On this past Sunday (4/22), I ran my second half marathon, the Flying Pirate Half in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was a race I will remember. I did an earlier post on this race and, after having run the Shamrock Half last month, I was confident in my ability to finish the race. But, as they say, you can't control the weather.
We went down to the Outer Banks the day before for my daughter's lacrosse game and stayed the night at the First Colony Inn, which I would recommend. Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, sunny with temperatures in the 70's. However, the forecast for Sunday was much more dire. I had been watching closely for the past week and it consistently called for thundershowers. Indeed, as it turned out, Sunday was the first day of a Nor'easter. I had not run in the rain before, but figured that I could do it unless there was lightning. At race time, we had a light rain, but no wind. Off we went.
The first part of the race was downhill and then levelled out. The light rain made the run cool and pleasant. My pace was averaging around 10:00m/m, which pleased me. The rain began to pickup as we got to Mile 6. As we ran along the Sound, you could not help but note the "buzzing" of the high voltage power lines running along the street. My friend from Duck later told me that it is caused by the heavy salt content in the air. That would freak me out if I lived there. Despite the rain, many of the Kitty Hawk residents came out to cheer us on. That's one of the great things about running a race.
As the turned away from the Sound, we caught sight of the Wright Brothers Memorial atop a significant hill. My first thought was "I hope we don't have to run up that hill." Fortunately, our run was around the base of the hill. At about Mile 8.5, we departed the paved road and began our ascent of the trail. Normally, I like trail running, because it is more forgiving than pavement. Unfortunately, the rain had turned the trail into mud and puddles. About the same time, the rain got harder and harder still. After a certain point, I stopped worrying about avoiding puddles, since my shoes were already soaked.
The last couple of miles of the course is a series of up and down hills. I had been warned about these hills, but I figured, "it's the beach, how bad can they be?" Let me tell you, some of the hills were a 45 degree grade and they kept coming. Finally, I saw the banner for Mile 13. Only 0.1 miles left to the finish. Perhaps the longest 0.1 mile I have ever run. As I crossed the finish line, I was gratified to see my friend, Nancy, who was working as a volunteer. What a race. My official time: 2:16:57, a PR for me.
Flying Pirate was a more challenging half than Shamrock, both because of the weather and the terrain. It showed me that not all half marathons are the same. In retrospect, I enjoyed the race despite the rain, the mud and the hills. I hope to run it again......hopefully when it's dry.
After I signed up for my first half marathon in November, it dawned on me that I would need to be able to run 13.1 miles in less than four months. At that point, I was probably doing 3 to 5 miles on a given run, so extending that total another eight miles seemed almost insurmountable. On more than one occasion, I thought that I cannot possibly run a half marathon and I'm only going to make a fool of myself. After talking to a few friends who had completed a half, I began to come around to the notion that I could complete a half marathon. I found myself bragging that I had signed up for the race, which usually garnered responses like "Wow, that's amazing." Past a certain point, I decided that failing was not an option, even if I had to crawl across the finish line, I WAS going to finish.
That left me with my original dilemna, how do I get there? My answer, like most runners in training, was to gradually extend my distance. And so, I set about doing what I thought was gradual training and, indeed, I managed to extend my distance up to 6 miles and then 8. I was running almost every day, sometimes twice a day. Like many inexperienced runners, I decided that more was better. Boy, was I wrong.
On Christmas Eve day, I went for a group run and hit an enourmous road block. We were going for a ten mile run. This was more that I had done before, but I decided I could drop out if I needed to. The first part of the run was fine, although the pace was faster than I was comfortable with. I gravitate around a 10 minute mile and we were doing about 9:15. I stayed with the group feeling an occasional twinge in my right knee. About mile 6, I felt a shart pain in my knee and had to stop. I waved the other runners on and hobbled for a half mile. I tried to run again and the pain returned. I managed to get back to my car with my knee throbbing and the worst shin spits ever. What the hell was wrong?
I layed off Christmas day, but decided that I would try again the next day. At first, the knee felt okay, albeit with the same twinge. At two miles, I had to stop and walk. It was too painful to run another stride. I hobbled back home and my wife hustled me off to the doc-in-a-box. All kinds of dire thoughts filled my head. Stress fracture? Mensiscus tear? After some x-rays, the doctor said there was no fracture, but told me no running for a least two weeks and lits of ice and ibuprofen. While I was happy about the absence of a fracture, my thoughts immediately turned to my half marathon training. Two weeks as an eternity. It was going to completely derail my training. As it turned out, I ended up not running for five weeks. In the meantime, I kept my endurance up by taking up spinning and, for the first time in decades, getting back into the pool to do laps.
At the end of the five weeks, I got a green light to run again with the admonition to "take it easy." However, despite the pain and my worry that I would not be able to run the Shamrock Half, my knee proved to be stronger than ever. Also, I walked away (no pun intended) with an important lesson as a new runner. GIVE YOUR LEGS TIME TO RECOVER! Running too much might be worse than not running enough. Since that time, I try to give myself at least 24 hours between runs and I try to alternate my workouts to include low impact exercise, like spinning and swimming. For me, it has been a valuable lesson in how to train.
I ran my first half marathon ever on March 18, 2012 at Shamrock in Virginia Beach. I did better than I expected and I had a great time. What more could you ask? Ever since then I have been chomping at the bit to do another. So, on April 22, I am signed up for the Flying Pirate Half in Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This sounded like a fun race, so I signed up.
As you can probably tell, the race is based on a pirate them and celebrates the Outer Banks association with pirates in the early 18th Century, including the infamous Blackbeard (aka Edward Teach). Indeed, runners are encouraged to sport pirate attire during the race. Not sure that I have much in the way of pirate attire available, but I will try to find something to stay in the spirit. I hope to see some of my Dailymile friends at the race and look forward to another fun half marathon!
As you probably figured out from my previous post, one of the things that I have come to enjoy is social running or running with a group. Although running is usually viewed as an individual sport, it lends itself to a group approach very nicely. A group tends to encourage you to improve your performance and to accept new challenges to extend your mileage or to sign up for races that you might otherwise skip. In short, a group provides positive reinforcement and encouragement.
In most cases, running groups meet up at a certain place and time; however, I have been lucky enough to discover what can best be described as a virtual running group called Dailymile. Dailymile is essentially a bulletin board that allows you to make friends with other runners and cyclists in your area and elsewhere to share your progress and to encourage others as well. It allows you to log your workouts and, once you have friended others, to comment on their efforts and to motivate them. I have found Dailymile to be a great help to me. The interesting thing is that, although I have over 50 "Friends," I have met only a few of them in person.
Dailymile is a great way to learn more about running from others who are doing it. It allows everyone to share their triumphs and to get much needed encouragement when they fall short. If you decide to check out Dailymile, spend a little time just looking around. I think you will find that it can help make you a better runner.
Like most people who take up running, I starting running by myself. There were two good reasons for this. First, I prefer to run early in the morning - around 5:00am, when most normal people are still in bed. Second, I was self conscious about my running and afraid that I could not keep pace with other runners or that they would have to slow their pace to accommodate me. While these are both valid concerns, I have found that running with a group is a great experience.
By last December, I had developed some confidence in my running skills and chanced upon a running group that had been formed in my area. My wife and I attended a Christmas party and another guest suggested I check out the group. I got up the next morning for my normal run and decided to investigate. As it turned out, they had a group run scheduled for that morning. With a bit of apprehension, I signed up and showed up at the run all in the space of an hour. The group included runners of all levels and had a policy that "no runner is left behind." Since that time, I have participated in many group runs, including training runs for my 14K and half marathons.
While I like the occasional solo run, I enjoy running with a group. I find that I am more motivated and better able to increase my pace. It's also nice to find other runners that you can buddy up with for races. If you have not tried a group run, do yourself a favor and find a group or just pair up with some friends that run. I think that you will find that social running makes the sport all the more enjoyable.
If you are in the Hampton Roads area, check out Cornerstone Striders in Suffolk or Tidewater Striders in Norfolk.
Although I have done some blogging before, this is my first attempt at a running blog. I am relatively new to running, having started seriously in September of last year as part of my weight loss program. I had tried running before, back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, but my training was inconsistent and after a couple of 10K's, I lost interest. Flash forward about 18 years to September, 2011.
When I turned 49, I was determined to lose weight and get into better shape by age 50. That meant dropping about 120 pounds. I gave myself a year to be realistic. By September, I had dropped almost 80 pounds and felt like it was safe to try to take up running. Prior to that I had used cycling as my primary cardiovascular exercise. I had also been a regular walker. I decided to gradually run parts of my regular walking route until I could run the entire distance of about 5 miles.
My first efforts at running were, at best, embarrassing. I could barely run two blocks without being short of breath. Determined not to give up, I kept up my routine, slowly increasing my running segments. Soon, I was running a mile, then two and finally the entire five. I can still remember the day I finished a five mile run without stopping to walk. I was psyched. I was also hooked on running. Not only has it helped me drop additional weight, it has strengthened and toned my legs and ramped up my endurance. As of April, 2012, I have lost almost 115 pounds and have actually increased my loss goal to 130. I feel great!
As with most new runners, I have spent hours reading up on the "do's" and "don't's" and learning about my new found love. I ran my first race in 18 year in November, a 5K. Although I wanted to break 30 minutes, I came within 90 seconds of that goal. Since then, I have run an 8K, a 14K and in March, I ran my first half marathon. What an experience! I remember signing up in November and thinking I was out of my mind. My second half is in less than two weeks and I can't wait.
I set up this blog to help me talk about my wonderful experience with running and to pass along whatever information I can to other new runners. I hope you will check back periodically and give me your thoughts and suggestions. Meanwhile, I'll see you.....on the run in Virginia.
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