Yesterday I participated in the Worldwide Festival of Races, a virtual collection of running events made up of a 5K race, 10K and Half Marathon. 1167 runners in 41 countries participated. Last year, I ran the Hartford Marathon as part of this event; this year I did a local 6.2 mile (10K) route in my neighborhood for the "The Zen 10K Run". The weather was perfect, low 60s, dry and sunny. I did not clock my time but estimate that I was running at a casual 10 minute per mile pace. This is one of my favorite events and already I am looking forward to next years!
It was bound to happen! Last night around 6:30pm I went out for a casual run around the neighborhood. And for the first time ever, I tripped on a inch and half protrusion on the ground that I did not see because of the darkness ... and down I went. OUCH! Actually it was not too bad. My toe was a bit sore. I landed on my left side and had minor scraps on my hands. Fortunately I did not hit my knees. So today when I got up, I felt OK and proceeded to go for the "World Wide Festival of Races" (More about that next Post). I had about a mile left on my 10K run; I was on a sidewalk that had a slab sticking up; BOOM. I jammed my left toe again and down I went; this time in broad daylight. What are the odds? Two days in a row, falling to the ground. Luckily, again; no injury. Its getting dangerous out there! A few weeks ago, a car almost hit me! I was running facing the on-coming traffic on the shoulder and he did not see me. I have got to be more careful.
Today I had intended to run the Entenmann's half marathon but at 5 am this morning I was in no mood to be running for 2 hours and I was not about to drive out to Bay Shore and down grade to the 10K race - so, I bailed! Hey, I've done that half twice and the 10K last year. Nonetheless, I felt real guilty about my choice, but rationalized it in view of the highly stressful times, on and off the job. To compensate, I did go out later in the day and ran a nice 6.35 mile course through Syosset. My run was very satisfying and wiped away any guilt I had earlier. In my running shoes were a new pair of Dr. Scholl's Gels - they are amazing! A friend had told me about them and today I gave them a shot. The "ride" was very smooth and my feet and legs felt great afterward. Hard to imagine that the shoes I ran in have close to 300 miles on them.
Its looking more and more like a marathon is out this fall, given I have only been able to get 7+ mile long runs in; in fact it does not look like I'll even get a half marathon in this year. I think I'd rather run regularly shorter distances and enjoy them than pressure myself to do marathons and not enjoy the training. There's always next year.
Two weeks ago I did the Great Cow Harbor 10K race in Northport. It was a gorgeous day and PR'd the course in 58 minutes flat. My buddy Brian and I had thoroughly satisfying race.
