I decided that I would be including the mileage from Sunday, May 1st in this weeks count because it was Race Day for me, and my mileage was a little limited last week due to tapering and a nagging boo boo that my hip was experiencing. But enough
whining (for that I will probably pay for dearly tomorrow night at the weekly Hash Run), here is my week in numbers and commentary.
Sunday April 24
Barefoot: 0.00
Vibrams: 0.00
Total: 0.00
This was Easter turkey fest, the only running I did was to the dinner table for more turkey and pumpkin pie (I was barefoot, I wonder if that counts).
Monday April 25
Barefoot: 9.43 miles
Vibrams: 0.00 miles
Total: 9.43 miles
Once again this seems to be my Monday routine, a run at lunch and a HHH run in the evening. A quick breakdown is as follows:
6.5 miles at lunch at a moderate pace, just trying to ensure I get some mileage on my taper week to keep my legs loose. Was really hard keeping the pace down, but I have been fighting a muscle inflammation by my hip (not that muscle get your mind out of the gutter) so I was really trying to keep the speed down, and hope it heals up by Sunday (a little foreshadowing). As always it was a interesting run, lots of weird looks, a lot of finger pointing, you know the usual.
The HHH run was a little more interesting, DDC was hosting from her docile and she organized a great little Trivial Pursuit Hash. Since one of our group was leaving for Denmark (you will be missed BM) and this was to be her last hash with us, DDC decided Danish Trivial Pursuit questions were in order. Not to be outdone, one of our elder statesman decided to crash the party literally, sending one runner screaming away from the sight of blood and in search of a EMT, DDC is married to one. This also resulted in the calling of 911 by a concerned neighbor (thanks alot for that, glad there are some people out there that still care), and the arriving of a ambulance and 2 of Winnipeg's finest paramedics. So after a short break to ensure that TM was ok and an encouraging On On from him as he headed back, the rest of us were off to finish the trail that we started. Once it was all said and done it was another 2.93 miles to the daily total, and some more stories to relived over and over again, I am sure.
Wednesday April 27
Barefoot: 2.57 miles
Vibrams: 0.00 miles
Total: 2.57 miles
This was video shoot day with Shaw Cable, over lunch I did some running on camera, and a very interesting and informative interview (at least I hope I didn't sound too much like an idiot) with Jessica and John. Of course, this drew a little bit of interest and curiosity from some of the locals that were passing by. They are expecting it to be ready for airing this upcoming week, and will also run it before the Manitoba Marathon (which I plan to run of course). Hopefully they got my good side (I'm not sure which side that is, but hopefully they got it!), in the over an hour of footage and 2 hours of overall time for the shoot. I am super excited to see how it turns out (I am sure my form was not good because I was having a hard time keeping my adrenaline in check), and once I got my copy from them I will download it onto the blog. Thanks again Jessica and John for all your hard work keeping me in line, and the good questions that you presented to me.
Thursday April 28
Barefoot: 4.33 miles
Vibrams: 0.00 miles
Total: 4.33 miles
This was just a quick run around the neighborhood to keep me loose. Nothing exciting, just tried to keep the pace slow and even. Could not even say if any comments were made, I was in my own little world thinking about the weekend. The one piece of bad news (or could of been good news) that I got that day was that the 50 km Ultra that was scheduled for May 14
th was being postponed until August 20
th due to the park venue being closed to flooding. This I think would become to be a blessing in
disguise once Sunday came around.
Friday and Saturday (April 29/30)
Barefoot: 0.00 miles
Vibrams: 0.00 miles
Total: 0.00 miles
Once again this was a taper week, so I was trying to take it easy to rest up and be ready for Sunday and my first barefoot race of 2011. Little did I know Mother Nature wanted to play a little trick on us. As everybody knows being the weatherperson (need to be politically correct you know) is the best job in the world, you even get paid when you are wrong, which seems to be quite often. So when the weather forecast called for a crappy Saturday and Sunday, I was not to concerned, because there was a good chance it was wrong. Unfortunately, this time the forecast was right, the temperature went from 22 degrees on Friday to -4 on Sunday with a -13 degree windchill, it rained then snowed and the wind was down right nasty. We were even warned that the race might be cancelled Saturday night if freezing rain fell over night.
Sunday May 1st (WPS Half Marathon)
Barefoot: 0.00 miles
Vibrams: 13.1 miles
Total: 13.1 miles
I figured I would start this off with a picture, as they say a picture says a 1,000 words, well I would tend to agree.
The start of the 2011 WPS Half Marathon May 1st This was a run for the books, the weather was unbelievable, and yet there was 2000 plus runners, numerous volunteers and other hearty individuals that came out to cheer us on. This is what Winnipeg spirit is all about in a nut shell, the race could of been cancelled, the runners could of not showed up, the volunteers could of packed it up before it even started. But no, Winnipeggers are a robust and proud bunch, when we take on a challenge, we see it thru to the end. This run was for a great charity. "Cops for Cancer", and nothing was going to keep us from showing our support, not sleet, nor snow, nor rain, nor wind (I feel like a postal worker). Anyway it was a great day for a run, unfortunately not a barefoot run, but at least we were running. Now don't get me wrong, I was disappointed that I could not go barefoot (it being International Barefoot Running Day and all), but it would not damper my spirit to much. With the snow on the ground, and the wet conditions it would be the Vibrams for me, because there is nothing worse than a cold and wet run for a barefoot runner, your feet will freeze instantly, and I've had enough frost bite this winter.
It was not the greatest run for me, no personal best, and I didn't come out unscathed, my hip had been bothering me for the last week or so, and with the cold today, it was acting up from the get go. I struggled thru the run, trying to keep up with my wife (who bested her PB by a whole 10 minutes, wooohoo!!), until something in my hip area popped at about mile 12. This forced me to stop and walk for a couple blocks until the muscle relaxed and shifted enough for me to shuffle run into the finish. But at least I finished, I am stubborn, and pig headed sometimes but I was not going to let my hip keep me from finishing this run. I would of crawled thru the slush if I had too, and I was almost thinking I was going to, as my hip was screaming and complaining the rest of the way. But as I said I finished and that was enough of that. It was a trip to the Pan AM clinic in the pm to make sure I did no real damage.
But first kudos to the Race Director, Nick P, his numerous selfless volunteers, the great officers, cadets, EMT's and military personal who braved the cold and nasty conditions to ensure this race went off without a hitch. Great job everybody, this is why this event is so great every year and I intend to run it every year for as long as I am able.
Regarding the Pan AM clinic trip and my cranky hip, it appears that I aggravated one of the muscles that runs by the hip bone, which caused some inflammation. So I am not allowed to run for a week, to give it time to heal properly. Hmmm, I guess it will be some barefoot walking for me to get some miles this week.
I will leave you with some more pics from the WPS run today, to hopefully inspire you as well as to show the heart of the Winnipeg spirit.
A very inspirational runner who does not let his blindness stop him from achieving his goals. Congrats to a great run and finish.
Off to the races, Mike Booth (2) leading the pack out.
The half way point and the two lead runners
Erick from City Park Runners waving as he sprints by the mid point
Who is that masked man? (All photo credits to Cheryl of CPR)
Week Total
Barefoot: 16.33 miles
Vibrams: 13.1 miles
Total: 29.43 miles
Year To Date:
Barefoot: 73.49 miles
Vibrams: 34.93 miles
Total: 108.42 miles
On On
I am really not liking the formating capabilities of this site, any help to straighten out would be greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou have started a very good initiative such that if you’re running some miles daily then you are making your body more perfect and you would be very much excited for that. And this week would be very special for you.
ReplyDeletePlease be sure to post your Shaw clip. I'm really curious to view it. The Police Half Mary was another -of many- CBR's. Enough CBR's... bring out the sun! Thanks Bob for another informative post. I was looking for you at the start. We'll connect one day. Mike
ReplyDeletePS. The formatting is challenging. Sometimes it works and sometimes, not so much. It's the content that's important so don't worry. M