Running and Laughing through the Garden State
It doesn’t take a genius to know that we are in the middle of a pandemic. Lives lost, businesses closed, and livelihoods broken—sports and racing fall in the least of priorities with that.
So? So, many fall races have already been canceled. While there are still many big fall races that haven’t been canceled…it’s more or less, “they haven’t been canceled yet.”
Continue reading “The Argument for Building a Base For Running (Now)”
Another week has gone. In two weeks, I’ll have run for as long as I rested. As time keeps ticking on and my miles increase, my foot feels fine.
Continue reading “Injury Log Week 10: The Roller Coaster of Emotion”
Right now, it can be hard to stay motivated to run. For some of us, we don’t race, so the lack of races doesn’t change how we run. For others, we miss racing. We miss running with others and we miss having a concrete goal to strive for. Just because you can’t race, doesn’t mean you can’t be motivated to run. That being said, like anything, there is no right or wrong way to do the pandemic. Just be healthy and be safe.
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler (27:13)
The Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler is one of the few races I’ve run multiple times. In fact, I’ve run the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler the last five years and gotten slower every year. I’m not sure how I ever ran around 24 minutes, but hopefully, fitness will come again.
I’ve been struggling all week to write the post. For several reasons but the race never felt good. My ankle felt fine, but since I hadn’t run anything fast, I didn’t feel good. In the minutes after I took off my shoes from the race my ankle hurt enough that I decided not to run…which I haven’t since I crossed the finish line.
My husband and I got to the race around 9, did about 4 miles to warm up and got the race start at 9:55. During the warmup, I felt fine. My ankle felt fine, and my body felt ok. I didn’t feel great, but ok. I saw a couple of good friends and by the time I knew it, we were off.
My fast friend Meghan took off and I found myself as second female overall where I (barely) stayed. The first mile of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler makes a giant loop around the parking lot. It’s paved and about the only paved section. I hit mile one of Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler in 6:33. I thought on a perfect day I could run 6:30 pace and I still kind of held my breath for that my body would feel good enough to do that.
The next couple of miles go out on Washington Crossing Pathway. It’s a narrow dirt path, but there is space to run. I hit the next mile in 6:57 and felt defeated. How could I have ever run a minute faster per mile? I felt stale and just kind of plugged along. 4 Miles doesn’t seem like a long race until you’ve taken it out too quickly for the day and need to hang on the second 2 miles.
The next mile of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler turns around and I saw the leaders coming back. I hit mile 3 of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler in 7:02. While slightly windy, I just laughed. My stomach and body just didn’t feel good for the day.
During the last mile, we headed back towards the finish. One of my friends was quickly closing the gap and I just sprinted as hard as I could. I crossed mile 4 of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler in 6:51 and finished in 27:13. My slowest time yet.
When I crossed the finish line of the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler, I felt fine. When I got to the car, my foot felt funky and when I went to cool down, it hurt. It hurt enough that I’ve shut down running since. I’ve just waited for MRI results because it could be several things ranging from severe Achilles tendonitis to a broken foot, I just don’t know. Ther are different steps to recovery for all, so after a month of on/off dealing with it, it made sense to get an MRI.
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler Thoughts:
As much as the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler is one of my favorite races of the year, I wish I hadn’t done it. I felt fine during the race, but running the race might have been a classic example of too much too soon. I felt fine running above 8-minute pace, but clearly, my ankle did not feel fine running faster. Only time will tell.
That being said, Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup 4 Miler is a well put together and fun race.
For those asking, there are grilled cheeses and tomato soup waiting at the end of the race for runners. RunBucks and Pat always has fun and unique races and I recommend any to friends.
Questions for you:
What’s a race you like to do every year?
Do you like Grilled Cheese?
Training Log Week 4:
Any runner can tell you coming off an issue or injury is tough. I thought I was in the clear and until right after the four-miler I did, I was 100% pain-free.