A new experience

Over the last several years as I have been running, I've endured a number of (minor) injuries, but this week I encountered a new one. On Thursday afternoon, I was out running 10K (6.2) miles, and at almost the halfway point, while attempting to dodge traffic, I stepped on the edge of the pavement, my ankle rolled over, and I went down in a big heap. Several drivers stopped to ask if I was OK, but I popped right up, smiled and gave a thumbs-up, but kept running. A minute later, though, a persistent and kind lady (who later introduced herself as Diane) asked me, "Are you sure you're OK? Your cheek and knee are bleeding." Finding that she was right, I accepted her offer of a ride home (some 3+ miles), and am glad I did. Since then my ankle has swollen and gotten quite tender, and I am also experiencing pain from the inside of my left elbow (where I scraped it raw on the shoulder of the road when I fell) and from my chest, where I suspect I may have cracked a rib when I struck the ground - it feels very similar to when I did so a few years ago. All in all, though, I thank God for protecting me from any worse outcome (like falling into the traffic), as well as providing me with a ride home. And so now, barely able to walk, I'm taking some time off.

Shamrocks and Shenanigans - official results

This morning I was able to consult online the official results from yesterday's 5K. My actual time of 33:44 placed me 1079th out of 1597 finishers overall, and 31st of 35 in my age group of men 50-54.

Shamrocks and Shenanigans

Today I ran my first 5K race since December 5 - the "Shamrocks and Shenanigans," held in downtown Ann Arbor and sponsored by our local shoe store, Running Fit. (I owe a lot of gratitude to my friend Steve Angerman, who runs the store, because after I discovered a few days ago that the race was already full and not registering any more people, he told me he could still get me in). My time of 33:42 was not good (my 5K personal record is 29:14), and left me with a sluggish pace of 10:51 per mile. But at least I was able to finish the race, unlike last year when I fell on a hill and had to be tended to by an emergency injury crew from the Red Cross. It was not a pleasant day for a run - 39 degrees and overcast, with a light intermittent misty rain. I had 3 F's in mind, and 2 of them disappeared quickly. Fun largely went out the window with the weather, and Fast evaporated too as my efforts were bent not on running quickly but merely on staying upright. But Finish took place this time, and I was glad for that, as it allowed me to leave last year's disappointing effort firmly in the rear-view mirror. As we waited for the race to begin, we huddled beneath a storefront canopy on main street, and, after showing my card, I had a nice conversation with 28-year-old Paul, his girlfriend Kelly, and their friend Denise. When Kelly told me her name, I said, "Irish!" She grinned and said, "Yes, but my birthday's not on St. Patrick's Day!" (I had already told them about mine.) Kelly has only been running for a couple of weeks; she was quite nervous about doing this race; and they were all impressed that an almost 53-year-old was doing it. Paul asked me where I went to college, and when I said, "Minnesota - a small school," he asked, "St. Olaf?" I said, "HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?" He grinned and said, "Just a guess," but that led to some conversation about weather.

Running through the years

For the last few years, I have seen an older man on the track at Bally while working out. During the last few months (since the holidays), I have been pleased to become friends with Leonard Gadja, and have learned from him that he is a 72-year-old ex-employee of the auto industry, who has run 6 miles a days for 25 years now. In this, he is thereby setting a model for the kind of running activity I hope will characterize upcoming decades for me.

Ups and downs

2010 has been a real roller coaster so far in regards to my running. After several (minor) injuries last year, I had hoped to be able to be more consistent this year, and got off to a good start, making my goal of running 100 miles in January. But then on Feb. 1, I developed pain and tightness in my right calf ... and, after a rest, and a comfortable easy run on Feb. 9, the problem returned on Feb. 10. So I decided a longer rest was in order, and only did long walks for the rest of the month. After this layoff, I was very eager to resume running today, and an unseasonably warm day (upper thirties) and a goodly amount of sunshine led me to run outside. I had not noticed, however, that the footing was not uniformly good ... in particular, a couple of stretches were quite impeded due to our most recent large snowstorm. So I cut down my plans and only did a little over 2 miles ... but still, it's nice to be back at it!