http://www.harrisburgmarathon.com
This would be my 2nd marathon.
First problem occurred early on. After running the Cooks Forest Half Marathon shod at the end of march, i picked up my first pair of VFF’s and ditched the shoe habit. I started re-training slowly in the VFF’s in May. Unfortunately, bad form and pushing a double jogger with kids and gear led to a stress fracture on June 5. Slow healing and a cautious foot doc led to two months in a boot.
I modified my training plan and got the rest of my long runs in, do lots of cross training and my feet are doing great. I finish my 20 miler in ~3:40, which was 3 weeks before the race.
The Monday before the race, I took a kettlebell class did a 45 min workout with an 8lb bell. Great workout, nothing too strenuous. Looking forward to recovering in time for the race on Sunday. Tuesday night, my lower back goes out changing a diaper. WTF! I spend all day Wed in bed. Wed evening, after taking ibuprofen and pain killers, I’m finally able to get up and walk. This has happened once before so I know what needed to be done. I started doing PT exercises for my lower back and continue popping pain killers until Friday. In the meantime, I had offered my bib up to some friends to see if anyone wanted to run, no takers. I stopped taking pain killers Friday and continued PT exercises for the next 2 days.
Nov 14. Race day. And it a last minute decision on whether i can run. Any hint of back pain in the first 8 miles and it would be a short walk back to my car. So that morning i took the dog for a early morning walk and did some light jogging to see if i had any back pain. No pain. So far, so good.
The weather was perfect for the race. Start time was 8:30 am and the temp was around 40 F. High expected for the day was 60. The course started on City Island, crossed the river, went around the State Capitol complex and then headed south toward the DMV building. I was running in VFF's and so far everything was going smoothly on the city streets. At mile 4 the course enters the Greenbelt Trail, which between miles 4 and 5 is mostly crushed cinders with the crushed gravel sprinkled in. Its a well worn trail and avoiding the gravel wasn't much of a problem until closer to mile 5. For about 50 yards, it was all crushed gravel that led to a paved parking lot. Then it was back to the paved trail that followed along the river and back to do a loop around City Island. This would be my last chance to bail if i was having any trouble. Miles 6-7 are a loop around City Island, back across the river and then its a 19 mile trek north to loop around the local community college and back. I continued on. Miles 8-11 is a scenic run along the riverfront and after having run this so many times in training, I relaxed, focused on my form and enjoyed the scenic view of the river. After mile 11, it crosses over Front St and continues through a quiet neighborhood. Legs have been feeling good up until this point and I started to notice a hot spot on my left foot. I stopped after the next aid station and removed my VFF to see if there was any debris in there. No debris, but it was starting to blister. Put my VFF back on and continued on. Got to mile 12 and started to notice my inner thigh on my right leg was getting awfully tight, damn those kettlebell swings, had to walk until it relaxed. After mile 13, this time is was the inner thigh on my left leg getting tight, damn those kettlebell swings. With aid stations every 2mi, I decided to run and then walk through the aid stations. That got me through the next aid station at mile 16. Unfortunately, my inner thigh on my left leg persisted through the rest of the marathon. It now became a ‘run until it almost cramps, then walk’. This was a result of the kettlebell swings. So trekking on, I get to the turn around point after mile 16 in the parking lot of the local community college and start heading for the dreaded ‘hills at Wildwood’ and then back along the river to the finish. At mile 18 you enter Wildwood park and after ‘hot footing’ it across 30 yds of more crushed gravel in the parking lot, I proceeded to walk the hills through mile 20 all the while wondering what kind of sadistic person would run a flat marathon course and then stick these hills at this point on the course. I knew this section was coming and I had run this part many times in training, but after 18 miles I was feeling a little better blaming someone else for my pain. After mile 20, I’m back out on the main roads and headed back down to the river. At this point I’m doing my best just to keep moving forward. I do my forward shuffle until my thigh starts to cramp and then walk. I make it to the aid station at mile 22 and somewhere shortly thereafter I hear someone yell my name. I look back and see that my wife, who’s running her first marathon is catching up to me. Damn those kettlebell swings. She had recruited my cousin to pace her for the last 6 miles and they we’re walking and catching up to me. Now, my walk is more of a slow, grandpa stroll in the park type speed. My wife walks at the typically, power walking, cruise the mall, shopping type speed. She passed me around mile 23. I tried to play the catch-up game. Run to catch up to her and then walk, but that didn’t last long. I thought that getting passed by my wife was going to be my low point of the whole race, but I was wrong. A mile later, I got passed by a joggler. Not sure if he was in the race, but at this point I felt I had sunk to a new low. I was still moving forward and dealing with all those negative thoughts of dropping out. I had less than 2 miles left. At one point I passed some volunteers and heard that there we’re only 15 left to finish. Damn kettlebell class. I walked until I got to the last half mile and then started my shuffle across the bridge back to City Island and across the finish line. Finishing time 6:15:05.
My wife, who swore after her first half marathon, she would NEVER, EVER run a full marathon, completed her first in 6:01.
Here’s the result of the hot spot on my left foot.
30 seconds later, an EMT wandered by and I got a large safetly pin and some 4x4's to drain it.
addtional race photos at http://www.pbcsportsphotography.com
I saw 1 other person wearing VFF's that day and did not see or hear comments about anyone running baferfoot.
This would be my 2nd marathon.
First problem occurred early on. After running the Cooks Forest Half Marathon shod at the end of march, i picked up my first pair of VFF’s and ditched the shoe habit. I started re-training slowly in the VFF’s in May. Unfortunately, bad form and pushing a double jogger with kids and gear led to a stress fracture on June 5. Slow healing and a cautious foot doc led to two months in a boot.
I modified my training plan and got the rest of my long runs in, do lots of cross training and my feet are doing great. I finish my 20 miler in ~3:40, which was 3 weeks before the race.
The Monday before the race, I took a kettlebell class did a 45 min workout with an 8lb bell. Great workout, nothing too strenuous. Looking forward to recovering in time for the race on Sunday. Tuesday night, my lower back goes out changing a diaper. WTF! I spend all day Wed in bed. Wed evening, after taking ibuprofen and pain killers, I’m finally able to get up and walk. This has happened once before so I know what needed to be done. I started doing PT exercises for my lower back and continue popping pain killers until Friday. In the meantime, I had offered my bib up to some friends to see if anyone wanted to run, no takers. I stopped taking pain killers Friday and continued PT exercises for the next 2 days.
Nov 14. Race day. And it a last minute decision on whether i can run. Any hint of back pain in the first 8 miles and it would be a short walk back to my car. So that morning i took the dog for a early morning walk and did some light jogging to see if i had any back pain. No pain. So far, so good.
The weather was perfect for the race. Start time was 8:30 am and the temp was around 40 F. High expected for the day was 60. The course started on City Island, crossed the river, went around the State Capitol complex and then headed south toward the DMV building. I was running in VFF's and so far everything was going smoothly on the city streets. At mile 4 the course enters the Greenbelt Trail, which between miles 4 and 5 is mostly crushed cinders with the crushed gravel sprinkled in. Its a well worn trail and avoiding the gravel wasn't much of a problem until closer to mile 5. For about 50 yards, it was all crushed gravel that led to a paved parking lot. Then it was back to the paved trail that followed along the river and back to do a loop around City Island. This would be my last chance to bail if i was having any trouble. Miles 6-7 are a loop around City Island, back across the river and then its a 19 mile trek north to loop around the local community college and back. I continued on. Miles 8-11 is a scenic run along the riverfront and after having run this so many times in training, I relaxed, focused on my form and enjoyed the scenic view of the river. After mile 11, it crosses over Front St and continues through a quiet neighborhood. Legs have been feeling good up until this point and I started to notice a hot spot on my left foot. I stopped after the next aid station and removed my VFF to see if there was any debris in there. No debris, but it was starting to blister. Put my VFF back on and continued on. Got to mile 12 and started to notice my inner thigh on my right leg was getting awfully tight, damn those kettlebell swings, had to walk until it relaxed. After mile 13, this time is was the inner thigh on my left leg getting tight, damn those kettlebell swings. With aid stations every 2mi, I decided to run and then walk through the aid stations. That got me through the next aid station at mile 16. Unfortunately, my inner thigh on my left leg persisted through the rest of the marathon. It now became a ‘run until it almost cramps, then walk’. This was a result of the kettlebell swings. So trekking on, I get to the turn around point after mile 16 in the parking lot of the local community college and start heading for the dreaded ‘hills at Wildwood’ and then back along the river to the finish. At mile 18 you enter Wildwood park and after ‘hot footing’ it across 30 yds of more crushed gravel in the parking lot, I proceeded to walk the hills through mile 20 all the while wondering what kind of sadistic person would run a flat marathon course and then stick these hills at this point on the course. I knew this section was coming and I had run this part many times in training, but after 18 miles I was feeling a little better blaming someone else for my pain. After mile 20, I’m back out on the main roads and headed back down to the river. At this point I’m doing my best just to keep moving forward. I do my forward shuffle until my thigh starts to cramp and then walk. I make it to the aid station at mile 22 and somewhere shortly thereafter I hear someone yell my name. I look back and see that my wife, who’s running her first marathon is catching up to me. Damn those kettlebell swings. She had recruited my cousin to pace her for the last 6 miles and they we’re walking and catching up to me. Now, my walk is more of a slow, grandpa stroll in the park type speed. My wife walks at the typically, power walking, cruise the mall, shopping type speed. She passed me around mile 23. I tried to play the catch-up game. Run to catch up to her and then walk, but that didn’t last long. I thought that getting passed by my wife was going to be my low point of the whole race, but I was wrong. A mile later, I got passed by a joggler. Not sure if he was in the race, but at this point I felt I had sunk to a new low. I was still moving forward and dealing with all those negative thoughts of dropping out. I had less than 2 miles left. At one point I passed some volunteers and heard that there we’re only 15 left to finish. Damn kettlebell class. I walked until I got to the last half mile and then started my shuffle across the bridge back to City Island and across the finish line. Finishing time 6:15:05.
My wife, who swore after her first half marathon, she would NEVER, EVER run a full marathon, completed her first in 6:01.
Here’s the result of the hot spot on my left foot.
30 seconds later, an EMT wandered by and I got a large safetly pin and some 4x4's to drain it.
addtional race photos at http://www.pbcsportsphotography.com
I saw 1 other person wearing VFF's that day and did not see or hear comments about anyone running baferfoot.
