April 21^st, 2008

Pre-Run

Shiny happy pre-marathon Brian. Note smile on face which appears genuine.

For my third annual Sun Run I had a few misgivings. Well, just one, really, but it was a big one: In the two weeks before the run, I developed a nasty case of tendonitis in my right ankle. You can chalk that up to low-end shoes, running on the right side of a crowned path for 3 months (rolling the foot outward is a major contributor to tendonitis), and ... um ... middle agedness. Apparently, the tendon gets a little shorter as one gets older, and that leads to higher risk of tendonitis and other nastiness when you don't stretch properly. But I laid right off it in the last week, bought a $150 pair of lightweight high-end running shoes with heel support, and also bought some inserts to go into those shoes.

During Run

During the run. Note smile which is not so genuine ... in fact, it was unsuccessful in covering up rather nasty pain in my ankle.

I ran with my normal gait and because I took my NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and was gentle with my ankle for a week before the run, things started out very well. But here is a quick summary of the ankle vs. distance:

Distance	Effect	Consequence
0 - 5 Km	Ankle okay	Run as usual
5 Km	Slight twinge	Just keep track of it
7 Km	Now it's really starting to hurt	Changed my gait a little / slowed down a little
9 Km	Still hurting, but no worse	Despite the pain, go all out: Run with everything I've got for that last kilometre
10 Km	Yee-owch!	Who cares, I've got 9 months to let it heal :)

Post-Run

Note the post-marathon glow of satisfaction apparent on subject's face.

So how did I do? Well, despite having to slow down for a couple of kilometres in the run, I kicked ass! I finished with a time of 74:24, which is more than 10 minutes faster than last year's time! It puts me right around 50th percentile which, though mediocre by athletic standards, makes me proud considering I weighed nearly 300 pounds this time last year, and smoked a pack per day for 17 years, quitting 3-1/2 years ago.

I am happy with the result, though I'd like to improve the numbers next year ... but I think I'm close to the limit of my abilities. I can't run much faster than I did this year (and I ran the entire route, by the way, no walking at all this year). I might be able to shave a few seconds here and there, but middle-of-the pack placement is what I set out to accomplish, and it's exactly what I achieved.

OK, I've finished bragging. I'll stop talking about it now.

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