The week after the Genny Tenny – the week of the running of the Sodom Pond 4 miler – I was walking to work and saw a flyer for the Race Against Racism 5K, sponsored by the students of Montpelier High School. It was an inspiring week already, with the Student Climate Strike on Thursday, and so I thought “what’s one more race?” Katie was in, too, though because of her hip issues she was planning to walk.
And it was an inspiring day. For all the slag my generation gives “kids these days,” what I saw between this event and the Climate Strike was a bunch of engaged young people who want this to be a better world. Who wouldn’t be moved by high school kids speaking passionately about the world they hope to inherit, one in which all races can live equally, and in which the climate isn’t burning up on them?
But that doesn’t mean I had to take the race itself all that seriously. This was a late lark, so it wasn’t an early-to-bed night on Friday. Friday night I had a stand up comedy show at the Quarry in Barre. Following that, Katie and I went to Charlie O’s to check out the band Mud City Ramblers. And also to check out the alcohol offerings. The race was scheduled for noon, so an early bedtime wasn’t critical to begin with.
The Mud City Ramblers, it turns out, were a lot of fun. They played a rocking brand of alt-country that just invited you to tap your toes and drink another beer. They played, and we stayed, until after midnight.
These folks do not want you to run tomorrow.
Luckily the next day, being the first day of autumn, was hot and humid. The temperature was near 80 as noon approached, and the sun was beating down. It was not comfortable.
The race started on the bike path behind the high school. It meandered through town a bit before returning to the bike path for an out-and-back, finishing at the high school. Things started out sluggish and never really improved. There was some uphill by the statehouse. By the time we got back to the flats of the bike path I was already pretty gassed. Shortly after the turnaround at the end of the bike path, I saw Katie coming the other way. She was running! This gave me incentive to push a little bit. But I still needed to stop for water with about half a mile left, which I really shouldn’t do for a 5K.
There was a woman who had been tracking me, and who passed me toward the end, who I was hoping to catch back up to, but that didn’t happen. I slogged to the finish line, and Katie (who had been trying to catch me) was only a few seconds behind. It wasn’t a great race, but I still finished in a sub-9:00 pace, which was good. And the event following, with pizza, speakers, poetry, music, dancing, and even badminton, was a lot of fun. And after that we headed off to the Mad River for an afternoon dip to wash away the pain and the sins of the last 24 hours.
Today is 19 days to the Sprouts Mesa Half Marathon. As of a week ago, the longest I had run in training was 4.3 miles. I have a fairly aggressive plan to ramp up the miles, even though I have a potentially-injured leg.
My plan involved limiting road miles as much as possible and building up my distance and stamina on the more-forgiving treadmill, while participating in the Saturday morning CVR Winter Long Runs. This week did not go totally to plan.
I was planning a 50-minute treadmill run for Wednesday, in my quest to continue building up distance. However Wednesday morning my new co-worker Lauren, a dedicated runner, said she was planning to run that afternoon and would I like to join her. Since Lauren is a nice person and having a running colleague helps the miles go by, I said sure.
Lauren also has a bum leg – she pulled a hamstring last summer and it still bothers – so we decided to follow my 5K office route. It goes through the streets of Montpelier, past the State House, and finishes on the bike path. There are a couple of modest hills in there. The sidewalks were pretty clear, though we would get some snow later. Running outside for some reason seems more physically demanding to me than running on the treadmill, and this being the first outside run in a month felt taxing. We finished in an even 30 minutes.
Of course afterward the leg bothered more than I wanted. Sometime during the week I had been speaking with my boss, another runner, and she mentioned that she had a big problem with over-pronation. I had heard the term before, but wasn’t really sure what it was, so I did some research. Basically it means you push off too much with the inside of your foot, and outside-to-inside motion. Since my right foot naturally kicks out, I thought I might be prone to this. I mimicked my stride slowly, and could feel how I was pushing off on the inside of the right big toe – the feeling is supposed to be more centered on the second toe. That’s how my left foot works. So here we have a diagnosis – over pronation of the right foot, and I could feel it directly feeding into the leg soreness.
Why the hell Dr. Tim didn’t look for this, I don’t know.
Regardless, there are a bunch of stretches and exercises for this problem, and I read that orthotic inserts (or shoes) can help. Since I just invested in new shoes, I looked into inserts. Given that I had a Saturday morning training run coming up, I wanted something over the counter. And since I wasn’t 100% sure they would help, I wanted something cheap. The reviews suggested Dr. Scholl’s running orthotic inserts would be a good option. The biggest negative with these is that they don’t last as long as some others. But honestly, my biggest concern is just a few weeks away.
Friday I got to Kinney Drug and bought a pair of inserts. Saturday they were in my Saucony Peregrines for the Winter Long Run in Berlin. A group of about 20 CVR members showed up for the run from one of our member’s house. There were routes from 10K to 10 miles. I chose 10K. This was basically the Berlin Pond race course with the additional distance to and from Beth’s house. It was cold: the temperature was 0 degrees when the run started. The roads around the pond were snow covered but plowed smooth. Not bad footing, but not the most efficient running surface. I chugged along slowly, still feeling out the leg and being mindful of my strides. For a short distance Donna Smyers, a physical therapist, checked out my stride and asked me some questions. She doesn’t think my overpronation is too extreme, and didn’t seem to think I have a big problem on my hands. So that’s nice!
I went skiing on Sunday, which was a bit taxing on my lower legs, especially with some tree runs. Today, Martin Luther King Day, was a day off from work. It was really tempting to go back to the slopes with so a lot of fresh snow on the ground, but the training call beckoned. So I went outside in the afternoon for another run through the streets of Montpelier. I have a 4.7 mile route that I wanted to add a little distance to, so I ran up a big hill to College Street, and also did a little bike path loop to extend it. It was another slow run, with frequently-poor traction and a lot of favor for the leg. But 5.5 miles felt like a good distance for training purposes, and I was done in an hour. I did a bunch of stretching afterward. Tonight my leg feels pretty good.
I’ve run about 15 miles in the week since the last update. I’d like to boost that some this week, but my schedule isn’t looking all that favorable right now. But I am teed up for 8 miles next Saturday, which is the most critical thing right now, I think. Phoenix is coming up. It will be slower than I wanted, but I will survive.
Just three days after the Genny Tenny was the next race in the 2019 series: a short drive to Adamant, Vermont, for the Sodom Pond 4-mile race. It’s similar to the Berlin Pond race, a loop around a pond with some hills at the start and then pretty flat the rest of the way. Except Sodom Pond is tiny, so the views are more of woods and farmland than actual pond. And the start and finish is in Adamant, which is exponentially more funky Vermont than anything about the town of Berlin.
There was no real training period for this race. On Tuesday, two days after the Genny Tenny, I joined the CVR fun run and did the short two-mile run, as did most of the others participating. Because I am me, I thought the best thing to do between two races, since it’s such a short distance, would be a fast run. I set out to break 17:00 and finished in 16:59. Mission accomplished.
The next night was a beautiful late summer evening. Temps were pleasant, but the shortening days meant that things were getting a little dark toward the end of the race. 42 people toed the starting line. I was off with the usual suspects, hanging with John Martin up the hill. To be honest, here I am confusing my memory with that of the Berlin Pond race, because the layouts are so similar. So I don’t know who else was nearby, other than John, who was a little ahead of me.
After taxing my legs so much on Sunday, they weren’t real keen on starting the race on an uphill. But here we were. There was a little dip on the way up, but the hill rose nearly 150 feet over the first mile. Then turn left and go downhill for most of the next mile. There was a water stop at the halfway point, with a meandering two miles through the woods, with a brief pond view at the very end. I also saw legit horses on this stretch.
After the race, John Martin said he expected me to blow by him on the downhill. I did not do that. I was perhaps being over mindful to not overdo my speed on the downhill, as I was receiving the lesson that doing so can be as taxing as the uphills are. But I also didn’t feel the spark in my legs this time. John pulled ahead. Two teenage girls who I recognized as being my neighbors also passed me. I had the energy to run the run, but not to make a race of it with anybody – except at the very end. I wasn’t in a position to get under 36:00, so I wasn’t even going to bother with a kick. But I heard footsteps and voices gaining on me near the finish, and I decided I was not going to let anyone else fucking pass me at that point. I finished in 36:13, which Strava calculated as a 9:08 pace. Which really wasn’t that bad all things considered. I was hoping to be under 9:00 in race mode, and that didn’t happen, but this wasn’t a bad result for a mild disappointment.
After the race, CVR member Donna Smyers and her partner Eric, who live in Adamant, hosted a spaghetti feed, which seemed like about the most Adamant thing that could happen. Good food, a little wine, good conversation and a little awards ceremony made for a terrific end to a fun little race.
RACE SUMMARY: Distance: 4 miles Time: 36:13 Pace: 9:08 (Strava timing) Place: 28/42 Age Group: 6/7 CVR Points: 74.5513 (my highest point total yet!)
Now that I was back in the swing of the race season, I had my sights set on the Leaf Peepers half marathon in October – it was going to be run on the old course this year! I was starting to build up distance again, running the 6-mile Fun Runs and running my longer routes on my own.
Concurrently, I was also playing baseball on Sundays with the Montpelier Monties. September is playoff season, and though we didn’t win any games during the season, everyone plays in the playoffs. We weren’t so bad that we might not win our game on September 8 vs. The Bayside Brewers. That was keeping me from being able to commit to the next race, the Genny Tenny 10-miler on September 15.
Well, we came dangerously close to winning that game: we opened up an 8-run lead at one point and still were ahead going into the last inning.
But you probably already know we managed to lose, because you are currently reading a post about the Genny Tenny. I didn’t want to lose the game, but I was grateful to be able to run this as a tune up. The Genny Tenny is a point-to-point starting at the Craftsbury General Store and ending up the next town over at the Albany General Store. More precisely, the past and future Albany General Store. This race was to raise funds so the town can buy and renovate the building, which suffered a fire a few years ago, and restore a vital asset to the community.
This would only be my second run of this distance to date, and it carried a daunting 1,000 foot elevation gain over two major climbs. It also carried a 500 foot drop near the end. I figured it would be doable with a slow pace, and if you were able to pull on the hills like they were string, it would extend out to 13 miles, so basically a half marathon. (It doesn’t really work that way, though.)
September 15 was a pleasant late summer / early fall day in Vermont. Scattered clouds, a bit breezy, temps around 60. Pretty good running weather. At the start I was talking with a woman named Polly about her hydration system. Polly, it turned out, had already run the course once that morning, starting in Albany and running to Craftsbury, just so she could run the race back to Albany. Yes, this 20-mile jaunt was part of her training for a marathon.
There were 50 racers at the start. With a small field, I was hoping to not finish in last. At the start I found myself ahead of a few people. Polly was just ahead, running a comfortable but probably too-fast pace. The course was a pretty gradual but steady uphill, gaining 500 feet over the first 4.5 miles. I noticed Polly walking some of the hills, but I didn’t catch her. So I focused on following another woman, Judy, who I knew through my job. I figured I could stay close to Judy in hopes of overtaking her toward the end. Only half of those things ended up happening. On the other hand, John Martin was behind me and I was keeping my distance from him.
Before the race I had been talking to another CVR member and general good guy, Jim Flint about the course. He described it as uphill, then downhill (it dropped about 250 feet). Then another uphill. “You’ll be on a class-four road, and it curves so you won’t be able to see what’s ahead. But it’s probably just as well.” Hmmm.
There was a short uphill, gaining about 100 feet to the 6-mile marker. This was the first spot where I had to walk for a bit. Then another downhill. Then we gained all of those 250 feet back over the course of the next mile. It was a pleasant tree-lined gravel road with a few houses, and no you couldn’t see what was coming up. And yes, I had to do more walking.
Things finally flattened out just before the seven mile marker, and the guy at the water station promised that there were no more hills. None like that anyway. As I was taking off, another runner in the distance was approaching the water, but it wasn’t John Martin. I was a bit chagrined at the thought someone was gaining on me at this point.
A little bit down the road, just around a bend 50, or maybe 100 yards in front of me, I saw what looked like one of those miniature ponies that are only a couple feet tall. It’s farm country out there, so it seemed possible. Then I noticed that the pony had a funny, mopey gait, not unlike that of a bear.
This wasn’t coincidental. Up ahead was a real live black bear. I slowed down some, not really having considered the need for bear evasion tactics. I guess it would have been back to the water station. There were no other runners in sight at this point. However the bear saw me and charged off into a hayfield in such a manner that I figured it didn’t want anything to do with me. I ran on, keeping my eyes peeled toward the hay field, but saw the bear no more.
At 7.5 miles, finally, we started to go down hill. The next 1.5 miles saw a 450-foot drop in elevation. It was good to be able to get some speed after so much climbing. And yet, the woman who I had seen approaching the water station overtook me on the way down. I figured it might not be a good idea to run too fast on this stretch, but that didn’t stop me from letting it go. It felt good!
Finally we got into Albany village, and turned the corner for the last few hundred yards to the finish. All uphill! I was pretty much out of wind at this point, and found myself walking for a little longer before I found the energy for a “kick” to the finish.
Just under 1:43 after I started, it was finally over. This was a painful race, but also a sense of accomplishment. My time was a minute faster than the Paul Mailman race in April, though Strava measured the Tenny at 9.8 miles and not a full 10. (I guess 10 if you pulled the string straight.). But the broken leg was feeling like it was in the past, and I was definitely becoming a stronger runner – strong enough to run a half marathon a month later!
RACE SUMMARY: Distance: 10 miles Time: 1:42:52 Pace: 10:28 (Strava timing) Place: 44/50 Age Group: 1/1 CVR Points: 69.5187 (though I was the only one in my age group, 60-year old Jim Flint was qualified for the 50-59 AG for the 2019 series.)
Since getting the good news last Monday that my leg does not appear to be injured, I’ve resumed training for the half marathon in Phoenix. Perhaps someone more prudent than I would have sought advice for how to ease back in to it, but not I – I am winging my own plan.
Mind, I know that I can’t just leap in and start running big miles without inviting bad results. So I have “aggressively eased” back in to it. Last Monday I ran for a mile. After a couple days of travel, on Thursday I doubled that to 20 minutes and a little over two miles. So far, so good.
On Friday night I went downhill skiing. The NP from mid-December suggested cutting that out while things are healing, but with the “no injury” green light it was time to try that out. And other than a little struggle putting my boot on, related I am sure to the still-somewhat swollen ankle, things went really well. Like, “the leg felt better afterward than it did before” well. So on Saturday I upped things again to 30 minutes / 3.3 miles. And again, not bad. Sunday evening I did some cycling, weights and stretching at the gym.
It would be a lie to say my leg feels perfect, because it doesn’t. But it’s also not disruptive. It doesn’t really hurt, and when it does the problem area seems to move around. I feel it in a different place than I did in November. Sometimes it feels like it could be bone. Sometimes it’s definitely in the muscles. I still think it might be fascia.
The day on / day of rest pattern appears to be working well so far, as it gives me time to Today was “day on,” so I went to the gym at lunch for a 40 minute/4+ mile run. The leg was bothering a little in the morning, but I took some ibuprofen and all was well. Some discomfort, but no pain. Because I am me, I boosted the pace to 8:30 about two miles in. About 2.5 miles in my heart felt like it might explode, so I dialed it back. I ran the rest of the way in a somewhat comfortable 9:30 pace. Total mileage was 4.3, so almost exactly “a third of a Half” as I described it on Strava.
I’m going to be mindful to work a little more rest in the schedule. Walking home from work today, my leg was a little sore, so I may have to drive in more. The walk is all pavement. But it only hurts when I use it!
There are three weekends between now and the flight to Phoenix, and I am confident I can get the mileage up. Actually, I am reasonably confident that I could do the whole thing (slowly) by next weekend, but I may be deluding myself. However, since I have the time, my plan is to use the CVR Winter Long Runs to build up the distance. 6 miles this weekend, 8 miles the next weekend, and 10 the first Saturday of February. Two runs for a total of 8-10 miles during the week. Then taper off the week before heading to Arizona. It seems doable.
A few weeks ago I sketched out a robust race schedule for 2020. I already missed the first one of those when I skipped the New Year’s Eve race. I’d like to pick up with the Kaynor’s Sap Run in March and move forward with the original plan, but for now it’s do my best to be healthy through the next one and see where to go from there.
Subsequent to my New Shoes post, I got spooked by some of the reading that Katie and I were doing about lower-leg injuries. My symptoms were starting to sound an awful lot like a stress fracture. Having seen the movie Brittany Runs a Marathon, I knew that stress fractures can derail one’s grandest objectives. I decided that the best thing to do would be to rest it for awhile longer and see a doctor.
My primary care physician (actually a nurse practitioner) wasn’t available, so I saw her backup. After examining my leg, she agreed that maybe this could be a stress fracture. Even so, she thought the Phoenix Half, less than 8 weeks away, should be doable. I told her my plan was to rest until mid-January to allow for more healing, which she agreed with. She ordered up some x-rays, and also suggested I see “Doctor Tim,” who is the best sports medicine practitioner around. She also said that ice and anti-inflammatories would probably help.
The x-rays came back with no indication of a stress fracture, a good development. I continued to rest and wait for Dr. Tim’s office to call me to schedule a visit. I finally got the call after Christmas, and happily they were able to get me in on January 6 (today).
I was anxious going into the visit that there would be bad news. Even if the news was good, it’s just over a month before the race. Going from running 5 miles the entire month of December to running a half marathon in early February seemed ambitious. Dr. Tim poked and prodded and twisted my leg and ankle, but there was no pain. There were a couple of items on the x-ray that had concerned him, but they turned out to be spots that had never bothered in the first place.
After spending a few minutes unsuccessfully looking for what would cause me pain, Dr. Tim declared that I appear to be uninjured. A “post-traumatic reaction” is his diagnosis. “We could do an MRI and determine for sure,” he said, and recommended getting one on the calendar that I could cancel if I decided against it. (Which I might, because even after insurance it’s $$$.) He also suggested PT in his office, where they can take video and offer suggestions on form, which I am inclined to do. Dr. Tim suggested I start running again and monitor the leg. If there aren’t any big problems, I should be good to go.
With that prompt, I hit the treadmill after work tonight. Mindful of my recent convalescence and wanting to ease into things, I ran just a mile. Of course I was thinking about every little thing that felt off with the leg while I was running, but I was encouraged that there was no pain or discomfort in the area spot that bothered me a month ago. The non-specific symptoms seem to confirm, to my non-medical mind – that this is like post-trauma response and not a particular injury.
So on we go to Phoenix. Goals may need to be modified from what they were in November, but I am again confident that I can run this race.
The first race back under the belt, I set my sights on more the CVR Race Series events. In the back of my mind – or maybe the middle of it – I was thinking about the half marathon in October. The only way to prep for that was to run more. Next up in the series, the Northfield Savings Bank 5K on Labor Day weekend.
In the couple of weeks following the Berlin Pond Race I started to build up some more distance, getting up to 11K on one run. Pace mostly in the 9:30 – 9:45 range. It’s a difficult time of year to add on miles, I discovered, because the weather is hot and muggy. I joined the weekly fun runs on Tuesday evenings, but otherwise ran mostly first thing in the morning.
The day of the 5K was also warm, but the race was fairly early so most of the heat was avoided. Still, this was a sweaty race from the beginning. The race starts in the heart of Northfield, goes uphill and around Norwich University, then back downhill through town. The course then moves to an out-and-back portion on Water Street, which is largely gravel. Somewhere on this portion of the run, I am sure before the 2-mile mark, the race leader came flying by heading back – a guy named Neal Graves, who wins a lot of local races. The second runner was the female leader, who wasn’t that far behind.
Up ahead there was a young man who was enthusiastically cheering and high-fiving runners who had made the turnaround. By the time I reached him he had made the turnaround and was looking pretty gassed. I got my high five, made the turn, and passed him shortly thereafter.
My “rabbit” for this race was a gentleman named Bob Murphy. Bob runs all the time, but at age 79 doesn’t have the speed he once did. My intention was to follow him and then push past him at the end. That was pretty cocky of me, as I didn’t really have the lungs to push during this race. Still, I was monitoring my time and modified my goal from sub-30 to sub-29.
I kept Bob in my sights, but realized I wasn’t going to catch him. I did pass a few younger folks, possibly Norwich Students, at the water stop about a half mile from the end, and felt good about that. The final stretch was a turn on to Wall Street, which was a bit uphill. I didn’t have the legs for a kick, but those kids did, and they went flying past me in the final tenth of a mile. That was a little disheartening, but I could see the clock by now and 29:00 was well-within reach. So I pushed through and finished with my second-best 5K time. Not bad, I thought, for only being three months post-injury!
RACE SUMMARY: Distance: 5K Time: 28:34 Pace: 9:11 Place: 79/133 Age Group: 10/10 (4 minutes off of 9th place. What the hell?) CVR Points: 71.9370
You can’t tell, but Santa put these under the tree. Like, 10-days before Christmas.
December is a slow time of year for running in Vermont. There aren’t a lot of races because, well, it’s winter and the roads and sidewalks and trails are covered with snow and ice. Also, people are strapping skis to their feet and schussing through the woods and down the slopes. It’s the perfect time of year for me to start this blog and recap this year’s races.
It’s also a slow time for me because my leg is bothering again. It’s definitely not the break, but I’m certain related because it’s in what I call the “break zone,” my lower right leg. Even six months after the incident and following a few hundred miles of running – or maybe somewhat because of a few hundred miles of running, it’s a bit swollen and noticeably stiffer than the left ankle. This really hasn’t been a bother since I got back at it in July. Until mid-November, that is, when I was on a run and noticed some discomfort in the break zone. It wasn’t overly painful, just “not right,” so I kept going for a couple of weeks, including running a 4-mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. But the Monday afterward, when I was running on the treadmill, I felt a fair amount of pain.
It’s hard to describe exactly what’s going on. It’s definitely not a muscle injury, and it’s not a joint injury. I’m 95% sure it’s not a bone thing. It actually seems to move around a bit, mostly encompassing the lower leg above the ankle, which makes me think it’s a fascia problem. (Helpfully, I have not seen a medical professional about this.) I admit I had gotten a bit lax on my PT, so I re-engaged on that front, and used my massage ball on the affected area. I also thought it felt more like shin splints than anything else, so I’ve been following those protocols. Ice, elevation, compression. And rest. I took two weeks off from running, riding the stationary bike to maintain my cardio fitness.
I read that shin splints can sometimes be the result of running with worn-out shoes. My favorite runners, a Brooks GTS pair that I’ve had for a couple of years, have 372 miles logged on Strava, and certainly 100+ more than that in real life. Much as I love them, I decided it’s time for replacements. I also thought it would be good to get something a little grippier for running outside on the CVR Winter Long Runs that I hope to engage in this winter.
And I do intend to do some long runs this winter. Not running is not an option. My friend Brock and I have signed up for the half and half relay at the Vermont City Marathon in May, and in early November he wrote me and said, “hey, I’ve signed up for the Sprouts Half Marathon in Phoenix in February. I think it will be a good tune up for Burlington. Want to join me?” I thought it sounded like a grand idea, something that could keep me focused on training through the winter and also get me a few days in the warmth in the midst of it all. So I signed up and bought plane tickets.
Naturally, the leg started to hurt the very next day.
So yesterday, already feeling a time pinch to train for a race less than two months away, I went down to Onion River Outdoors in Montpelier intending to buy a new pair of shoes. I ended up with two new pairs, a pair of Altra Torins for street running, basically sold to me by a customer who raved about hers, and a pair of Saucony Peregrine ISOs for the trail and the winter dirt roads.
Yesterday morning Katie and I went for a short (1.8 mile) run for us both to test out various injuries. It felt okay to me. I ordinarily would not have run today, but I wanted to check out my new Torins, so I did a mile on the treadmill at lunch. The Altrascame with a booklet that talked about proper form, and though I think my form is pretty decent anyway, I was mindful of my strides during this run. Proper form is different enough from what I have been doing that it engaged muscles in a different way, so a mile was probably a good starting place. It wasn’t bad.
Then the leg spent the afternoon hurting. But I still don’t think it’s a big problem. I’ll keep up with the rehab and the light running for now. However I do have a race to be ready for in February. (As well as the New Year’s Eve Race.) So I may be cautious, but it’ll be on the aggressive side of cautious.
Having set my sites on the Berlin Pond race in August, and with the leg feeling pretty good for the most part, I started training regularly. I was running 3-4 times per week, mostly 3.5 – 4.5 runs with a couple of longer loops mixed in. My goal was to build up stamina rather than speed, and most of my runs were in the 10:00 – 10:20 pace range. A couple were just under 10:00. I figured 50 minutes for 5 miles would be a reasonable goal.
The week of the race I decided to join my first CVR Fun Run. These occur every Tuesday night from May to October, and are casual (but timed) runs of 2-, 4-, or 6-mile lengths. This was the first time really meeting the CVR folks, and they were very welcoming. I ran with The Johns, Martin (from the Paul Mailman race) and Valentine. Those guys were only running 4 miles, but I wanted to do six to make sure I could handle the distance. A nice woman named Donna Smyers had also only been planning on four miles, but she was nice and ran with me to make sure I knew where the turnaround was for six miles.
It was probably an unnecessary gesture, as the course is out-and-back and my watch would let me know when I reached three miles even if I wasn’t certain of the landmark. Still it was nice to have the company and to learn a little bit about the club. Donna was the first of what would turn out to be many who asked if I was planning to run the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon in October. “It’s the old course this year,” was the selling point, as in recent years the numbers had declined because the course started with a big climb up Perry Hill in Waterbury. And also, “if you are, you should register by August 31, because the price goes up afterward.”
Before the broken leg, I had been eying the Leaf Peepers, but I wasn’t sure how everything was going to respond. And besides, two months seemed like a short amount of time to get ready. So no, on August 13 I was not thinking about the Leaf Peepers.
Running with Donna, who is a top-flight triathlete in the F60-69 age group, pushed my pace quite a bit. We finished in 58:48, a 9:48 pace that was my fastest since the break. I was sucking wind a lot at the end, but felt like I had accomplished something. Donna, who should know, didn’t think running six miles two days beforehand was a good way of preparing for a five-mile race, so she told me to take the next day off.
The 15th was a Thursday evening, the day before my 54th birthday and the official kickoff to my birthday weekend. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm. The course itself circles Berlin Pond in Berlin, Vermont. It starts out flat for half a mile, then climbs 100 feet before dropping down some at the mile mark, then climbing another 100 feet over the next mile. At that point there is a 200 foot decline over half a mile, before finishing pretty flat over the second half of the race.
I again found myself in the company of John Martin at the beginning, and he again lost me on the hills. Over the second half I was running a little behind two women, one with red hair and one with black hair. Somewhere between three and four miles, black hair and I passed red hair. Also in there I heard this weird mechanical sound in the distance, I assumed some strange farm equipment, but after a few minutes it dawned on me that the sound was getting closer to me – from behind! It was another racer, a guy whose every breath finished with a loud, pronounced “HUH!” the exhale. He chugged by me and pulled away.
After four miles I was a little over 40 minutes, so I tried to push the pace a little. Shortly after mile 4 I passed the black haired woman, and felt pretty good about myself, though there was no longer a realistic target or rabbit ahead for me to focus on. But I did have my watch, and I was keeping things under 9:30. Pushing it for sure, but it felt sustainable. However at the 4.5 mile mark, black hair went back ahead of me. Try as I might, I didn’t have the legs to catch her again. But I did my best to stick with her.
I ended up finishing six seconds behind her, in 49:28, and just two seconds ahead of red hair, who I did not realize was so close. She said afterward, “you and the black-haired woman really helped my time!” I don’t recall ever being a rabbit before. I was happy with the race: I beat my goal and also came home with a raffle prize of a loaf of bread. Lots of fun!
RACE SUMMARY: Distance: 5 miles Time: 49:28 Pace: 9:54 Place: 52/70 Age Group: 7/7 CVR Points: 63.7803 (Tom Thurston Again!)
After the Corporate Cup I winged my way to Italy for a week’s vacation in Rome and Florence. When traveling, I look for AirBnB experiences, because they can be fun and interesting and you meet new people. There was one in Rome for a morning run around the Coliseum and other historical landmarks. I thought that would be a fun way to get some running in while I was away.
Representative photo of the author enjoying a seat on Rome’s Spanish Steps instead of running.
Alas, as they say, no battle plan survives engagement with the opposition. As it turns out, Italy Joe didn’t want to get up early and run. He wanted to stay up late and take his time getting into the day. And that’s what he did. Not that it came without exercise – I averaged 10-15 miles walking per day on my trip, save for travel days.
I returned on Memorial Day weekend, and on Memorial Day itself Katie and I went for a hike at Burnt Rock Mountain in the Green Mountains, in Fayston. This hike was about 6 miles round trip, with a couple thousand feet of elevation gain. We ascended in 1:15, hung around on top to have a beer and enjoy the view, then headed back down. Maybe 1/2 mile back down (maybe less), I slipped on a rock. Rather, my left foot slipped. My right foot remained where it was, wedged behind another rock. As I went down, my ankle twisted and…it wasn’t going to be good.
I popped an Advil and Katie found a stick. I did the tests Kirsten had instructed me on when I twisted my ankle a year ago, and determined that it wasn’t broken and that I could walk on it. So I walked on it, slowly, the rest of the way down. 2.5 miles or so. Not that I had much of a choice, it was late in the afternoon and there was no rescue coming. We got out just before dark.
The view from Burnt Rock Mountain. At least I got to see this before I busted my leg.
Figuring there wasn’t much I could do about a sprained ankle other than keep it pretty steady, I did not go to the doctor. However over the next two days the ankle seemed to be getting worse, not better, so I went to Urgent Care to get it checked out. And it turns out, it was broken. They gave me crutches and a boot, and I scheduled an appointment with the orthopedic doctor for the following week.
X-Rays showed that the tip of my fibula was cracked. The doctor said that, since it’s not a weight-bearing bone, I wouldn’t do any further damage if I wanted to walk on it, as long as it didn’t hurt too much. So shortly thereafter I ditched the crutches and started walking. And shortly after that I ditched the boot, which I felt like made me too unstable.
The timeline for healing was indeterminate. I was hoping for four weeks (unrealistic), or six weeks (ambitious). Not only was I missing out on races, I was missing out on my baseball team. I went to see a physical therapist and got to work on the healing. During my second appointment she also suggested that, when I was ready, I could ease back into running with a Couch to 5K program. And in the meantime, I was able to get my CVR volunteer commitment completed by being a course monitor for the Capital City Stampede, a 10K in June that I clearly was not going to be able to run.
In late June I did my first C25K session (I called it BL25K, for Broken Leg). I did a couple on the road before moving to the high school track which, being dirt, was easier on the leg than pavement. After a couple more sessions I dispensed with the walking intervals and just ran the whole thing slowly. On July 15 I ran a 5K on the track in 31:59 – not my slowest-ever 5K time!
I started thinking about what the next race back should be. I had decided against running the Montpelier Mile on July 3, though I considered it. (A missed opportunity, as nobody in my division for the CVR series ran. Even walking would have earned me 100 points!). The Bear Swamp race in Middlesex in mid-July, at 5.7 miles, wasn’t realistic. I considered the Barre Heritage 5K trail race at the end of the month, but I didn’t think “trail” was the right surface for my first race back. Besides, the leg was still more stiff and painful than I wanted.
There just aren’t a lot of races in the middle of the summer. The next one in the CVR series seemed like the best choice for my comeback. So I set my sites for August 15, the Berlin Pond 5 Mile race, and started training for that.
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