My training schedule for the weekend dictated 3 miles (plus soccer) yesterday, and 4 miles today. I’d planned to run after soccer and Harry Potter yesterday, but we were short a girl on the field and I played the whole game and I was wiped out. So I skipped my run, but this afternoon I did 4.5 miles following this route through Nassau Bay.
Nassau Bay is a great neighborhood (town?) to run through when I get the chance. I could (and have) actually run there straight from my apartment, but it makes me nervous to do so since it involves a very busy half-mile stretch of Nasa Parkway where there are no sidewalks. Houston is horribly lacking in sidewalks.
Anyway, Nassau Bay is pretty, with lots of trees and lovely houses and lakes and quiet streets with little vehicular traffic and lots of foot and bike traffic. I can run and people watch at the same time.
Today I did 4.5 miles in 50:27 for an 11:13/mile pace. Average heart rate was 176. I took two 2-minute walking breaks in the first two miles for my stupid, stupid legs. The following is an example of how my mental state progresses during a run like today’s:
“Ok…start off easy…maybe today my legs won’t hurt…maybe… Uh oh. There’s a twinge. Yep, they’re starting to hurt. Ok, well maybe today it won’t be so bad….maybe…. Ok, it’s bad. OW OW OW. What is wrong with my freaking legs?? I hate running! Why am I even bothering?? I’m so pathetic. I’m going to have to retire from running at the ripe old age of 27 because my damn legs can’t handle it. I can’t believe I signed up for the half marathon. I must be crazy. OW OW OW.”
Obviously this is not a good state of mind, and it leaves me tired, frustrated, and wondering why I’m even bothering to try to run at all. By mile 3 today I was doing decently again and my legs had stopped their screaming, but the fact remains that while my legs continue to hurt, I have begun to dread running. I don’t look forward to it anymore. I don’t get excited about it. I just don’t want to go.
Sigh.
In other news, I saw Cassie and Manny at this morning’s Tulane School of Medicine 10K. They both had great races with Cassie finishing right at an hour and Manny a couple minutes ahead. I was at the finish line taking photos and wondered why they didn’t finish together — usually they do. After the race Cassie told me she’d had to stop to throw up!! (She’s been sick all week.) But she seemed ok afterwards.
The race was well done from what I could tell, and the combination of Sunday morning timing and the 10K distance drew some top-notch runners including Sean Wade and Luis Armenteros (who finished 1-2 bang-bang).
Boy do I feel your pain – literally. I myself have taken a lengthy and sad hiatus from running because of knee pain. I am just now making another attempt to get back into it. The good news? Two 2-mile runs in and my knees feel totally fine! Cross your fingers for me and I’ll do likewise for you.
My dad spent a great deal of his 20’s running (10K’s mostly) and playing basketball through his 30’s. In the end, he tore up his knees pretty badly, and now he can’t do a lot of things he loves because he was pretty tough on his body. Anyway, I guess the point I’m making is that it doesn’t sound like your leg pain is something that’s going to be cured by just “running through” it. I know you’ve already seen a professional about your knees, but maybe you should see one on your legs, too – if not a doctor, at least a trainer.
I think the top runners were there because of the cash! $300, $200 and $100 for 1-2-3. (I sent an e-mail to the race director to see where results are going to end up at.)
Looking at some of your pictures, I couldn’t tell if the picture of Wade and Armenteros with another gentleman (Junior Mitchell) in third was at the beginning or the end of the race. (Looks like the beginning.)