Over the last 10 months running has become a major part of my life. It seems to have snuck up on me. It has gone from a chore I was doing to lose weight to something that I really enjoy and miss when I am unable to do it. It has really surprised me how the times when I am unable to run has affected me. Looking forward the next 6 weeks will be filled with challenges but I’m looking forward to them and meeting some of my personal goals for myself.
I’ve never been one who gets down during the winter months but this winter has been hard for me. I have always been a bit of a night owl and winter has always just provided me with more night. This year it was different and somehow winter got to me, making me feel out of sorts and diet suffered as I turned to snack foods. Though the real problem wasn’t the winter at all, in fact the real problem was that the week after Christmas while out for a 10k or 11k run my knee started to hurt. It took a couple of days before it felt better that first time but every time I would brave the cold for a run after that the pain would return. I handled the physical pain and the emotional pain the way I always do, I ignored it. I paid it lip service by going to the doctor, but I never seemed to have time to follow-up with the sports medicine doctor that I was referred to.
I never gave up on running because I knew it was important to me so every week or so I’d head out to see how my knee held out. First I didn’t change anything about how I ran, I just ran untill it started to hurt and then I would push myself untill I got home and be more depressed than before. Finally, after some time, two things changed: one, I started using a knee brace, and two I forced to take a slower pace. With a slower pace and the knee brace I was able to run 45 minutes pain-free, it was during one of these runs that it hit me how much I’d been missing the act of running. I have continued running regularly, but the turmoil of the last few weeks has limited my opportunity but thankfully I have tried hard to take some steps to keep focused in the right direction.
Today I take the next step in my running, In less than two hours I’m taking part in Harry’s Spring Run-Off in High Park. It’s a step I’ve wanted to take since last fall, but I always seemed to have an excuse that kept me from registering for an organized run. Today that all changes and once the race is behind me then the real challenge begins. I have 6 weeks to train before I run my first Half Marathon. That’s 21.1k for in case you were wondering. As I work on this post I have been trying to remember when the thought of running for over 2 hours went from an impossible torture to a doable challenge, but that’s a story for another day. I have been thinking about running this Marathon since the fall, but it wasn’t until last week that I went beyond thinking and registered. It will be just 54 weeks over a year since the first time I asked my mom to sit with the kids so Melissa and I could give running a try. That day we managed to go 3.17km in 33:54. Today I hope to run 5k in under 28 minutes, but will be happy with any time under 30 minutes. So along with this race today I’m starting a new series of running posts, with weekly updates and tracking. I’d hoped to have more of it finished for today, along with the refresh of my blog, but life has had other plans. For now Wish me Luck, You can hopefully follow my run on my RunKeeper page.
Have you looked at your running form? Based on some reading I've been doing I've learned that the way you land your foot can make a huge difference.
Heel strikes can cause major problems due to the level of impact. Shoes don't do nearly as much to help as the shoe companies would have you believe.
Have you looked at your running form? Based on some reading I’ve been doing I’ve learned that the way you land your foot can make a huge difference.
Heel strikes can cause major problems due to the level of impact. Shoes don’t do nearly as much to help as the shoe companies would have you believe.
I started running and had so many problems that I ended up quitting. So sad! The proper shoe can really help, that is: the shoe that doesn't do too much for you and lets you run as naturally as possible. Also, there's some great yoga that helps runners.
I started running and had so many problems that I ended up quitting. So sad! The proper shoe can really help, that is: the shoe that doesn’t do too much for you and lets you run as naturally as possible. Also, there’s some great yoga that helps runners.