So I felt a weird sensation in my left shin and calf during the Carlsbad Marathon. I was able to run through that race without any abnormal pain so I thought nothing about it. I took my usual one week off after the marathon and even had a good first training run post-Carlsbad. But the very next day, the training run went really bad. There was a weird pain in my left shin and calf that grew into a throbbing pain. I thought it was a calf strain. I took the next week off and everything was feeling much better by the time Surf City rolled around. I felt good enough to give it a start, but I had no idea how the leg would feel for an entire marathon.
Expo EntrancePre-Race Expo and Stuff
I got to the expo a little after 2pm on Friday. The expo didn't open until 3pm, so I waited in my car a bit. I walked towards the entrance around 2:30 and there was already a pretty good size line. Once it opened, they started letting us into the expo tent in waves. It was a tiring work week for me so I pretty much sleepwalked my way through the expo. I picked up my bib and my race shirt. I then stopped by the legacy booth for a badge to affix to my finisher's medal and a long sleeve shirt. As I was about to peruse through the rest of the expo, I bumped into maniac Ed. Since my left leg was gimpy, I had no intention of signing up for any race. My only purchase was two race shirts from the Ink N' Burn booth.
I said hi to my usual expo friends... Chicrunner at RunRacing, RnR booth, and Dane Rauschenberg. I also said hi to Kathy, who was the volunteer coordinator, on my way out.
Maniac Ed
My new Ink n' Burn race shirtRace Day
This year I decided to park for free on Beach Blvd. I got to the corner of Beach and Atlanta a little before 5am. After gathering my gear for the race, I walked over to the Hyatt Regency and hung out inside.
At about 6am, I headed to the starting line. I saw some of my RWOL friends. Most of them were pacers. As I got into wave 2, I bumped into PasadenaRunner and Maniac Noel. They both wanted to finish around 4 hours. Me, I just wanted to finish the race. Shortly thereafter, the national anthem was sung and the race was set to go.
Me with some fast RWOL runnersFirst Half
I took the first mile relatively slow. It felt like a crawl, but I felt discomfort in my left leg from the very first step. The discomfort wasn't too bad. I figured that I could tolerate that for a marathon. I took my usual walk break after 30 minutes of running. Then it was the first gentle climb as we headed towards the Huntington Beach Central Park. As we got closer to mile 5, my left leg was hurting more than I'd like. It was here that I first thought about dropping out. But it was not a convenient place to drop, so I kept walking and jogging. I moved to the side to let the 3:50 and 4:00 pace groups go by me as the paths were mostly narrow inside the park. My plan at this point was to get myself back to PCH and drop out. The left leg was burning with pain especially on the downhill portions. There was no way I'd survive another 20+ miles. At the corner of PCH, I went into a portapotty. When I got out, for some reason I decided to turn right and continue on the course. I thought, "well, I'm almost to mile 10, might as well go another 3.1 and make it a half marathon." My plan changed to finishing a half and just walk to my car. Maniac Casey passes me shortly after mile 10. Then Maniac Don passes me. One of the silly volunteers asked Don if that was a real arrow through his head. LOL.
Second Half
Then I somehow talked myself into completing the entire thing. Since I was going to torture and wreck myself, I might as well get a medal to show for it. So instead of heading straight near mile 16, I made the u-turn onto the beach bike path to complete the second half. I was able to see my friend Howard running towards the finish line finishing his marathon in 3:11:xx. He is such an inspiration to me. He put so much hard work into his training and the race for him was definitely a victory lap. Then my friend who was pacing the 5hr group caught me around mile 19. I ran with them until around mile 20. My leg was hurting so I had to let them go. I saw a runner dressed up as Forrest Gump a little past mile 21. Stupid is as stupid does. I ate some Fig Newtons and Clif Crunch bar. They sure pass out a lot of snacks at this race. It got rather sunny for the last couple of miles. As I was ready to make my final run to the final line, I heard my friends Steve and Jess shouting out to me. Always good to see them.
1: 8:46
2: 8:36
3: 8:39
4: 8:59
5: 9:13
6-7: 20:30 (10:15)
8: 10:44
9: 10:36
10: 13:06
11: 11:48
12: 12:27
13: 12:18
14: 14:17
15: 14:58
16: 15:19
17: 12:46
18: 14:00
19: 14:31
20: 12:16
21: 15:16
22: 12:58
23: 14:41
24: 13:00
25: 14:21
26.2: 16:40
Finish: 5:20:44
Post Race
I took a few steps after crossing the finish line and just stood there. I got my medal and did not feel like moving. One of the spotters came and asked me if I was okay. I said no and he offered me a ride to the medical tent. I told him I could walk and asked if they had ice. They had ice in the tent on the left at the very end of the finishing chute. I grabbed a water bottle and a bag of food. I used the water to mix my Nuun drink in my handheld. As I got to the tent with ice, all of the seats were filled with people icing their knees. So I kept walking and headed for the beer tent.
On my way to the beer tent, I bumped into Maniac Sally and her dad. They were headed out as I was headed in. I congratulated both of them and Sally for getting 5th in her age group. I got two beers this time. Last year they ran out of beer when I got there. As I was going to find a spot to drink my beers, I bumped in Maniac Jean. I drank with her and her friends, Janet and Dee. Then I got a text from my friend Shacky to meet them at BJ's. I then gimped my way to BJ's on Main. On my way there, I spot Maniac James sprinting towards the finish. I shouted to him, but he didn't hear me.
Beer TentI hung out with my RWOL friends (Travelmama, CharliePro, HikerGirl, RiP, Spandex, LAB, GrapevineRunner, Shacky) at BJ's. I looked at the menu, but nothing looked good. So I decided that I would just eat at the Korea House BBQ Buffet in Garden Grove on my way home. We even spotted James as he was walking back to his parents' house. Shacky gave me a ride back to my car and I started heading towards Korea House. There was a lot of traffic on surface streets so it felt like it took forever to get there.
Korea House BBQ
Throwing some shrimp on the barbieAs of right now, I am on the shelf. I'll be taking at least a month off of any running. I have an appointment with my PCP soon. Hopefully I didn't do any serious damage. Four days after the race, I'm almost able to walk normally but still with noticeable discomfort. I will for certain not be ready for the Red Rock Marathon, but I'm still looking forward to visiting Vegas even if it is just to eat good food.
6 comments:
Yikes! I hope rest does the trick but you should go to the doctor just in case...
I truly love reading your race reports. You remember so much of the course from memory. I normally cannot remember a thing, just happy that I made it. I'm glad to hear that you are resting more because I want to continue to be able to read your race reports for many years to come.
The description of your injury resembles what I had several years ago... it was a stress fracture in my case. Good luck!!!
ouch! hope it feels better soon!
I have never tried their Sharkey's and the fig before, but they were life saver when I tried them. the Beer line was too long when I finished so I skipped it, not worth it just for one beer. See you at Red Rock!!
Great stuff as usual, Steaks.
Rest up and run on. You're my motivation to get going again.
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