run Oil Creek have said, I feel like I left a little part of myself out there on that trail last October.  Having done something so amazing and been in such a dark place for so much of that race has put some things in perspective.  I didn’t feel the need to prove to myself or anyone else that I could tough it out at GRT.  I knew I could tough it out, but it wasn’t smart to tough it out.  I was changing my gait and risking a longer term injury.  After that, I made the decision that Mohican was not in the cards for this year.  I backed off of running quite a bit and focused on strength and yoga to let my foot get back to normal.  I’ve just started to consistently get back to training this month and finally got a run above 6 miles with no pain in my foot.  I don’t know what I’m going to do for fall races, and I’m OK with that.  I’m looking forward to having fun with the kids at fall 5Ks and on the trails and toying with the idea of trying for a PR half, but who knows?

In more exciting news we will be off on an epic adventure to the Pacific Northwest soon so we will have a lot of exciting hiking adventures and trail porn to post in the next month.

Peroneal Tendonosis - feeling a tad better?

On June 11th, 2015, after 2.5 months of dealing with PT, it is feeling a tad better but I am cautiously optimistic.  PT has a tendency to come back if you overdue it.  On the 11th,  I hit the bike for 32 minutes for 9 miles and it all felt good.  What is sort of working:  a combination of ankle strengthening (3 days a week), rest, and stretching....and throw in the ankle brace which I am off of now.  What I have done, dry needling, massage, rolling, stick and foot ice buckets.  Its starting to feel good and will walking be doing little bit on Saturday.  Well, I walked a little more than I wanted and walked 7+ miles according to my fitbit b/c of all the baseball games I had to go to.  Now of course, the ankle is a little sore which I guess is expected.  Today on Sunday, its kinda sore when I woke up.  The gastrocnemius and soleus are tight which is what I expected.  So we will see how it feels today, another baseball game and will try hit the bike later today.  I will try not to walk to much today and stay off my foot and see how it feels.

Either way, I think it is feeling better but who knows at this point.  Will re access next week

peroneal tendonosis or something worse or just impatient???

Family is running the Bodies of motion 5k today and I am in starbucks keeping my mind off the fact I am injured.   According to the MRI, I got a diagnosis of peroneal tendonosis and it has to be one of the toughest injuries I have had, hands down. 

Here is the timeline from hell:

3/30:  rolled ankle at the Manassas National Battlefield and thought it was a sprain (little did I know, I had peroneal tendonosis going on).  Skipped my trail 1/2 marathon in PA, was sick too.
4/1 and 4/2: 
4/5:   Biked all week and ran 3.16 miles to test it out and didn't feel that bad.
4/6 - 4/11:  Biked this week
4/12:  Ran 4.2 miles in 38:30.  Ankle ached a little bit seemed to warm up after running
4/23 Got MRI on left ankle and received results (Negative for tears in peroneal tendons, have tendonosis)

Ligments:

There is mild scarring of the deep fibers of the deltoid ligament without tear.

Tendon Findings:

The extensor tendons are intact.  There is mild juxta insertional tendinosis of the posterior tibial tendon without tear.  Remaining long medial flexors are unremarkable there is a small amount of tenosynovitis about the flexor hallucis longus at the know of henry.  The peroneus longus tendon demonstrate mild to moderate degeneration distal to the fibular tip.  Peroneus brevis tendon is intact, Achilles tendon and plantar fascia are unremarkable.

Overall Impression of MRI:

There is mild to moderate degeneration of the peroneus longus tendon distal to the fibular tip without tear.  There is mild tenosynovitis about the flexor hallucis longus tendon distally.

Got a description of the difference between peroneal tendonitis and peroneal tendonosis:

The distinction between tendonitis and tendosis is important since tendonitis is more of an acute injury, and rest, ice, anti-inflammatories, etc. tend to resolve it quickly (within 6 weeks or so). Tendinosis is when the tendon itself changes (hence your MRI findings) from chronic stress and takes much longer to resolve (hence modalities like PRP injections, Graston therapy, etc.).

However, I am a big opponent to anti-inflammatories and have not used any during this time period.

4/24:  Started PT regimen
4/24 - present:  Biking as prescribed by PT
5/12:  Saw a Dr. Neufeld (he spent a whole 3 minutes with me and referred me to someone else, isn't he the specialist???  Thinks peroneal nerve entrapment)
5/13:  put ankle brace back on for immobilization, keeping it on for two weeks, no bike, just PT exercises and see how that works.
5/29:  Have appt with Dr. Lutta with OrthoVA to go over MRI results again and get a plan.

Days since ankle roll:  48
Days haven't run:  35
Days since PT:  23

So, yea, I am pretty bummed out however, I am looking for any sliver of improvement.  To tell you the truth, biking would be a godsend at this point!

Peroneal Tendonitis - day 27 of no running

So I am up in New Castle, PA and Heather is running the Glacier Ridge 50k trail race today.  It is supposed to be 90F by midday so I can only imaging what that will be like.  She is a real trooper and hope she does well today.  Actually, when I ran the North Fact 50k a few years ago, it hit 92/94 F and that was a brutal 7 hours.  Anyway, sitting in the Cranberry, PA sbux sulking over my foot and dealing with Peroneal Tendonitis in my left ankle/heel.  Hit the Physical therapy 3 times this week and have two next week.  I had this a few years ago and rested more and it didn't take this long to heal and was back to running within 3 weeks.  However, this time around, I am looking at every bit of 4+ weeks after the ankle roll.  Here was my biking schedule:

Monday the 4th:  road 10 minutes and did all my foot exercises and heel drops plus tons of hip/core exercises
Tuesday the 5th:  20 minutes on the bike
Wednesday the 6th:  20 minutes on the bike
Thursday the 7th:  20 minutes on the bike
Friday the 8th:  20 minutes on the bike
Saturday the 9th:  15 minutes on bike and walked .5 miles with Heather after dinner

I plan to hit the bike tomorrow for 30 minutes tomorrow and see how it feels.  Getting frustrated with this injury.  Its been 27 days (day 15 of physical therapy) since I have not run but atleast I have been biking some.  Supposed to have a reassessment of my physical therapy on the 26th of May which is two weeks away.  Was hoping to be running by next week but am starting to question that.  Flexibility and strength in left foot is really good but apparently the tendons are still sore.  Hard to differentiate between aches from physical therapy or if it actually aches. 

So as the beautiful days pass, I wonder what if any running I will be doing this month.  I am doing rehab almost every day.  It was feeling better but now seems to be sore, SIGH.  My guess, I am now hoping to be running small miles in two more weeks which puts me around May 25th - a good two months after I actually rolled this thing (however started PT on April 24th).  This is not how I saw this year starting out.  Maybe ultras and marathons aren't for me, don't know but I am at a point where running a 5k would just be fun.

Peroneal Tendonitis from a rolled ankle!

So after about a good 5 weeks of 30+ mpw in shit ass weather,  I started to ramp up my training.  As such, I have been hitting the trails almost exclusively and the ankles have been giving me some issues after runs - most likely due to the trail running.  So on 3/30/2015, I rolled my ankle at about mile 2.5 into a 7 mile run.  Nothing killer, just a decent roll and finished the trail run at the battlefield.  I got home and it didn't swell at all and thought that was a good sign.  For the rest of the week, I thought I would be ready for the 1/2 marathon up in PA that weekend.    Just so happened, I got sick, sick enough to where I didn't feel like I should run the race.  The ankle was still sore but now I was sick so I bailed on the race and decided to rest of the foot.  I ran again on 4/5 and it felt ok but not great so I rested and biked.  Another week goes by on the bike and I try to run again on 4/12, it went fine and did a decent 8:40 something pace but the ankle just wasn't getting any better.  So I went to the same orthopedist I went to when I found how about my hip labrum tears and he wanted to see if my peroneal tendons were tore so he sent me for an MRI.  Results came back with the following:

There is mild to moderate degeneration of the peroneus longus tendon distal to the fibular tip without tear.  There is mild tenosynovitis about the flexor hallucis longus tendon distally.  Plus, they said something about mild juxta insertial tendinosis of the posterior tibial tendon without tear.

Treatment:  Rest/PT - yea, that shit sucks...so much for the 50k and the 50 miler I had planned coming up!

So the doctor sent me to PT which started 4/24/2015 and I am scheduled to 4-6 weeks which takes me to June, 2015.  On 4/27, I rode the bike one mile as I did on 4/29.  On 4/30, I rode it for 10 minutes and got 2.3 miles and today, May 2nd, rode it for 12 minutes for 3.3 miles.  My hope is to continue biking the rest of the week with no setbacks.  Go support Heather in her 50k race this coming weekend at Glacier Ridge ultra in PA and hopefully I can start light running in few weeks.  Whether that happens or not, we will see.

So lets take score - I stopped running on 4/12/2015 and it has been 20 days since I have run.  I stopped biking on 4/16 and took a total of 11 days off doing nothing other than core, hips, bench, etc...

As of today, I am biking 10 min to warm my ankles up, then doing ankle exercises twice a day.  If you were like me and you are looking around to see how long it takes to get rid of Peroneal Tendonitis.  Well, it depends.  If you get it from overuse, probably alot sooner than if you rolled it and kept irritating it.  From 4/17 until 4/26, I wore a ankle brace and don't know if that helped or not.  Last time I had this, it took about 3-4 weeks since the time I stopped running but it was more on the 3 weeks side.  I was just coming off a 100k trail race and it was the end of the year so I didn't mind the resting.  This time, I thought I could get back sooner and that didn't work.  That said, I stopped running on 4/12 but not resting it until 4/17 so if we are looking at that time table, I should be back to running around the  May 11th-ish time frame.  And of course, I can't just jump back into my old mileage which sucks.  Guess I will be looking forward to some cool late summer and Fall races.  Shit happens.

MLK Trail run 10k (1/19/2015) - finally, they got it right!

Welp, we came back for a third year and it looks like the third time is a charm.  This year, they the Metro Run and Walk race had a 10k option that was going to be officially scored but the 5k was not.  Why, I have no f-ing clue.  It wouldn't of been that difficult but hey I am lucky they had a 10k option.  Race was in Wakefield Park in Annandale, VA as it is every year.  Both races were to go off at 9am so we got up around 6am, ate my usual which is raisin bread and justin's nutbutter.  Then we were out the door at 7am to get there and pick up our bibs and shit.  So after we get there, Heather grabs the bibs and shirts while I snap a selfie of me and the kids crapping around in the car.

In the car goofing around before the 10k!

A few minutes later, I see Juan Tisera, a fellow runner I met a couple of years ago at the North Face 50k.  Anyhey, I get out and get in about .5 miles in before the race.  The temps were about 38 to start which was nice.  I went with my #trailsRoc t-shirt compliments of Ron Heerkens who lives up in NY and belongs to that running group.  So the time arrives and we walk down to the start and I get up by the front as I don't want to get behind a bunch a people when we hit the single track trail section.  So we are off and I notice right away this is going to be a fucking sloppy mess with no footing, ice, and mud.  That said, I kept a 7:34 pace on the first mile, how I don't know because I felt like I was running much harder.  The second mile brought us back to almost where we started but we would be heading out to the Accotink Trail.  My 2nd miles was not good with a 8:02 - yea, it wasn't going to be a good day.  At this point, a 35 yo woman passed me which by the way was the only person to actually pass me during the race which is usually the case on single track trails.  However the Accotink Trail was actually quite wide, plenty of room for passing.  So I essentially ran with/behind her the whole way.  Mile three didn't have the muddy hills and leveled out and ran that at a 7:43 pace.  Now we were into the meat of the Trail and was it half done.  However, I could definitely feel the 4-5 lbs I had put on since December.  Mile 4 wasn't to bad as I had a sub-8 with a 7:59.  Mile 5 had us coming back to the start and coming off the Assotink Trail.  I did notice as this point that Mountain bikers were having trouble getting up some of the hills because of the ice and mud.  Anyway, mile 5 had me at 8:17....Coming into mile 6 I passed the woman who originally passed me at mile 6 which tells me I could of run the race much harder but was probably too conservative...Given that its January, I just didn't want to get hurt and I think that was the mindset of everyone out there.  I finished mile 6 with a 7:28 mile to give me 1st in my Age Group (40-49) with a final time of:  47:05:8.   I was very surprised to place in anything because I had run so poorly but I was 1/19 in the 40-49 age group and 15th out of 67 in the mens division for the 10k.  It turns out that its a new PR for me since I have only ran two 10k's since I started running!  Here is a shot of me coming down the home stretch:

Finishing with a time of 47:05 (7:35 pace)

Another shot of me coming in from further out.

We hung around a while and I was surprised to find out that I placed first in my age group:

First in the 40-49 AG.

Of course, all of us were covered in mud:

Just a little bit of mud...

I have no idea where this was, maybe at the end, not sure!

Final Stats:

Distance:  6.2 miles (10k)
Time:  47:05:8
Pace:  7:35/mile - sucked :)
Place:  1st in age group (1/19 in 40-49 and 15th out of 67 in the mens)
Location:  Wakefield Park/Assotink Trail
Who ran:  JD the 10k, Nic, Heather, and Zach the 5k
Conditions:  Mud and ice (sloppy)
Bathroom rating:  One toilet for 100+ people, you do the math.  Although I have had plenty of practice crapping in the woods so I am used to the situation by now!

Overall, they have improved alot and would recommend to others as long as they have an official timing company.  Maybe next year they can score the 5k's as well but doubt it.  Whats next?  Keep building my base and training by adding in hill work.   I do have the Cherry blossom 10 miler on April 12th - shooting for a sub 70 minute run as my best time there is 1:13 and change.   Next signed up run is the Glacier Ridge 50k near New Castle, PA in May.  I have the Mohican 50 miler in June and am really looking forward to that.  However, I may add in a marathon in March but don't know.  Next to work on getting my right hip flexor figured out. 

Third Times a Charm-MLK Trail 5K

Today we ran the MLK Trail 5K at Wakefield Park.  This was our third year doing some variation of the race.  We had not so great experiences the last two years with issues with poor course markings, but we love the idea of being able to race on a Monday so we decided to give it one more shot.

This year there were two distances.  The 5K was not being officially timed, and there were no prizes being given out so it was more of a fun run.  The 10K was officially timed and had awards.  I'm not sure that I understand the logic of not timing one distance if you are going to the trouble of having the timing mat set up anyway.  I'm guessing it's a cost issue since the race is for charity, but I would gladly pay a little extra for the 5K to get an official time.   The race was much improved over the past two years.

Packet pick up was easy once again.  We got there right when it opened at 8 am and were able to pick up our packets.  Shirts were extra and were a long sleeve cotton t shirt, but I always like the design so we got it.  I also appreciated that they actually had kid sized race shirts because the kids really do like to wear their race shirts to school and so many races don't offer shirts in child sizes. 

Bathrooms were also much improved as the park bathrooms were open this year so we didn't have to go to the recreation center to use the bathroom.  The race started on the CCT, and the race director warned us that the trail was muddy and wet.  No big deal for us, but I think it alarmed some of the runners who weren't quite used to trail running.  The race started promptly at 9 am and had a fairly good section of wide trail before it got to single tracking.  The 5K and 10K runners were on the same course for the first two miles.  Within the first mile we hit a ton of mud and ice.  I was running with the boys as I wanted to make sure they didn't get lost given previous issues with this race.  We hit right around a 9:50 for the first mile.  The first mile also included a small stream crossing.  As most other runners were trying to pick their way over on the rocks, I had a proud mama trail runner moment as my two guys ran straight through the stream.  I don't think the other runners appreciated our 'splash and dash' technique, but hey, it's a trail race.  We were looking to get dirty! 

After the first mile we circled back and headed out of Wakefield and into Lake Accotink.  Right around 2 miles we hit a water stop.  This was at the top of the only real climb on the course, and this section was also paved trail.  We had a nice 9:27 pace for the second mile.  At the water stop, we were supposed to turn around and head back to the finish while the 10K runners continued on.  Small problem:  they had no signage indicating this and were relying on the water stop volunteers to warn 5K runners to turn around.  They were not very vocal about this though so Zach overran the turnaround and only came back because I was shouting at him.  If I wouldn't have been there, the little guy would have been off to do the full 10K.  For next year, I would recommend a sign at the turnaround point.  Otherwise the course was very well marked this year and easy to follow.  As we headed back in the third mile, we were back on the very muddy trail sections so slopping along and getting messy.  The last mile was around 9:50 again.  We all finished within a few seconds of each other slightly over 30 minutes.  I beat the kids this time just because my legs are used to the trails, and they can't outkick me on the trails yet. 

We were actually among the really early finishers of the 5K so I'm pretty proud of their times.  They did a great job in some sloppy trail conditions.  The post race food was awesome.  They had hot veggie soup and chicken tortilla soup along with pita bread and a wide variety of sweet and salty snacks.  Overall we were very pleased with the race this year and will be back again.  Nice job fixing the issues from the previous years MetroRunWalk!

By the way, the awards from Richmond 8K arrived this week, and wow are they nice!

BRATS Frozen 5K and Exciting Sign Up!!

Since JD already did a recap, I won't spend too much time on BRATS Frozen 5K.  The new course is OK.  It's just an out and back and is hilly on the way back with 135' of elevation gain over the course with most of it in mile 2.  The downhill on the way out is nice.  Having access to Sport and Health for bathrooms and post race activities is great.  As always, awards are terrific.  My only real complaint is that I wish they would fix the results so you can get chip and gun time.  The online results only have gun time which sometimes causes confusion if someone has a faster gun time than you, but then places behind you because you have a faster chip time.

My running friend and I before the race

Summary of my run: Should be renamed Dying a Slow Death 5K because that's what I did once again.  In all fairness it was downhill on the way out and pretty much uphill and into the wind on the way back.  7:32 mile 1; 8:28 mile 2; and pathetic 9:15 on mile 3; 8:15 last 0.1.  Overall I was OK with my time.  Good enough for 4th in my age group.  Temperatures were great but the course was not PR friendly even if I was in shape for it.  Final time:  26:23 for me and 25:52 and 25:54 for the boys.

The kids did a great job in their age group so we have two 5Ks in the books in the first 4 days of January.  The kids and I are going to try to log 2015 miles as a team in 2015 so they have each committed to 4 miles per week.  We are all pretty excited about that.

Little brother rubbing it in to big brother that he out kicked him.  Big brother is clearly not happy!

In other exciting news, JD and I signed up for Mega Transect an insane ultra in central Pennsylvania on August 29.  I am beyond excited about this race.  Registration online was insane yesterday with wait times of 16 and 25 minutes respectively for us to finally get our confirmation that we were in.

BRATS Frozen 5k - 1/4/2015

The #runningduricks decided to run the BRATS 5k again, however this year, the course moved from the Freedom Center in Manassas, VA to the Gainesville Sport & Health Fitness Center.  This meant instead of a flat fast course, we could be going up and down for 3 miles.  Definitely not a PR course however it was all for fun anyway.  After the race on News Year's Day, my right hip flexor had been bugging me, and I was a tad concerned given I have done no speed work and all of a sudden, I was jumping into sprint type races.  Ok, so we arrived at the Gainesville Sport & Health Fitness Center around 7:45, the race was at 8:30am.  I hit the dumper and it was packed with all the dudes working out at the fitness center and of course the runners starting to warm up.  After a couple trips to the can, I went out and ran for about .75 miles to get my legs warmed up.  Coming into this race, I am in horrible 5k shape.  First, I weigh 167, about 7lbs heavier than I want to be during the racing season.  Half the problem was that after the marathons ended, I kept up with the same type of eating schedule and thus I put on a good 5-7 pounds.  Second, I have done no real running given I have been trying to heal various aches and pains in the right leg/hamstring.  Lastly, motivation.  With no training and being a tad heavier, I just didn't feel like I could run well.

Before the race started, we all waited for the National Anthem to start but realized it had already started and the sound was all screwed up.  Oh well, they might want to work on that for next year.  That said, the RD gave us a few instructions and we were off.  The first mile was downhill a tad and I ran a 6:39 which felt decent and felt like I could have gone harder.  Then, I followed that up with a 7:23 - it was a small uphill followed up by a downhill.  Additionally, some kid passed out in front of us, so some other guy and I stopped to see if he was ok but some other runner was tending to him.  So both us kept going and I yelled out to the cop to notify him that some kid had passed out from running.  Never figured out what happened or if he just ran too hard or what.  The last mile was all uphill and ran a sluggish 7:40 - I might as well havebeen walking... that is just pitiful.  I finally make it to the top of the hill, bang a right and pass a few women on the way to the finish for a 22:08 - just horrible.  I am definitely to fat and out of shape to run 5ks and need to get them back down to the lower 20's and upper 19's.  However, that said, I got first in my AG (40-44):

5K Run results:

Miles:  3.10

Time:  22:08 (my watch)

Pace:  7:12/mile - out of shape!

Overall place:  37th out of 369

Age Group place:  1st out of 12 

Here is a few shots of me with the boys who also placed during the race.

Dad got 1st in AG, Nic got 2nd in AG, and Zach got 3rd in AG.

Pic of me getting my award!

Notes about the race:  First, don't think I will ever join Gainesville Sport and Health, too packed and crowed for my likes.  Second, BRATS gave us the clock time, not the chip time which if you actually cared would be anywhere from 2-10 seconds off.  I don't know why they did this but I noticed that my time was a few seconds off.  Third, not that competitive - even with my slow time, I managed to do well however it builds your confidence up but we know that if I entered a Potomac River Running race, I would come in 100th or worse!  All that said, it was a fun race for the family and would do it again next year.

Next:  Might do the MLK 10k in Wakefield, don't know yet.  It's in about 2 weeks or so.

Final stats from BRATS Frozen 5k:

 

Rank	Athlete	Bib	Time
1	James Durick	796	00:22:11
2	Paul Chaney	749	00:23:03
3	Troy Eldredge	804	00:23:07