Free Giveaway..

Not my giveaway, mind you. My blog isn't popular enough. Or even good yet ;) This give away is over at The Arty Runner Chick blog for a Heat Beanie to protect your noodle. They look really warm! Check it out. While you're there check out some of her shirt designs. More to come on the Magic City Half soon! Happy running!

Magic City Half Marathon, Part One

Triple Crown Challenge: Leg 3 of 3.

Playlist for the race:  Grateful Dead’s 3-30-90 show from Nassau Coliseum, a hot show from the 1990 Spring Tour!

Birmingham is hillier than Talladega and Florence. There was a long steady climb in the meat of the route -along with a headwind- making this race the hardest of the three in the Triple Crown Challenge. 

This is the 2^nd year for the Magic City Half Marathon. It’s a smaller race with a lower budget so it doesn’t attract the elite athletes looking for prize money. The proceeds go to the Ruben StuddardFoundation. 

The weather was perfect for running: mid to high 40’s at the start with the temps reaching into the 50’s by the finish and a moderate, easterly wind. There was a 30 minute delay to the race’s start because Coca Cola’s truck carrying all the beverages for the water stops didn’t start! While I didn’t like the delay I can  understand why so no biggie. I’d much rather know there is water, Powerade and GU gels waiting for me during the race than hear, ‘sorry, no go!’

While warming up I felt a tear in the good old hamstring mentioned in my earlier post. I was feeling concerned and disappointed about not being 100% and was torn between pulling out of the race or pushing through and running.  It would suck training for 5 months, be SO close to completing my goal and not even trying. 

So with that in mind I found the 2:20 pace group, figured I’d stay with them for the first few miles, see how I felt and adjust accordingly. NO sense in going for a PR. I just wanted a nice, easy training run today and told myself,   “Don’t screw this up by pushing too hard and really mess up your leg.  Don’t race. Just finish!” It didn’t take long for me to ignore my own advice. Go figure....

Miles 1-4 offer the highest and lowest elevation points on the course. 

Starting from Linn Park you head west on Rev. Abraham Woods Blvd.  I ran super easy for the first mile even though it's downhill. The leg felt a little weird but nothing too irritating so I pressed on, silently saying goodbye to the 2:20 pacer and went looking for the next, running at a 2:10 pace. So much for taking it easy. I should’ve known!

At mile 2 you enter McLendon Park, home of Legion Field, the UAB Blazers and host of the 1996 Olympic Soccer games. I saw Mexico defeat Italy here, and some really great Alabama football games. 

  You have a steep incline of about 100 feet leading you to the campus of Birmingham Southern College.

 You’re rewarded for this climb with a left turn on 12 St. West and a nice, quick ¾ mile descent to the oldest surviving professional baseball park in the U.S., Rickwood Field

 It was built for the Birmingham Barons (AA ball team for my beloved Chicago White Sox) in 1910. 

 This is the lowest elevation for the course. At this point I'm feeling okay. Legs seem to be holding up well and I'm just churning away, singing along to the likes of "Little Red Rooster", "Dire Wolf", and "It's All Over Now".  l love me some Blues music! But people are looking at me kind of strangely. I guess no one else sings when they run? 

Splits for the first 4 miles:
Mile 1: 10:31
Mile 2: 9:40
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 8:42

Short Post

I actually ran the whole way in the Magic City Half despite my injury.  I'll try to collect my thoughts and give a report later. Since I'm new to this I'm not sure how thorough it will be but I'll try :) I mean, I have a lot to say. It's just all in my head and scrambled up like the eggs I had for Breakfast. They were yummy too. With salsa. Always with salsa. For now, at least.

A Little Down But Not Out

So, I'm in the final stage of Birmingham Track Club's  Triple Crown Challenge.  I had no expectations going into this since I've only run one Half Marathon in my life (Mercedes Half, 2/12/12) and suffered an injury afterward. I hadn't run a race since then so my main focus was to train better and complete the Triple Crown without injury.  So far so good until yesterday afternoon.

Since I had a day off from work I wanted to get a 6 mile run in to keep the legs loose and get my taper week off to a good start. I headed out the door and drove to Mountain Brook for my normal 6 mile route when all of a sudden, after a mile and a half I feel a pain in my hamstring! OUCH! WTF?? This isn't supposed to happen. At least not until NEXT week when I'm basking in the glow of success and admiring how expertly I ran in the middle of the pack.  HA! If I'm lucky! More like the back of the middle?

At least I had my wits about me.. My immediate thought was, 'cut the run short. See if you can get in 4 miles . Only one more steep hill then cruise the last 2 downhill and you're home free.'  I have the devil on one shoulder urging me on, and the angel on the other telling me, ' stop! Turn around and go home! Rest up for the race'
Clearly this is quite the quandary. Do I let the ego win or listen to the brain? What would you do? The pain is bearable but certainly something isn't right. I feel it on the foot strike and when I push off. Ah well, it's only a training run. I listened to the angel and went home.

Now my concern is how to get myself ready  for Sunday's race? I'm on my feet all day at work so I have that to contend with. I'm alternating heat and ice, and just started using a foam roller so I hope that helps. I would really HATE to walk this Half. It would feel like I cheated or something. And this race will qualify me for the Half Fanatics.
Any thoughts?  Have you experienced this kind of injury?   What did you find was the best treatment?

Thanks for reading!

A New Beginning For This Blog

I don't play online poker anymore (thanks, Republicans, for the dirty handed UIGEA) but I DO love running and that may be the new focus for this blog. I'm currently in the midst of completing 3 Half Marathons in 3 months, with a 10K thrown in for good measure.