Every Day is Leg Day

 

On a run/hike in the woods near our house

For over a year I've been unable to run because of a hip injury (TFL syndrome).  I hurt myself running last March (2020), just as everything was shutting down for Covid.  Being unable run has adversely affected my mental health and I've been anxious to get back to running.  Since I only have pain after running, not walking, one of the sports medicine doctors I had seen during all this asked me if I would be ok if I just never ran again.  I said no.  So then I went on a long physical therapy journey.  After a lot of months of physical therapy (maybe 9 months total) I can now run forty five minutes-ish with little or no pain.  I had to strengthen a lot of muscles in my legs and hips that had become relatively weak and work on changing my running gait a little (shorter stride, quicker turnover puts less strain on joints).  Also my physical therapists worked to break down scar tissue in my hip using different massage and "scraping" techniques that really hurt but really helped reduce my pain.  So I'm happy that I can run again and now nearly every day I spend some time doing leg exercises - as I will continue to do going forward.

Taking a break from running hasn't been all bad.  I started doing yoga and hiking.  Before the injury, I loved running outside but wouldn't really think of just "walking" in the woods.  Why would I do that when I could run?  But now I enjoy going for a slower hike at all the beautiful trails around.  A lot of them have a lot of trip hazards that would make it a little dicey to run through anyway.  And there is often stopping to look at flowers or waterfalls or pick blackberries or smell things.  And now I spend more time doing strength exercises for my legs and hips.  The lack of which probably caused my injury.   My PT said I was ready to "graduate" from therapy back in August, so I am happy about that.

Scott and I used to run together every other Friday or so and prepare for races together and we haven't been able to do that in about a year and a half.  This past Friday we were finally able to go run together again.  We ran on a nice levee trail right by the Columbia River.  It was nice (and a bit windy) but I'm happy to be able to run again.  Hopefully I can keep my hips in a good place so I can keep running.

Here I am running and looking like death on the treadmill.

I did a lot of treadmill running during the summer so I could be in the house with the kids.

Pilgrim 5K

Thanksgiving morning we ran a 5K at Thanksgiving Point - the Pilgrim 5K.  Two of Scott's sisters, one brother in law and one niece and nephew ran with us too!  It was fun to have a group!  It wasn't as cold as when we ran this two years ago either.

I was hoping to do better in the race and started off running at a normal pace but I felt like I was breathing so heavily like I just couldn't get enough air.  By the end of the race I felt really winded and bad.   My Fitbit showed by heart rate being higher than normal the whole time so I felt pretty bad at the end of the race...and still didn't run that fast.  I was kind of disappointed with my performance but I think I was really affected by the altitude.  Our town's altitude is 200 feet.  Lehi is 4500ish.  Maybe I was still tired from the half marathon although I have run several times since then (including since we got to Utah).  Anyway, it was fun to run as a pilgrim, although we all agree those bonnets are universally unflattering.  ;)

Here we are at the end

We all got tiny pies in lieu of medals

And pumpkin bread muffins

Photo op by fake Plymouth Rock (see us at real Plymouth Rock HERE).

I was surprised and happy when I saw I got 4th place in my division (women 35-39)!  I missed getting 3rd place by 8 seconds!!  1st through 3rd place in each division won a big pumpkin pie.  Wish I had run better.  Curse you altitude!  ;). 

Monterey Bay Half Marathon

Scott and I ran a half marathon this past weekend in Monterey.  Scott's mom came down from Oregon to watch the kids so we could go run.  Scott and I run all the time but we've been doing longer runs over the last few months to train for this race.  And its finally here.  The run started at 7am (actually 6:50) so we had to leave the house pretty early.  Here we are waiting at the starting line near fisherman's wharf.  It was cold while we waited - California cold (50 degrees).  But we survived.

The sun eventually came up.

Here we are ready for our corral to start.  There were about 7000 runners.

The course was really pretty, right on the ocean for a lot of it.  And you couldn't have ordered more beautiful weather.  We started near fisherman's wharf, ran around Dennis the Menace park, through the tunnel by the wharf, on the running path, down cannery row, past the aquarium and along the road past Lover's Point.  Then we jogged up a few blocks to go through downtown Pacific Grove (which is only one block or so long) and then back down to the ocean.  We ran along the coast the rest of the way until the start of the Pebble Beach area and then turned around and came back by the water to the fisherman's wharf area to the finish line.  The first 8 miles or so ticked by pretty fast.  By mile 10 I was feeling pretty tired - mostly in my feet.  So the last 5K or so was tough.  Heavy legs.

We made it!  I love running with Scott and Monterey is so beautiful!  It was a great run, in spite of those last few painful miles.  We even beat our last half marathon time by more than 6 minutes.  At the finish line it became apparent I had not fueled enough and I started feeling really sick.  That's a pretty common thing that can happen if you run a long time (over an hour) and don't take in enough food/fuel while running.  Yes, you must eat while doing long runs.  I had two GU packs (a packet of a thick syrup goo made for intense exercising to replace your lost fuel quickly).  I HATE these things, they taste horrible and the consistency is really gross.  I usually can barely get them down but they work really well for me, most of the time.  So I took one at mile 4 and another at mile 8.   In past races that has been enough.  But I think I should have taken one more 'cause I was in a bad place at the finish line.  I didn't throw up (hooray!!)...and just sat down for a while, forced down some chocolate milk and a bagel and eventually I started to feel a little better and could get up and make it to the car.

Scott was all smiles.  No crashing for him at the finish line!

Here I am after starting to feel a little better.  Chocolate milk is the recovery drink of choice for runners these days.  They have it at the end of most long races I've seen.  It has the right ratio of protein and carbs to help your body recover.  Good stuff.

I'm so glad I could do the run but I did not feel right for the rest of the week.  Just weak and depleted which is not normal for me after a long run.  I had been fighting a cold before the race and it came back with a vengeance after the race.  I felt sick all week and just couldn't get enough food down to get back to feeling normal.  Not good.  Maybe cold plus half marathon just wasn't a good combo.  Next time I know I need three GU packs.  Shudder.

By Thursday (the race was on Sunday) I felt a little better and decided to go out for a short run.  It was raining buckets that morning.  Suddenly I miss my treadmill a little more.  I don't mind running in the rain that much but I do feel bad taking the kids out.  I got a rain cover for the jogger stroller so we tried that out for the first time.  The kids' shoes got wet but otherwise they stayed pretty dry.  I don't have much rain running gear so I just got soaked.  I don't mind that much 'cause its not a cold rain.  You just get wet.  It probably wasn't great for my lingering cold though.

Emma insisted on taking several of her stuffed animals on the run and I felt bad about the rain so I didn't object. When we got back to the house she informed me that she was no longer in possession of her favorite stuffed kitty.  On a dry day I would have just retraced my steps on foot on the bike path to find the kitty but it was pouring and I was still feeling pretty depleted.  So we drove in the car by the bike path.  The bike path is not that close to the road in some parts and it was dark and raining heavily but by some miracle I spotted a tiny grey dot out on the path in one spot.  I parked the car on the side of the road and ran over to the path and sure enough, it was Emma's very wet little kitty.  It was the miracle of the day.  It's the little things.  We put kitty in the dryer and all was well.

I was very proud of myself for finding the kitty

Emma wasn't as impressed.  She seemed to think it was my fault that the cat was now very wet.  After all, it wasn't wet before I got it from the bike path.  :(

Poor kitty

No more stuffed animal friends (or other toys) will be allowed on our runs.

And here are a few non-running pictures...

The day before the race we drove out to Monterey to pick up our race packets.  Here we are by the Portola Hotel where packet pick up was.

Checking out the Pacific House in downtown Monterey

And here are our lovely children posing in the Pacific House in Monterey...

Matthew

Anna

Grant (not forced to do this against his will, just trying to look serious).

John

Emma

At Dennis the Menace park in Monterey

I got to go visit Grant's class this week to see some of the life science projects they have been working on.  Grant was excited to have us!

Emma tries riding her bike with training wheels

Anna on her last soccer day.

She had a tremendous last day.  She played goalie the whole game and stopped probably 20+ good goals shots.  One was a miraculous mid air catch.  In the last five minutes one got past her but her team still won 3-1.  She felt terrible about letting that one by.  When the other team scored the other coach shouted "FINALLY!" because they just couldn't get by our little Anna.  That made her feel bad but the other coach came and told her what a great job she did.  Not sure it made her feel better though but he was nice.  Way to go Anna!  Amazing goalkeeping!

Grant at his last game.

Anna's coaches giving her a medal

And Grant at his first day of basketball.   He has never played before but he actually had a few breakaways and a lay up in the first game.  Good job Grant!

It's all new to him but I think he's having fun

I love basketball so much!!

Running Life

Running is my exercise of choice.  And up until a few weeks ago I did most of my runs on a treadmill in our house.  This is just practical when you have lots of kids at home.  The treadmill can get old but its does the job.  A few weeks ago a metal bracket holding up the belt of the treadmill cracked on one side making the treadmill running surface dip dangerously to one side.  The metal bracket is not fixable unless you have welding equipment handy.  Which I don't.  I even tried a quick fix of propping the sagging side up with some different shims, but it didn't work and now the belt just slides over to that one side and makes a terrible grinding sound as it goes around.  It's time to admit defeat I think.  The treadmill is over 9 years old (older than Anna) and we've logged thousands of miles on it.  Scott and I have both used it quite regularly and even the kids like to jump on there from time to time.  So its had a good life.  RIP treadmill.   To put off buying a new treadmill I've started doing all my runs outside.  We live right by a bike trail so there is a great place to run practically right outside our door.  The only catch is I have to push my two youngest in a jogger stroller most days.  Getting out the door is the hardest part.  A lot of days the kids really don't want to go, which I get.  It's probably not that fun for them.  I've switched my routine to do some runs on weekend mornings.  Scott and I take turns going out for a run on the weekends, but I still like to get at least three runs during the week.  Here I am after an outdoor run pushing the kids.  On this day I got a flat tire part way through the run and had to stop early.  :(  I already got one other flat tire a few weeks back so hopefully this is not a new trend.  This double jogger stroller is about 8 years old but hopefully has a little more life in it yet.  And that is my post run grimace - yes that is just what my face looks like.  :)  I know I get extra workout points for pushing wiggling kids.  I just weighed the kids and Emma and John together weigh 74 pounds!!!  So, yes pushing them in the jogger stroller is a challenge.  Especially up those hills (GASP)!  I get a lot of comments on the trail while pushing them.  A few days ago another mom said something like, "Oh look at the cute babies!"  And as I strained to push the 5 year old and almost 3 year old up a slight grade I laughed to myself - they're not babies anymore and I can feel it in my arms at the end of the run.  :)  At the end of most runs they like to walk to the mailbox and check for mail.  Then we all run home.

On my wrist is my Fit Bit Surge - a GPS watch that I LOVE!  Scott got it for free because he is a sometimes beta tester for Fit Bit.  One of the perks of living in Silicon Valley and knowing people.  It gives me all kinds of data about my runs.  It's the best thing ever.   I guess I can be a bit of a data nerd.  I love charts and graphs, so I love looking at all my running data.  So fun. 

On the days Scott is home and I don't have to push the kids in the stroller, running seems so nice and easy!  This is about 7am on a morning Scott was home - the beautiful beginning of a 10 mile run (no jogger stroller!!).  It had just rained and smelled like evergreen trees.  So wonderful.  I tried to take a shaky picture while running.  So I've been enjoying the outdoor runs.  Treadmills are convenient but running inside, not getting anywhere, can get old.  Especially with kids running in asking me to do things for them mid-run (can you clean up the yogurt I spilled, wipe my bottom, get me some milk etc.)  That really harshes my good running vibes - but some things just can't wait.  :(  Some day we will probably replace the dead treadmill, but I'm not in any hurry.  I already have a rain cover for the stroller.  I do have my eye on a single jogger stroller for next year when John is in kindergarten. Woohoo!!

Here's a bonus pic of my 70+ pound running friends.  Cutest running buddies ever.

Bay to Breakers

Scott and I ran the Bay to Breakers race last weekend in San Francisco.  It's 12kilometers (7.45 miles) from the bay side of San Francisco (Embarcadero area) to the ocean side (near Ocean Beach - see map below).  It's a very old race, started in 1912 to improve city morale during post earthquake rebuilding years. This year there were between 40,000 and 50,000 registered runners and 200,000 spectators, many of whom tried to jump in and run illicitly.   Only about 27,000 racers finished.  This "race" is not really a runners race as we learned.  It's more of a big party.  I knew it was kind of like that but thought we would still be able to run and it sounded cool to run across San Francisco with all the streets closed just for us.  It was very crowded and we ended up with thousands of walkers in front of us to dodge and weave through.  At many points we were forced to stop and walk because we couldn't get through the walkers and a few times we came to a complete stop, often near porta potties where lines stretched across the race course.  There is certain runner etiquette that is observed in most road races that was totally out the window here.  So it was a little tricky but still fun. Here we are at the finish line area.

This is a map from my GPS watch app.  My GPS was a little off.  The distance should have only been 7.45 miles.  White circle is the start, black circle the finish line.

We drove into San Francisco early and parked on the ocean side about a mile from the finish line.  Then we took an Uber across town to the start.  That was my first time taking an Uber but Scott is a seasoned pro having lived in San Francisco most of last year.  It was so convenient.  Before we knew it we were at the start on the bay side.

By the Oakland Bay Bridge

We finally found our starting corral.  There were so many people!!

Lots of costumes.  Maybe 50% (or more) of people there were in some kind of costume.  And lots of people actually ran without clothes or very little clothing.  This is not a race to take kids to and I was surprised so many spectators brought their kids.  Scott and I tried to avoid any of that craziness and run.  :)

Getting ready to start

There were so many people it took over an hour for everyone to start running (they started people by corrals every few minutes).  Here we are at the start.  I didn't take any pictures on the run because I just wanted to run but it was a cool course.  We started out by a lot of tall buildings (the financial district area?) and started running gradually up.  We went near the Haight-Ashbury and Panhandle neighborhoods.  It was warm and sunny on the bay side.  There was a pretty significant hill in that area that everyone called Hayes Street Hill.  It was about 2/3 of a mile and 11% grade for a lot of it.  The hill itself wasn't as painful as trying to dodge everyone walking up it.  And it was all down hill after that.  Literally.  We got to run through Golden Gate Park which was nice.  We passed a waterfall, which I didn't even know was there, some buffalo (also a surprise to me) and the windmills.  As we dropped down into the park it got more and more overcast and foggy.  Nice and cool on the ocean side with the May/June gloom.

Here we are midrace.  This was one of the race photos provided by the event.  See how majestic we look.   :)  I think this must have been in the last couple miles.

And here we are 7.45 miles later.  It was very cool to run across San Francisco.  I'm glad we got to do it.  Here are a few finish line pics.

We walked a mile back to our car along the ocean bike path.

It was good to stretch our legs before the 85 mile drive back home.

Scott's parents came down from Oregon to watch the kids while we ran.  All the kids were beyond excited.  As soon as John found out they were coming he started asking me when they would be here about 20 times a day (not exaggerating).   

And about 10 minutes after they left John starting asking me when we would be going to visit them in Oregon.  Although its still about two months away he continues to ask me about semi-hourly (also not exaggerating) when we will be going up there.  I tried to show him on a calendar but he doesn't quite understand.  Ma2 and Pa2, you are missed.  And thank you for coming to help us!!