After the monsoons ended, which had us round the clock in my mother in law's basement manning wet-vac's and submersible pumps to stem the rising tides, the milder temperatures improved through the week and made for some nice running outside. I found a great little loop in Derry, NH; not too far from my office and got some nice runs in there about 6.5 miles - good middle of day distance, though one day I started too late and ended up in the dark at the end. The legs were a little tired heading into Saturday, but I've been injury free and a little dead legs syndrome was just OK with me. Saturday we had a DFMC team run from Wellesley up through the Newton Hills and back, an 18 miler, wasnt sure if i was doing the full 18 or turn around at Centre St for 16. That got sort of decided for me. Earlier in the week, the email went out today was "photo day" so wear your DFMC gear and get ready to tell why you're doing this to anyone who should care and goes on the Dana Farber site. So I got up at 7AM and threw all the Dana Farber gear I had on, including the new Adidas training shirt I got for running all the training runs at Lexington this year.
The run started out innocuously enough, few rolling hills and I was running a good pace (for me - 10's and 11's are a good pace) and though my legs felt a little tired with calves/quads alternatively tightening as I pounded down Rte 135 onto 16 and the Boston course. The hills were killers today and I labored up them, but as I hit the crest I saw the water stop at 6 and knew I run through there, get a quick water and a snack, I should be good. Then, I saw the camera - pointed right at me. And, that's where things went terribly wrong. I didn't want to look like the tired guy running in, so I decided to pick up the pace and get a good opportunity. About 4 powerful strides later, *POP* went my right calf muscle, and I pulled up about 30 yards short, and limped it in to there. It was a sharp pain, but I didnt think it was serious. Jack took a look and confirmed, it was probably a pulled muscle and I cursed myself for a good 5 minutes trying to rub out the tightness and stretch. I was able to put weight on it and after consulting with Jack, I decided to go on, but no steep hills. They say in misfortune we look for opportunity, I decided this was a good oppty for me to build the left quad (I run more right leg dominant I find), so I guess that was the only saving grace. It was a beautiful day out on course and like all the stupid things I've done so far, a learning experience, which I hope to carry to race day.
Without further ado, I'd like to add some important people to my GENEROUS DONORS LIST for the DFMC: Gloria and Jim Cuddy (and prayers go out for Jim, who was diagnosed with lung cancer recently - Jim I run for you too, and your cure!), (Aunt)Clare Brown from FL, Mary Lord (My Mom's oncology nurse and a good friend to our family), Therese Chamberlain (Ruth's daughter and a good friend), and my mother and father in law, Jim and Theresa Doherty (who found time to write a check with all they had going on. Jim is also a cancer survivor of a debilitating benign cancer called VHL - Von Hippel Lindau syndrome and is an inspiration to us all)
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Keep going Tom, you'll be fine and all the work will be worth it on April 19th.
ReplyDeleteFitzy, You're a better man than I! Keep up the great effort... you're less than a month away. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTom