Friday, July 5, 2013

4th of July 5000 Freedom race

A race recap...
There a nice change from the injury saga.

I signed up for this 5K with the plan of doing it with my kids.  I thought this would be a great way to stick to the run-walk diet and not try to do anything stupid and also to share this one with the boys.

I have done this 5K 3 times before and this course is no PR course..the last mile is all uphill and if the sun is out well it is brutal.

I was a little nervous about running on the road.  I have not done that since the OC Half Marathon.  I did not try any running with my orthotics on the pavement.  I was not concerned with my time, I knew it would be terrible.

So things did not go as plan.
My kids picked that morning to act like little brats.  I will not go in details but I ended up going to the race alone and heartbroken.    Being a parent is the best and hardest job in the world.

I went and I decided to stick to the plan I have from my PT and do 2:2 run/walk.
So that was grand ma running and walking.  That was not a race.  It's ok.  It was nice to be with other people and to be at a race.

It felt strange to run on the pavement.  I felt like I was running on rocks, that's the best way to describe it.  It's the orthotics.  I am used to them for walking and also on the treadmill but not on the road.  I did not have knee pain during the race.  I felt completely out of shape.  It is no joke.  Wow.   That is so depressing.  I think that even if I could have run the whole distance I would have not been able to do it and not walk during the last mile up hill.  It was also sunny and hot.  But it did feel good to be kind of back even if this was a very humbling experience.

My time was terrible, probably 7 minutes slower than my 5k PR (27:xx ) but at this point it is not important and I know that so it is OK.

I am happy that I did it.  I am happy that I did not do anything stupid and I did walk half of it.  I a, happy that the knee was ok...I felt a tiny little pinch and that was it.  So that is the good.

The not so good...besides the fact that my kids were not with me...was that I had pain in my right hip again.  It really is soreness.  It is not during running/walking but after I am done.  I did talk to the PT about it because I am worried this is caused by the orthotics...although I had this at the OC half and I did not have orthotics then so maybe I am wrong.  Maybe it is my gait that is messed up because of my left knee and I favor the right leg?  PT said right hip flexor is very tight.   That worries me.  I don't want to have to deal with hip problems after having knee problems....enough already.

I stretched and rolled as soon as I got home and today it is much better.  

Hope you had a good 4th of July!
We went to see the fireworks at the baseball stadium and it was great!
If you follow me on Instagram you saw pics and videos of it!
Are you on Instagram? If I don't follow you let me know you are there!





Watching young girls (same age as them)  doing a dance number before the fireworks...Notice the level of attention??? I mean this is serious focus my friends.... :)

12 comments:

Gracie said...

You have certainly progressed in the injury department, so that is good. I felt all sorts of odd twinges when I started running again - I even thought I might be injured again at one point, but a lot of it was just sore tissue from underuse. It got better, but I did make sure to keep things stretched and foam rolled.

Anne said...

Encore une fois, bravo Caro!! Même si ce n'était pas la course de ta vie, tu l'as fait et c'est vraiment ce qui compte en ce moment. En passant, presque chaque fois que je me suis blessée, je finissais par sentir de la douleur, ou me blesser, de l'autre côté (genre, pied gauche - genou droit)! Je crois que tu as raison et que tu compense un peu, ce qui cause un peu de raideur. Continue d'étirer et de "rouler" :) Bonne continuité de reprise...tu vas y arriver!!!

Lauren said...

Congratulations Caroline! I'm sorry it didn't go as planned, but this is the first step right?? You are moving in the right direction, which I'm sure is encouraging. Glad to hear the knee is feeling better and I hope the hip pain is just a twinge from getting back into running again...I know I felt tons of twinges/weird pains when I was coming back from my knee injury last summer. Hope you had a nice 4th of July!

Tasha Malcolm said...

You have progressed fairly quickly in your rehab. I hope that the hip soreness isn't anything serious. Hang in there. Glad that you had a fun run on the 4th. Hopefully next year your boys will run it with you.

middleagedrunner said...

Too bad about the post race ache and naughty kiddos! Sounds like you are on the mend though which is awesome :-) And your kids seem so terrific 99% of the time that they are bound to have an off day. And they sure have "focus" hahah!

Kate Geisen said...

Kids...they can be so wonderful and then they can make you want to bang your head against the wall!

Good job sticking with your plan. It's so hard to stay disciined. I know what you mean about feeling out of shape. Most of my runs have felt that way between coming back from a couple month running break and then the heat. Ugh.

Michael said...

I think it's super exciting you were able to run walk a 5K! That's some serious progress!! You couldn't have done that even a few weeks ago.

You'll be back to 100% soon!!

My left hip is chronically tight...I have to keep it stretched out all the time or it is a major problem. Swimming seems to really help.

Coy Martinez said...

You're 100% correct, parenting can be so rewarding and so frustrating. My boys are your boys ages and it can be like trying to tame bear cubs one day and then snuggling with them the next.

The race sounds like it went ok. It'll all take time to get back to where you were but this is a good start. I tried inserts in my shoes one time and it messed up my natural gait as well. I hope you get the answers you need and a fix. :) Keep smiling.

Boston Bound Brunette said...

Good to hear that you were able to run/walk the race. When I started running after my injury I remember having weird pains that eventually went away. Hang in there because you are progressing.

Nelly said...

That is good that you didn't feel any pain in your knee during/after the race. As for the hip pain, wouldn't surprise me if this is just general soreness from not running for a while. If it doesn't go away, then maybe you should get it looked at too from your PT - maybe it is a tight muscle.

As for tennis, the Novak-Del Potro semifinal was amazing. One of the best matches I've seen - I might have to add that match onto my top matches list lol. Bummer that both guys couldn't win, they wanted it so bad, especially Del Potro. The final was good too, I just wish it could have gone 4 or 5 sets, the match was so close. I was actually going for Novak in both the semifinal and final, I'm probably one of the few going for him lol

Anonymous said...

Oh no, sorry to hear your hips are starting to act up now. It could be due to the fact you are not running your natural form and change your posture. I really hope you are running pain free very soon. Sending you a lot of fast healing thoughts!

Unknown said...

Yay that you were able to run! Sorry your kids messed with the morning. I get that issue completely. Congratulations on the race and I hope you've recovered well.

Were you at the Angels game? We were there - fun night.