Finally another good running day (Originally written October 4, 2008)

Finally another good running day

After my last entry about running very well in the month of August, my body started to complain about the stresses I was giving it by running too hard and too often. My joints were aching and I was mentally tired, so I started to run slowly again for the whole month of September. Finally today, I thought I might try to run hard again (one week before I am supposed to run the Long Beach Half-Marathon) as a tune up to see how my body would feel. It was only 8 miles but I was able to run hard the whole way. Hopefully I can keep my fitness until next Sunday and my joints would hold up and not get injured. I am considering running with a pace group to try to break 2 hours for the 13.1 mile distance. I hope my next entry will have good news in that regard.

NOTE***Somehow I missed posting this entry about the Long Beach Half Marathon so I'm adding it here because its related to the entry above.

Summary of my experiences in the Long Beach Half Marathon 2008 (October 12,2008)

Right inner ankle with tendonitis gave in at 4.5 miles. The pain was so intense, it was like someone took a hammer and hit my ankle with it. All I could think was “even it out, even it out”, hoping the pain would subside in the next few steps, but it didn't. I limped to the finish the rest of the way.

Ran the last 8.5 miles on a leg and a prayer.

Wasn't able to give it my full aerobic effort because of the pain.

My right leg was basically just for balance since I couldn't push off it due to the pain.

Disappointed that I couldn't run the race to my full potential but relieved that I managed to finish it despite my severe right ankle pain.

Still couldn't figure out the reason why my ankle gave, I can only speculate that when someone from AREC said hello to me, I lost my concentration and pushed off on my right foot harder than what my already injured ankle could tolerate.

Only a runner would understand this, but here are my mile splits:

Mile 1 – 9:24

Mile 2 – 9:22

Mile 3 – 9:07

Mile 4 – 9:17

Mile 5 – 9:11

Mile 6 – 9:34

Mile 7 – 9:25

Mile 8 – 9:30

Mile 9 – 9:31

Mile 10 – 9:33

Mile 11 – 9:47

Mile 12 – 9:07

Mile 13.1 – 10:07

Total cumulative time: 9:03:01, Official finishing time: 2:02:54, Average pace: 9:23 .

Oh well, better luck next time.