The Tale of Desperteaux
Er…toe.
Once upon a time, there was a marathon runner who went to a wedding. The wedding was for a lovely young couple who decided to have an open bar, which of course, invited their guests to drink copious amounts of free alcohol and dance the night away. Whilst dancing the night away, our lovely marathon runner had her toe smashed and stamped on by various party guests. So much so, that by the end of the night, her toenail was hanging on only by its matrix (the healthy, living part of your nail that’s attached to your cuticle).
Alas, our marathon runner didn’t know what to do. The toenail was ooey and gooey and painful, and she couldn’t afford to be hampered by an injury this late in her training. But hark! Her mother works for a foot doctor and has for over 25 years. She swooped in with her vast knowledge and taught the marathon runner how to self-treat until such time that the toenail would fall off. Using a combo of epsom salt baths, band-aids, and triple anti-biotic ointment, the marathon runner was able to treat her toe until such time that she was able to clip the toenail off.
And finally, oh, finally! She had some relief.
Hmm. Doesn’t look too bad…but trust me, it’s ooey and gooey and quite dead on the tip. And only attached by the bottom, near the cuticle. Unfortunately, at this point, it’s too gooey just to pull off. More Epsom salt soaking is needed!
Covered for a run, pre-losing the nail. It actually didn’t affect my running too badly. It was sore and I had a weird gait for maybe two days, and then it felt alright.
Ah, sweet relief. I was finally able to pull the nail up to trim it all the way down to the matrix. Hallelujah! This is right after I trimmed.
And this is what it looks like today. See, that’s not so bad, right?!
In other news, the man and I are off to Chicago this weekend via train to visit some friends, so my training plan is a little screwy. I am running my 16-miler on Sunday instead of Saturday! I’ll report back after that.
Have a good weekend!
On A Run
This weekend I ran 15 miles!! A new distance record for me. I was pretty psyched about it. I was really sore—and definitely slow—by the end of it, but overall I felt really great. I took an Epsom salt bath afterwards and learned a good lesson—although I love Epsom salt baths, they are not as good as ice baths. That is for sure—I was pretty stiff for the rest of the day and I ended up having to soak AGAIN in Epsom salts later on, something I for sure would not have to do had I taken my normal post-run ice bath. Needless to say, it will be back to ice baths for me this coming weekend, with Epsom salt soaks as an additional treat!
Sunday I trudged out another three miles. I was pretty exhausted and my legs were still sore, but I decided to get out there anyway, and more importantly, to take you guys with me! That’s right, I took my camera so I could show you guys what my normal run route is. So, let’s go running!
This is the view as I turn right out the front doors of our apartment. I start each run with a 5 minute walking warm-up, so at this point, we’re cruising right along, power-walk style.
Turn the corner, cross the street, and now we’re headed down towards the Summerfest Grounds. Still power-walking away…
Ah, at last we break into a run. Once we hit the festival grounds, it’s time to get going!
One thing I love about my normal running route is that the scenery is awesome. I get the best of both worlds—a run through the city and a run through the wilderness. Here, as we get further down the street we just turned onto, we pass Discovery World to our right…
…and the city on our left.
Moving forward, we run past the Art Museum. Isn’t it a neat building?!
The building is by the architect Santiago Calatrava, and the weird wing-like things you see on the top there actually fold and unfold twice daily. They’re actual name is the Burke Brise Soleil, but locals just call ‘em wings.
Moving on past the Art Museum, we reach our first stoplight. Which is perfect, because it’s time to stretch!
The light seriously takes FOR-EV-ER. So we stretch, and wait, and stretch some more, and weight. I am not the type of runner that crosses against the lights. A few years ago, Jenny Crain, a local runner who was a nationally-recognized long distance runner and Olympic hopeful, was hit by a car at a busy intersection. While the cause of the accident STILL makes for a debate here in Milwaukee, some say that Jenny crossed the street against the light. I ALWAYS think about her story when I am crossing the street…why take the chance, right? So needless to say, I always wait for lights.
Yes! Finally the light changes and we can head across the street for our wilderness part of the run. I usually run on the Oak Leaf Trail. This is a long trail that goes throughout Milwaukee—it’s so great. You see bikers, runners, walkers, dogs, kids…it is really awesome that Milwaukee has a trail like this.
The trail is nicely paved and runs on both sides of the street (that’s the other side, up there!).
The views are just great:
Wilderness on both sides…
…with the trees opening up to give great views of the lake on the other side. (Side note—we’ve reached the halfway point of our run and turned around by now. See how the wilderness is towards the right on the picture above this one? Yep, we just turned around and we’re headed home).
Seriously, what a great view!
As we head towards home, we get a great view of the War Memorial, which is hard to see on our way out. On our way back, it comes into plain sight. Another neat building, no?
Like I said, great scenery. As we run along this part of the path, we can see the War Memorial on our left…
…and some gorgeous condos and city buildings on the right.
One of the best things about my running route is that not only is the scenery beautiful, but I always see something really interesting on my runs. Always. Like on this run, for example, I saw a bride and groom having their pictures taken at the Art Museum!
Check out their sweet ride:
I love those old-fashioned town cars. So cool!
Continuing on…
Running under the transit building and back into more “city-like” surroundings…
…with more great views of the lake to my left.
Down the block…
Around the corner…
Across the street…
And onto the only part of my run where I run on grass. Now, I know some people swear by running on grass, saying that it’s much better for you and your joints, but I have to confess…I hate it. Seriously. I am always afraid I am going to step wrong and twist my ankle. Luckily, this stretch is pretty short. We’re almost home now!
Ah, finally back on the sidewalk and running past city buildings.
Under the highway…
Around the corner and down one more block. This is where it gets boring—but look, there’s home (the big condo building on the right of the photo).
Down the side of the building…
Around the corner…and at long last, back home. Here’s the big set of stairs I use to stretch post-run. You can often find me doing this:
And we’re done!
I hope you enjoyed heading out for a run with me. Up next, the exciting Tale of Desperteaux. Er, toe.
This Week’s Training Plan
I realized I haven’t been posting my training plans every week like I promised…so from here on out, I will!
This week’s plan includes a new distance PR for me!
Monday: REST
Tuesday: 3 miles, 10-minute strength routine (push-ups, squats, lunges, curls, abs, wall sits, plank)
Wednesday: 5 miles, 10-minutes strength routine or a 20-minute yoga session
Thursday: Cross-train for an hour (swimming and weights at the gym)
Friday: REST
Saturday: 15 miles!!!
Sunday: 4 miles, yoga
As a side note, I am having a bit of an issue with my big toenail on my left foot. I was at a wedding this weekend, and needless to say, my toe was smashed while dancing and later stubbed while at the hotel…and I am going to lose that toenail. It is very painful right now so we will see how my 3-miler goes tonight—I am hoping for it to actual have a little trauma and fall off because I can’t see myself tugging it off and it’s getting annoying! I have been soaking it in epsom salts, applying triple anti-biotic ointment and gauze, and trying to keep it elevated most nights when I get home from work. We’ll see how my run goes this afternoon!
Muddy Buddy Pro Pics & Official Results
The results and pro pics are in! Sara and I finished in 1:18:30, 1236 overall. There were around 1700 participants and we were in the third to last wave, so I’m pretty happy with that! We were 5 out of 87 in our division! And now, the best part—the pro pics!
All photos courtesy of Brightroom Event Photography.
Check out my face in the above pic, I can hardly believe it!
Right after the above picture was taken I took a huge digger, haha!
Mr. Frog is the Muddy Buddy mascot, hence this frog pic.
Man, what a blast!
Spirit of the Marathon – Free!
Attention runners: want to see a great movie about running…for free? Hulu is now airing “Spirit of the Marathon,” a documentary on the Chicago Marathon and the many different people who decide to run it.
Source: blackstarcinema.net
The film has great interviews with running newbies, professionals and recognizable running experts alike (think Hal Higdon, Alberto Salazar, Deena Kastor, etc). Check it out by clicking on the following link:
Muddy Buddy Race Recap
Sara and I survived! And it was AWESOME. If you ever get a chance to do a Muddy Buddy race or another mud run, I HIGHLY recommend it!
First, the background: Muddy Buddy is a 10k (6.2 mile) partner road race. And by roads, I don’t mean roads—I mean, over the river and through the woods and EVERYTHING in between. Into fields, out of fields, up hills, down hills, through the woods, THROUGH A POND! And that’s just the course—don’t forget that there are four obstacles you have to complete during the course of the race. It’s a rough and tumble—and dirty—experience. One partner starts out biking and one partner starts out running. If you’re biking, you get to the obstacle first, drop the bike, complete the obstacle and start running. If you’re running, you get to the obstacle, complete it, find the bike, and start biking. The partners continue switching off at each obstacle until the end…which is THE MUD PIT. (More on that later.) So, how’d we do? Well…
We’re a little bruised…
A little scratched up…
And a LOT dirty…
Dirty Feet. Yuck.
This is after rinsing off but before a real shower!
…but we had a total blast! Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
We arrived on Saturday evening and immediately set up camp.
There were lots of people camping and the atmosphere was quite festive.
We set up camp, hung out, had a few beers and hit the sack early because we knew we had an early wake-up call!
Goodnight, Moon.
At 5am, the alarm bells rang and we stumbled out of our tent to get ready for the big race (see that picture above, it was taken shortly after we woke up!). We got dressed, ate a bar for breakfast, and put on all of our numbers—one race bib for each of us, a number on our bike, and two numbers on each of our helmets,.all with our team number (603) on them. Then, we headed over to the wave start area.
We were both nervous for the bike part. Since we’re runners, we knew that wouldn’t be a problem, but the biking might be an issue. I was afraid the bike would have a tire blow or some other unseen fiasco would happen to us. What if I couldn’t find the bike in transition? What if one of the obstacles was too hard and I couldn’t do it? I was so nervous…but then the gun went off, the bikers headed out and it was almost time to go! The runners started 1.5 minutes after the bikers to allow for a little room. Plus, there were 16 waves total, with 6 minutes between each wave, which helped to space people out on the course so that the obstacles didn’t get backed up. And then suddenly, we were off!
The running wasn’t too difficult at all…you just had to watch where you were going, since it was a trail race and not on any paved roads. The first obstacle was a wall climb, which I think was the hardest one. I immediately got nervous when I saw it, but I was able to get up and over no problem! And then came the bike. Well, let’s just say I am not a good biker…I was slow and clumsy, but it wasn’t a big deal because I knew I would make up ground on the run. It was very muddy and slippery and there were a lot of steep hills, so at times I had to get off the bike and walk with it. All in all, though, I would say that the biking on the whole was not too bad! Next year I will definitely train for that part a little bit more, but I didn’t feel like it went too badly at all.
The second obstacle was balance beams. Easy peasy. Third obstacle was the coolest! It was a huge blow-up slide…you had to climb up the ropes on one side and then slide down the slide. It was so fun. The last obstacle was easy too—you just had to army crawl under some nets. And then it was on to the finish! And was I ready for it—I was hot, sweaty, muddy, and tired. By this point I had biked and run up and down several hills and even through a pond at one point.
Finally, finally, I hit the last chute…found Sara and we were off to the MUD PIT.
Oh, you can’t see it good enough?! Here:
And what a pit it was! We had to crawl under a cargo net and then crawl through the pit to the finish line. No walking allowed! By the time we got out, we were covered in mud and laughing our asses off.
Ok, enough typing…I bet you want to see the damage.
Pre-Race…Ready to Go!
Before
And After!
It was a total blast. After we went through the pit, we crawled out, slipping and sliding the whole way. We were handed a bottle of sports water, which I immediately killed. Then we went to rinse off! There was a long line for the “showers,” which were actually just a bunch of hoses, so we decided to just get it done by jumping in the pond. We rinsed off as best we could (trust me, it was not nearly enough), and then headed back to our campsite to clean up and head out.
All in all, I would have to say this weekend was a complete blast. We had the best time. I am tired, and sore, and completely worn out, but I would do it again in a heart beat! I am not sure how we placed, but as soon as that and the pro pics are uploaded onto the site, I will let you know!
First, A Recap
I promised you guys a blog post today, and here it is! I am using Windows Live Writer for the first time. I am sure it will take some getting used to, but so far, I really like it!
So, how have things been going with me? Well, first things first:
My ankle has still been bothering me. (Yes, I did tape a bag full of ice to my ankle while at work).
Needless to say, I have been resting when necessary and it seems to be healing up nicely…not really bothering me anymore, since I have been laying so low this week. When I am running several days in a row, it seems to ache a little more, so I am keeping a careful eye on it!
So what else have I been up to? Lots of running. Long run last weekend was 10 miles, long run this weekend is 13 miles. I finally feel like my training is amped up and I am raring to go.
Me, after my long run on Saturday.
Not too shabby after 10 miles in the heat!
This weekend is the Muddy Buddy race in Chicago, and I am so excited for it! Sara and I are leaving tomorrow and camping out the night before…it should be a TOTAL blast.
I promise not to leave you hanging anymore from here on out. Now that I have found a blogging platform that I actually enjoy using, I am sure I will enjoy blogging a whole lot more!
See you Sunday afternoon with a Muddy Buddy race recap.
Blogging Burn Out
Hi Guys! Sorry I have been MIA again this week. Work projects have been adding up and to be honest…I’ve felt a bit burnt out from blogging lately. I blog here, I blog on my wedding planning blog, and I also blog on Calorie King, the diet community I am a part of. I have lots of great ideas for blog posts, I just have no desire to post them after I come home from a long day at work! I think another issue is that I don’t find WordPress to be as user friendly as I’d like…so I am currently researching Windows Live Writer to see if I can work with that better.
This week has also been a bit of a slump for me on the running front…but that’s because I have been BIKE RIDING! That’s right, Sara and I are doing the Muddy Buddy run this weekend so I have been getting ready for that as well.
Anyways, the moral of the story is that I am going to do a blog post for you tomorrow! With pictures and everything! So please, don’t stop reading…I just needed a little break and now I’m back to detail my training IN-DEPTH from here on out. And I’ve got some great pics to share with you!
Great Run!
Well, my ankle seems to be just fine…guess all that rest really helped! I had a glorious 7 mile run this morning in 1:18. It was great! I would love to have some pictures for you guys, but my man friend took the camera with him this weekend so you’ll just have to wait til next week. Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!
Sometimes It Sucks Not To Run
I know, I know. “Amy!” You all say. “Where have you been?! We’ve been anxiously awaiting your next blog update!” Ha. Yeah, right. But for those of you who are reading, I’m sorry! I’ve been incredibly busy at the office and incredibly busy on the weekends lately. I have millions of blog posts running around in my head, and I promise to get a lot of them out to you in the next week or so…things will definitely be slowing down by then and you can read all about my adventures on long runs, with my first real ice bath, and how to avoid getting a migraine after a long run (ahem, you need to properly refuel. Not that I know from experience or anything!). As for today’s post, I want to talk about how much it sucks NOT to run sometimes.
First, the bad news:
I came home from teaching poms last night and felt a popping sensation in my ankle as I was walking in the door. Just one pop, that was it. I thought, “Oh, that was weird,” and then didn’t really think anything of it from then on. Later on in the night, I felt again…several times in a row as I was walking from one room to the next, but again, it went away. No real pain of any sort, just a sort of “popping” feeling is the best way I can describe it. So, I described this sensation to my lovely mother, who has worked for a podiatrist (that’s a foot and ankle doc, for all you laymen out there) for a good many years (like, my whole life). I don’t have any real pain, per say, just some soreness on that ankle. Mom suspects some sort of issue with a ligament, but officially diagnosis is still up for discussion. So, I’m resting today instead of doing my scheduled 5 miles, then swimming tomorrow and resting again on Friday in hopes that I’ll be feeling 100% for my long run on Saturday. Meet my new best friend:
Yes, it looks like the millions of sample packs of BioFreeze I’ve picked up at various races over the last year might actually come in handy!
So, the reason I wanted to write this post is that even though I know it’s a good thing to be resting and icing my ankle, it’s still really annoying to me. I am at the point in my training where it feels GREAT to get out there for a run, and I don’t want to have to NOT do it. I’ve never had a serious running injury (knock on wood), so I know it’s important to continue to prevent them and taking an unplanned rest day to ice a sore ankle is an important part of that prevention. However, I won’t tell you it doesn’t blow. (And there’s something I never thought I’d ever say in my life: “I can’t run…gee, this sucks.” What?!). I suspect this soreness in my ankle is from running 8 miles in a 12 hour period in the last two days, plus doing a heavy weight lifting session at the gym. See, rather than taking my rest day on Monday, I ran 2 miles, lifted, then ran one more…and then I got up Tuesday morning and ran 5 more miles. All within about 12 hours. Probably not the best idea, Amy! So I’ll suck it up, follow doctor’s Mom’s orders, and rest up. That way I can have a strong long run this weekend!
Oh, so you want the good news? Look what I found at my local organic grocery store tonight:
YESSSSS!!! I have been wanting to try this stuff ever since I saw it on Jenna’s blog. Now I can try it and see if I like it without the hefty cost of a jar of this magical powder (which runs upwards of $30 or more).
Ok, that’s it from me tonight…lots more to come soon, I promise!
