Stress Fracture Scare and Time Off

Hello! Well, it seems like I've been doing a lot of apologizing in recent blog posts for my lack of posting. I've been doing some wedding planning, Christmas shopping, and moping about my supposed injury. I also feel opposed to writing blog posts just for the sake of doing so. If I'm not inspired to write about something specific, I'd rather save my words for a time when I have something worthwhile to say. Today, worthwhile or not, I''m finally updating you on what's been going on since the Philly Half Marathon. It seems like a good way to wrap up the year and then start fresh.

Here's a brief overview of the past month's events: I ran my November 18th half marathon pain-free and set a PR. The next night, while baking with Ingrid, I developed a sharp pain in my right foot. On my walk to work the next day, the pain increased and was almost unbearable. I did some research via WebMD and thought I might have a stress fracture. Nonetheless, I spent five days walking around NYC for Thanksgiving, sometimes with intense pain and sometimes with none. 

The pain continued into the next week so I went to a doctor. She said it sounded like a stress fracture or a strained ligament. She put me in a boot and instructed me to rest it and avoid walking, running or standing. I stayed in the boot for exactly three weeks and did as I was told while seeing various doctors for x-rays and and MRI. All the tests showed a perfectly normal right foot and I was told I could ditch the boot and start walking and running again. 

During my time in the boot, I managed to sweat a good deal. I rode a gym bike on the regular and did a lot of weight lifting. Those things felt good but nothing compares to sweating outdoors in the fresh air. Since I was officially diagnosed with nothing, I have been on 5 runs, three of them in sunny Florida. I am looking forward to slowly increasing my mileage and gearing up to begin what is looking like the scariest training season yet.

In the end, it seemed like much ado about nothing but I also appreciate the fact that I was forced to take a month off from pounding the pavement. It's not something I'd ever have wanted to do on my own but I know a long break is good for the body every once in a while. In the time that I thought I had a stress fracture, I blamed my conversion to minimalist shoes. I thought that my foot muscles were too weak and not prepared to support my bones during a 13 mile run in such un-supportive shoes. The shoes may or may not have had something to do with it. To be safe, I'm currently doing all my running in my old (thick-soled) asics but I'm continuing to run my new way, with a mid-foot strike.

Happy Holidays!

Merry (belated) Christmas and happy holidays to all! I am writing this from Florida, where Josh and I are spending the week celebrating the holidays with his family. It was hard to be without my parents and Nathan on Christmas but I have also had a good time and have enjoyed some more temperate weather here in the south!

I have many things to report on regarding my fitness endeavors and roadblocks in the month since the Philly Half Marathon. Updates will come soon but, for now, I hope everyone is cozy and warm, surrounded by your loved ones!

13.1: Philadelphia Half Marathon Race Recap

I woke up at 4am on Sunday morning in a cozy king-sized hotel bed after getting over 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Somehow, I hadn't tossed and turned in anticipation of the morning's race. I turned over and heard all about the exciting events in college football that had kept Josh up until midnight and that, in his opinion, left Florida with a small chance of making the BCS National Championship game. 

I got up and ate a banana, peanut butter, and a nature valley granola bar. We dressed and frantically packed up our things before checking out and hopping on a shuttle to the airport at 4:40. By 5:15 we were on a train into the city with many other runners. We had a bit of a walk from the train to the start but the pack of runners surrounding us made the cold darkness somewhat more exciting.

On the walk to the start, I told Josh my goals for this race:

A Goal: Sub 1:50:00
B Goal: PR (sub 1:55:00)
C Goal: Sub 2:00:00 (but really, I would have been disappointed to not PR)

I also told him my "race plan". I aimed to run the first five miles in 8:45-9, the next five in 8:15-8:45 and the final three as fast as I could. I'm not very good at making race plans but the focus of this one was to run smart and not wear myself out too early. During the RNR USA half marathon in March, I had set lofty goals (the same 1:50) and I started out way too fast. My legs got sore halfway through, from what I have since learned was probably a build-up of lactate in my muscles from overexertion, and I slowly thumped them along like lead for the last few miles. The smartest way to run a race, according to the many (smarter-than-me) running bloggers and runner's world articles I've read, is to negative split. To negative split is to run the second half faster than the first half, having saved the perfect amount of energy early on to push it to the max later. With all the adrenaline from crossing a starting line with thousands of other runners, I find this really hard to do. But I did it perfectly during the Run for the Parks 10k and I was hoping to do it again over the course of 13.1 miles in Philly.

We arrived with plenty of time to spare so I took several bathroom trips and did whatever I could not to freeze or waste a lot of energy. The start line was on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the corrals backed up all the way to the Museum of Art's "Rocky Steps". The Philly skyline was an awesome site as the sun rose.

Finally, it was time to start! I stripped off my outer layer of clothes and handed my things over to Josh. I fiddled with my shoelaces, jumped in my corral and cued my garmin to search for satellite.

I was in the third corral with only about 6,000 (of 40,000 total) runners ahead of me. Still, it took about ten minutes for me to start running. It was a little unclear to me where the start line was but I started my watch and set off. A little while later, after a quick sip of water, I heard Josh yell my name.

Adrenaline was pumping and I set out at a quick pace. I told myself to slow down and it was easy given the hoards of runners in the street. I actually slowed down more than I wanted to because of all the people. It was frustrating to be forced to change pace so much because of the congestion but I knew that constantly speeding up to dodge people would waste a lot of energy. I did what I could to keep pace and managed alright.

The first few miles ran along some of the same streets Josh and I had walked the day before and I felt like I was really getting to know the city. In spite of my frustration over the congestion, the running felt like a piece of cake.

From miles 2 to 4, we ran south along the Deleware River and I spent the entire time playing numbers games in my head. I thought about when I should try and pick it up and whether I was holding back too much early on.

During mile 5, we turned to head west back through the city center. The crowd support along the next few miles was incredible and the miles flew by. I remember running over the 10k chip reader and thinking about the people who would get an update on my location. I knew I was doing well but wondered what my average pace was. Could I finish in less than 1:50?

At mile 7, we crossed the Shuylkill River and I knew we had some hills ahead. I had picked up the pace a bit and running felt somewhat harder than it had but I was feeling really zen. To be honest, I wasn't thinking about much other than putting one foot in front of the other. It felt right.

We ran through some residential streets with good crowd support. People kept yelling "GO CAROLINE!" since my full name was printed on my bib and I had an eye-opening moment when I realized how little those cheers pumped me up. I've never felt more attached to my name, Carrie. For a minute, I jammed out in my head to The Ting Tings That's Not My Name. It was fun.

Around mile 9, we began climbing the second of the two long hills. We weren't downtown anymore and were on a curvy road, packed with runners bouncing their little heads along, surrounded by beautiful fall foliage. The site made me really happy and I regretted that I couldn't snap a photo and share the beauty with everyone.

We hit the 10 mile mark on a steep downhill run back toward the river. I almost couldn't believe that there were only three miles left. It had been too easy. I picked up the pace, aiming to keep it right at 8:00 for the last three miles. I did alright at first but, at mile 11, my legs finally felt the stress of such a long run. They were still feeling strong but I had done the math and knew I couldn't beat 1:50. I kept up my pace but I didn't dig my deepest to pull out those three 8:00 miles. I regret that a little bit now.

Without knowing it, I passed Josh at mile 13 and pushed myself to the finish. I stopped my watch and it read 1:51:54 which I later found out was 30 seconds off. I stopped to walk and my quad muscles tightened up quickly. Though I had felt a little too comfortable running the entire race, that was my sign that I had, in fact, worked hard and pushed myself.

I stocked up in the food tent which, among other things, served cups of hot chicken broth and wandered around for a long time looking for Josh. We found each other in the family meet up area as we'd agreed to. He congratulated me and showed me the e-mail updates he'd gotten. I had maintained an 8:39 pace for the first 6.2 miles and, at the end, I'd averaged 8:34 overall. It wasn't drastic but it was exactly the negative split I was aiming for.

We chilled in the grass and it was still well before 10AM. Now that I didn't have to worry about tiring my legs or eating food that might upset my stomach, we set out to explore and consume some greasy calories. I asked a police officer where the LOVE statue is and it turned out I had run right by Love Park, where it is, without knowing it. I took a jumping picture but didn't get one with my love because we were annoyed by the locals trying to take your photo for tips and didn't want to pay someone to take it.

A few blocks further, we stumbled upon the plaza with all the game pieces which was also on my list to see. They weren't as cool as I'd imagined but we had fun with them anyway.

Exploring was fun but my #1 post-run need is chocolate milk so we let yelp lead us to La Colombe for hot chocolate. Their hot chocolate is unsweetened and it was delicious.

From there, we went to the reading terminal market. We took the only non-iPhone photo of us from the weekend under the sign for Bassett's ice cream. Soon, we'll both be Bassetts.

Before leaving, we ordered cheesesteaks and then bid Philly adieu. After another long commute, we ate our juicy sandwiches in the car before heading home.

Looking back, I feel good and a little confused about this race. It was a great course and, if I end up liking marathons, I would return for the full. The weather was perfect and the Philly crowds, known for their hostility on the baseball and football fields, were lovely and supportive. It was well organized and my only complaint was the congestion on the course.

But the way I felt before and during the race was so surreal to me. I wasn't nervous and then I didn't feel like I was working too hard through the miles. My sore legs and potentially injured foot tell a very different story, though. I feel crazy writing this but I think I might have actually been on a 13.1 mile runner's high on Sunday morning. Not the kind of high that left me completely elated. But the kind that put me in a zen state, unaware of whatever pain my body was feeling. And, when I finished, I got a little choked up. Races and other athletic accomplishments do that to me.

Runner's high or not, my legs and my brain worked together like champions to negative split and set a PR on Sunday in Philadelphia. I am happy and I'm already dreaming about the next time I can run a race.*

*My right foot has been in a lot of pain for the past 24 hours and my hypochondriac self is worried I have a stress fracture. Please cross your fingers that I'm wrong!

All photos by Josh Bassett Photography.

Philadelphia: Pre-Race Exploring

Well, hello. There are many things I could catch you up on from the past three weeks but, instead, I'm here to tell you about about Saturday. It was the first of two days spent wandering the city of Philadelphia on foot during my first destination race weekend.

I'll back up and remind you that my training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon was somewhat haphazard. I started in August after riding my bike (and not running) for two months. It took me a long time to build up my mileage as I trained myself to run a new way and transitioned to minimalist shoes. I ran fewer weekly miles than most training plans would probably recommend but I supplemented my running with a lot of cross training: weight lifting, biking, soccer and frisbee. I did a better job than I ever have of foam rolling and stretching during this training schedule, mostly because of how sore my calves often were from the transition.

Philly. via @jbassettphoto

Then my taper was not ideal. The weekend before my race I did my last long run, played soccer, rode my bike 18 miles, and played frisbee; leaving me pretty sore only 6 days before the race. I did get a lot of consistent sleep, I didn't drink caffeine, I ate well, and I drank much water and little alcohol during the final taper week. Mentally, I was so normal, which is completely abnormal for me. Before every other half I've run, I've been a basket-case: full of nerves, blogging about every last thing that could go wrong or right. This time, I barely even thought about the race until Friday afternoon.

Then came Saturday morning. I woke up and I was pumped. Josh and I packed up and hit the road by 10am. We arrived at our hotel a little before 1pm. I wasn't aware when I registered that the hotels in downtown Philly book up on race weekend almost immediately. We were stuck staying by the airport. We grabbed a shuttle from our hotel to the airport and a rail train from the airport to "city center". By the time we arrived, it was after 2pm and we had yet to eat lunch. I was starving and the taper crazies started to set in- I was determined that not eating immediately would cause me to keel over and die during my race the next day. I was getting "hangry". We walked into Jake's Sandwich Board which had rave revues on yelp, to determine that they were "out of bread" and hoped to have more ready in 30 minutes. I wouldn't wait that long so I ducked into the nearby Cosi and ordered a Chicken TBM melt.

I have food in my cheeks.

After lunch, we walked to the expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It was Josh's first race expo and the biggest I'd ever seen. I picked up the necessary goods and bought some neon accessories to keep me warm the next day.

Then I let my photographer lead the way on our walking tour. We went through Chinatown to Independence Square and I had flashbacks of my 5th and 8th grade school trips to this historic city.

When we got there, my legs and feet were feeling tired so I sat in the grass while Josh looked around. I was paranoid about wearing myself out. Like I said, the taper crazies had set in.

We'd both seen the liberty bell and opted out of the long line to see it again. Instead, we walked to the plaza behind Independence Hall and I sat on a bench under the beautiful yellow trees to rest my legs while Josh took pictures. He got a lovely one of me buried in a text message conversation, looking like Cousin It. I was so busy in my phone that I missed the bride he saw stroll through the square.

We went for a walk toward City Hall and came to a block of Christmas lights that reminded me of Little Italy in New York City. We also passed a run-down building with bay windows facing the street that had a lot of potential. One of my dreams in life is to own a home with a giant, sunny window seat so I declared that we should buy the place and fix it up.

We got to City Hall as the sun was setting and walked around it. We referred to yelp for a dinner recommendation and ended up at Zavino, a wine bar also famous for their pizza . It was delicious but a little frustrating to order the most simple pizza on the menu and no alcohol. Destination races are exciting but you can't really enjoy a city to its fullest the night before a half marathon.

After dinner, we walked by a boutique with a love statue ornament in the window so, obviously, we went inside. We wanted many things in this adorable store, Verde, but restrained ourselves and left empty handed. Before boarding the train, we stopped in a CVS for breakfast provisions. They appeared to be out of peanut butter but I found one jar that had rolled behind a stash of crackers. I also grabbed a box of granola bars and the last blue gatorade in the place. Runners love their last-minute peanut butter and gatorade apparently.

An alley spotted on our walk to dinner. via @jbassettphoto

After a long journey back, we arrived at the hotel by 8 PM. I laid out my clothes and was in our king size bed at 8:30. We left the TV on so Josh could watch football and I hoped it would soothe me to sleep on a night that I'd likely be tossing and turning in angst. By some small miracle, I fell asleep almost instantly and slept soundly through the night...

All photos courtesy of Josh Bassett Photography.

Hadley's 26.2

Tomorrow morning, my friend Hadley will run her first marathon. She is following in her dad's footsteps who ran his first marathon in Washington, DC many years ago. She will be challenged by the rain that is predicted for only the second time in Marine Corps Marathon history but she is strong and brave and her motto has become "hurricane Sandy's got nothing on Hurricane Hadley!"

I wish her the best of luck and can't wait to cheer her on from the sidelines!

Go Hadz!!

Brats, Apples, and Hiking Galore

My friend Julie's parents have a beautiful home in the Virginia countryside, only a two hour drive from DC. Each year since we graduated college, she has invited Josh and I out there for a fall weekend, usually in conjunction with her birthday. It is always a lovely place to get away and it's a fun place to celebrate her. This year, she planned her Oktoberfest birthday bash well in advance and I have been looking forward to it for a few weeks.

After a busy Saturday morning, we drove out the the house with our friends Brendon and Jenny, stopping at an apple orchard on the way. We arrived at the house late in the afternoon and spent a few hours drinking pumpkin beers in the beautiful, chilly air behind the house.

We were served a delicious October meal that was perfectly on par with everything Julie has ever cooked me. It was brats, home-made pretzel buns, sauerkraut, salad, and cheese crackers with fondue. Dinner was followed by the birthday cake I made her modeled after her beloved blog. It was funfetti from a box, much less gourmet than the meal that preceded it, but it was pretty and that's all I was going for. Check out my post on Cake Styling for more details on making the cake.

The combination of heavy fall beers and the yummy meal left me feeling more full and tired than I do on most thanksgivings. I fell asleep for a few minutes in the basement and then rallied to cozy up by the campfire while everyone else roasted marshmallows. Sadly, I was still too full for that...

After a warm sleep in the basement, I woke up Sunday morning to chai tea and pumpkin pancakes. It is really great to have a friend who loves to cook so much. Because even on her birthday, she is still the one serving you!

While I was out of the room, the group decided to go on a hike. I was, obviously, all for this but knew no details of where we'd go. In terms of attire, we were an eclectic group. I was in nike frees and a sports bra. Josh was in hiking boots, jeans and a flannel shirt. And others were in leather boots.

When we turned uphill from the driveway, into the woods without a trail at our feet, I knew that most of us were ill-equipped for this hike. It turned out to be 100% bushwacking and 80% steeply uphill. My frees weren't great on the leaves or the rocks but I enjoyed the adventure and unpredictability of the terrain.

At the top, we sat for a few minutes admiring the foliage around us. I knew that a steep descent would be harder and less fun than a steep ascent. I slipped once coming down but, otherwise, sped along and hoped not to get lost. It ended up being about 30 minutes up and 30 back and made each one of us sweat, no matter our footwear or our level of style.

We departed after the hike, sad to leave this peaceful country behind. Julie seemed to have a happy birthday weekend and I always feel lucky to get to celebrate with her!

Did you do anything relaxing or outdoorsy this weekend? Did someone feed you endless amounts of deliciousness? Do tell!