Fears of injury, and an unexpected PR

After running my fourth half marathon a week ago, I decided to only run a few times the week of May 28-June 5.  I had signed up for the Columbus 10k a while back and had somewhat forgotten (but not really) that this was a race I had planned on trying to beat my 10k PR. In previous 10k's I have not been able to break the 1 hour mark and I thought this would be a good race to try that.  The first time I ran this race was 2013.  It was nostalgic for me, as this was my first 10k ever and it set my confidence level that I was able to attempt other distances beyond 5k/4 milers.  I didn't start doing half marathons until 2015, but this race in a sense set a new bar for me 3 years ago.

However, some weird pains lingered after running the half a week ago.  I decided to be smart and only run a few times.  2 mile runs (Tues, Weds) and then a 3 miler on Friday. The 2 mile runs went pretty well.  The 3 miler I had to run in an unfamiliar place.  I had a company meeting 2 hours south and as my family went to the local roller coaster park in that area, I had to figure out where would be a good place to run near the hotel.  There is a major road that has a pretty long/wide sidewalk right there so I decided this would be the place.

I did not consider that there are a great number of families of geese that enjoy the ponds along this road.  This was a problem... I am not fan of encountering wildlife (or even dogs/cats) during runs.  Especially when I have to cross their path.  And geese are the worst.  They hiss and they scare me.  On a few occasions near my usual 3.1 mile path I have had to turn around because I was scared of the geese.  This is an ongoing joke ...

Anyway, after a few difficult encounters with wildlife on this particular 3 mile run, I had to unexpectedly go off the road for a second and onto the grass.  I think that at this point I aggravated a strain that already existed in my left calf.  I was just so startled and wanting to escape geese that I didn't think about what the change in terrain might do.  The rest of the run I continued to feel a weird pain creeping up and walked a few times.

After this I had lost confidence that Sunday's race would go well.  I thought of all the things I could do and did them.  Resting Saturday.  Massager, foam roller, icy hot... and finally KT tape.  I kept the tape on for the race.  I was not confident I would break 1 hour.

That morning it was rainy but I chose to not bring a visor or water because I don't like to become overheated and they do have water every mile so I figured I'd be good for the 10k distance.

It was raining on the drive there.  I felt ambivalent during the drive.  I had thought about (and almost) transferred my entry to a friend the day before because I got scared it would injure me further.  It turned out the transfer deadline had passed so looks like I had to do it.  I set some rules for myself.  If I felt bad, I would bail on the race.  Or I would walk if I had to.  I would not stress out about this.  I would start my pace slow.  I did a "test" run across the parking lot and did not feel significant pulling or weird pains so I thought... ok here we go.

Once I got there, some of my running friends were at the start.  That helped a lot.  One of my friends asked me what the expectations were.  I said "just finish".  Got to the start... Decided to take it easy.  Found a spot where I could run alone, no one would have to worry about me keeping their pace.  I always have this talk with myself at the beginning of a race "Don't go out too fast.  Let the other runners go.  You are in no obligation to catch up to them."

Throughout the first few miles of the race I was aware that the pace was pretty brisk.  I was happy with that and felt ok.  I kept testing to see if I needed to back off but the pace was ok.  I was maintaining about a 9 min mile and happy with that.  I saw a few friends of mine up ahead.  One of my friends has a distinctive hair color.  She was my "pacer" of sorts for a while but she was ahead of me and as I continued to see her head, I tried to keep up.

Eventually, once I reached her, we started the second half of the course which was slightly more hilly.  At this point I'm pretty used to running hills so I tried to embrace it.  The weather started to get more muggy and sticky.  The rain that was there had stopped and the humidity was definitely higher.  More bugs around and some got swallowed by various runners...

Once the end approached, my friend and I saw each other, provided encouragement and proceeded to the finish.  I wasn't sure how I would finish, I was hoping the clock would be under an hour when I got there.  I was very pleased to get a time about 8 minutes faster than when I ran this same race in 2013.  My goal was under an hour, I did it just over 56 minutes.

The medals were nice and I noticed a big improvement from the 2013 medal.

This was a great experience.  I thought I wouldn't be able to finish or even feel good enough to get close to my goal time.  Having a PR from this was a hope, but after the way I felt Friday with the geese incident I wasn't sure I had it in me.

What's next... taking a week break from running.  I know I need to do this, although it's going to be difficult.  Marathon training after that.  I need to also keep an eye out for this sore muscle spot on my calf and make sure it is not being made worse once I get back to running in over a week.

I'm going to have to be really patient with myself and think of other activities to do (walking, elliptical) because the negativity and frustration can settle in when I am not running for several days.  A week is a challenge for sure.  I have heard that it can help everyone to take some time and I am going to follow the advice of long time runners who tell me to do this.  I put this in writing so that I cannot back out.  :)