2014 in review for JD - the year of the injury!

Well, the year started off pretty rough when I found out in December of 2013/January 2014 that I had two small hib labrum tears in my left hip.  I went to see a few Dr.'s in the Northern VA area and ended up with Dr. Parker.  He looked at the MRA but didn't see any FAI (Femoroacetabular Impingement) but did see the two tears.  However, my flexibility looked good and we thought we would work on PT first before going to surgery.  So I hit PT hard for about 3-4 weeks and slowly began running again getting around 20 miles a week.  Ran the PR "Run your Heart out 5k" and came in 4th in my AG and then ran the Runners Marathon at Reston .  The race was brutal, here was my dailymile log:

Decent run, planned to live in the 10 min range and did on the back half...wanted this to be a relaxing training run. Weather was absolutely brutal....start of the race it was 20mph winds and pouring rain and around 39F to start...It only got worse from there, wind picked up and got some nasty hail by mile 20, then sleet at the end...all with even bigger winds...so, I was about a good 20 min from hypothermia...hands were swollen from being so cold....all that said, aerobically, felt good and legs felt decent, left hip aching towards around half point and end of race... - had a blast :)

The marathon consisted of cold cold rain and I got something like a 4:20:31.  Not bad for someone who was supposed to get surgery just a few months prior.

Thats me on the left...some random on the right!

Then I got injured.  I had planned to run a 50 miler (Cayuga 50) and Pittsburgh marathon but strained my upper hamstring/lower back on April 20th.  It wasn't until the end of July, early August until I got done PT and built the strength back into my hamstring.  However, on June 1st I paced Zach to his first 10k in Herndon, VA.  The hamstring was bothering me but I was just running through it which wasn't smart.

After I got back to running in September, I ran the 2014 National Capital 20-Miler, Carderock Park, MD where I ran a PR best 2:53:26 in 20 miles for a 8:43/mile pace.

It felt good to just be able to run somewhat hard again for any real distance.  After the 20 miler, I ran YUTC 50k in which I had a planned DNF and only ran 25k.  I could of probably run the whole thing but told myself I wanted only wanted to do 15+ miles that day.  After YUTC, I paced heather to her first 100k at Oil Creek 100 in Titusville, PA.

The month of November was fun.  I ran Richmond on absurd mileage (20+ miles a week) and almost PR'd my marathon time with a 3:54:48.  Actually, the best part about that race was both Zach and Nic placed in the top 5 at the Richmond 8k.

I was very proud of them running so hard and doing so well.  The Richmond Marathon took a toll on my knees but wanted to do another Marathon two weeks later to become a Marathon Maniac.  Heather was a maniac and I really wanted to do it too so I signed up for the Northern Central Trail Marathon which was on November 29th, 2014.  I ran that race and slugged my way to a 4:31:13 for a 10:21 pace/mile.   It was something I really wanted and finally became a Marathon Maniac:

MM #10300

All in all, it wasn't that bad of a year given I had been dealing with hamstring and back issues.  Currently, I am dealing with some piriformis problems in the same gluteal area.  Next year, I have a couple of 50 milers on the schedule and HOPEFULLY on 100 miler attempt.

 

Richmond Marathon (11-15-2014) race report

 Richmond Marathon Race Report

Pre-Race:
The Running Duricks made their way down to Richmond, VA on Friday 11/14/2014 to hit the expo and run the races on Saturday. November, 15th, 2014.  Last year, I had some pretty good tendinitis in my heel and skipped running the marathon so the kids and I followed Heather around Richmond last year.  This year, I had been battling a bevy of small injuries that prevented my miles from reaching anything worth calling good.  Something different for this year was that Heather, Nic, and Zach were going to be running the 8k.  So we would all be running on Saturday which was really exciting.  To give you an idea of my last 6 weeks of training, this is what it looked like. 17, 40 (paced Heather during 100k), 20, 26, 29, 7.  Yea, not exactly getting the Hal Higdon approval however, lets just say I was "FRESH".  Last week, I tweaked my hammy playing basketball with Zach and Nic, and that threw a wrench in my plans for a nice 10-12 miler before this weeks marathon.  Enough bitching! So we headed down to Richmond early Friday, hit the expo at 11am when it opened. The expo is nothing to write home about with your typical vendors and packet pickup stations.  My left Achilles had been aching me the entire week due to a tight calf but no fear, I had my private PT specialist with me:

Nic taking care of Dad who had some issues with his Achilles  a few days before the Marathon.

After the expo, we hit Jersey Mike's like we did the year before.  You can never lose with lunch at Jersey Mikes.  After that we checked in to the Marriott Richmond and chilled for a few hours.    The carb load-up took place at Olive Garden down by University of Richmond...not being a big fan of the Garden, I was pleasantly surprised by how decent the food was.  The last few days I had been difficult to be around given my issues with my hammy and Achilles.  So lets just say, the Olive Garden was not enjoyed by all :) 

The Race(s):
Ok, the day finally arrived.  The 8k was at 7am and the marathon at 7:50am.  Weather a steamy 27F this morning which made my outfit difficult to pick from.  This is what I had planned to wear:

I chose to wear a tight undershirt and my Blue Ridge marathon shirt over top.

So I wish the kids and Mom goodbye and they head outside to the 8k.  I wanted to hangout until about 7:15am in the room, make sure I hit the dumper two more times before I felt cleaned out.  This is me chilling in the room:

No injuries, no injuries, no injuries, break!

I finally headed down to the start of the race but did something I have never done in any of my marathons.  I "assumed" that we would be running after the half marathoners which seemed logical at the time but what I didn't realize is that the marathoners and the back part of the 1/2 marathoners were leaving concurrently.  It was too late at this point and I got stuck starting with the 5:00 hour pace group.  I was unbelievably pissed and couldn't believe I did this because I wanted to go out with the 3:45 pace group.  The first 4 miles consisted of me weaving in and out of people, running on side walks and bumping people.  Some people had to be pissed but I wasn't going to get stuck in the back.  My first mile was a 8:19 and felt pretty good so I knew it was going to be a good first half anyway.  I had a 26:07 at the 5k mark / 8:24 pace and a 52:14 for the 10k split (8:25/m).  At the 20k mark, I was on pace for a 3:40 marathon pace with a 1:45:31 for 12.4 miles.  The first part of the marathon weaved you down broad street and around the city some.  About mile 7 was the "party zone" where I was supposed to meet heather and the gang.  I looked and looked and looked, no one.  Oh well, kept truckin over a small bridge that had a nice view of the james river.  At this point, we are now running along the river.  There were people whopping it up at this point and all I was thinking was "lets see how you feel at 20 brother".  I hit my hammer gel at mile 6 which tasted good.  At the half, I rolled in with a 1:50:52 that had me doing a 3:41 pace.  At this point, I saw heather and the kids for about .03 seconds as I passed them.  The one thing I thought tough was to be a spectator at this race.  Getting from place to place was not easy at all.  After the half point, I was still feeling strong.  However, I hit the wind and the bridge at 15/16 and encountered my first 9 minute mile with a 9:08 at mile 16.  I was actually a little shocked when I saw this and was not sure how I had slowed down so much.   At mile 17/18, I attempted to put in my headphones which sapped the life out of me.  Not only did it take what felt like forever to get them in, I was starting to get real tired.   Little did I know, I would only have about 4 decent miles left in me as I approached the 20 mile mark.  I now had run my fastest 20 miler ever in a 2:53:02.  I was done and I couldn't do anything about it.  From here on out, I was in survival mode, and the Hammer gels were getting more and more frozen as the miles went by.  The water was making me colder and the wind was mentally breaking me down.  It took me 1 hour to go 6 miles and finished the race with a time of 3:54:48.  At first, I was a little pissed that I had such a great first 16-20 miles and shitty last 6 but after thinking that I had done this on 20+ miles a week training, how mad could I really be.

After the race, Heather found me but apparently had lost Zach in the process.  Zach had wanted to run with me down to the end but got lost in the massive crowd.  Eventually she found him but it was scary not knowing where he was.  After the results came, we found out that Nic and Zach both came in 5th and 3rd respectively for the Richmond 8k which is incredible.  Here are some shots of them finishing the race:

Zach (3rd)

Nic (5th)

    

Of course, I couldn't of done so well without my little helpers:

And of course, here is a nice shot of Zach, Nic and after the race warming up back at the hotel:

Again, thanks to Heather for dragging the boys all around Richmond to find me when in fact, I only saw them one time which was at mile 13.1.   Finally, here is a shot of all of us:

Race Stats:

Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 3:54:48
Pace: 8:57/mile
Overall place:1384/5113
Age Group:  161/405
10k split:  52:14
Half split:  1:50:52
20 mile split:   2:53:02 (PR 20 miler)

Splits Mile Pace GAP 1 8:18 8:17 3 2 8:22 8:12 25 3 8:29 8:26 6 4 8:26 8:22 9 5 8:26 8:22 10 6 8:37 8:30 11 7 8:09 8:53 -127  8 8:23 8:18 -0 9 8:36 8:41 -13 10 8:38 8:20 39 11 8:42 8:33 14 12 8:44 8:24 35 13 8:25 8:22 4 14 8:25 8:36 -32 15 8:28 8:46 -51  ---------------------- FELT SO STRONG UNTIL THE BRIDGE 16 9:08 8:25 41 17 8:59 8:42 39 18 9:07 8:57 23 19 9:08 9:18 -25 20 9:44 9:39 8 21 10:17 10:22 -11   ---------------------> WHAT???? 22 9:42 9:38 7 23 9:57 9:59 -5 24 10:04 10:08 -17---------------------> DYING A SLOW DEATH HERE! 25 10:13 10:15 -5 26 9:36 9:58 -61 0.2 7:53 9:32 -59
Reference:  http://www.strava.com/activities/220010670/overview

Right now, the left knee is pretty sore, the right knee is a tad sore but other than that, all is good.  I am contemplating running the Northern Central Trail Marathon to become a Marathon Maniac.  I signed up last night and will do it unless something drastic happens.