Runner Insight

Winter Running – Winter Obstacle Course

So, how goes the winter running now that our big snow storm of 2012  is a distant memory….NOT!  

With over 16 inches of snow in the main event, not a distant memory at all.

Here it is over two weeks later, and there are still quite a few tricky winter obstacles for me to be on the alert for whilst on my winter runs. One very obvious obstacle is ice in all its forms – from black ice to sleet falling from the sky to ice puddles and everything in between.

The morning temps have been in the mid 20’s F, so I know there is going to be ice when I run to work.

And by the time the afternoon rolls around, the temperatures have jumped up a bit into the high 30’s F to sometimes even low 40’s F. So we do have a significant amount of melting of the enormous amounts of snow we received.  Which means winter running is defined as slushy and sloppy in the afternoons, and treacherous and slick in the a.m.

Snow berms created by the plows are another potential tripping hazard. For me it is sometimes hard to see how big, and wide they are when trying to cross over them to get to the street crossing. But I use my white cane to poke and prod at them until I feel I can step on and over them safely.

Of course, the constant freezing and thawing and rain and freezing and thawing and snow always keeps the footing a question mark. Now that I am able to run in the mornings again, I have been wearing my cleats to help keep me upright.

With all of the obstacles thrown at me recently, it kind of reminds me of that ABC show “Wipeout” where they throw obstacle after hazard after spine-jarring spill at the contestants who actually volunteer for that kind of abuse.  (I imagine chiropractors can’t even watch that show for the horror of the trauma voluntarily imposed upon their bodies.)

There is one obstacle that threw me for a loop a few mornings ago.  As I was running down the very clear and easy-to-navigate bike path across town, I noticed that there was some snow in the middle of the path.

Well since I don’t have much 3D vision left, it is always best that I go around things in the path, but for some reason, I don’t know what it is about seeing something, and feeling I have to step on it?

But can you say, “Snow Boulder?”

Yep, a huge chunk of snow had broken off from the large snow bank along the side of the path and rolled right into the middle of the trail.

But I didn’t see it that way. I just saw a white patch on the black asphalt – and of course, I was thinking it was just snow on the trail – not a monstrous ball of snow standing sentry in the middle of the path.

Luckily for me it was so big, I just kind of fell on top of it. Yes, I know you can visualize it, kind of belly flat across it, arms flailing, very startled and amazed that this thing could just kind of sneak up and do me that way.

So I casually-self-consciously stood up, wondering whether anyone got to see such a fabulous display of grace and style, nothing battered but my fantasy of myself as a graceful gazelle, bounding beautifully across the open plains.

But it’s the small snow/ice chunks that are more dangerous to my life and limb, as those ones will send me flying in a more impactful way!

Anyway, I used my Herculean strength and rolled the icy snow boulder off the path, so no one else would fall victim to its hypnotic beckoning to run straight into it.

Yes, I admit – it was larger than life.

But that’s me; I like to run into big things. Just see my blog post entitled “Don’t Worry, The Bridge Is Still Standing” and you’ll see what I mean.

How ‘bout it?

- Vision Runner

Popularity: 1% [?]

Well it finally came…Yes that dreaded snow storm. But it really didn’t feel like a storm. It was just a light snow falling for 3 days straight! Very fine and steady snow with no let up, until we ended up with over 16” of the white stuff.

Up until the 17th of January, I had been averaging almost 10 miles a day this year. I just joined Run Wild Missoula again, our local running club. They have a 1200/2000 Mile Club. All you have to do is log your miles on the website, and if you run 1200 or 2000 miles in the calendar year, you get a fabulous prize!

Last year they got running jackets. A fellow runner who I was talking to in my favorite coffee shop, Starbucks told me all about it because I had told her I had logged over 75 miles for the week.

When she told me that Run Wild Missoula had the 1200 Mile Club, I thought, “Heck, I’m on track to run a lot more than 1200 miles this year.” So I’m shooting for 2000 or more.

But as I said the snow came, and then it just kept coming like the clouds had finally been given permission from Mother Nature to let go.

When I woke up on Wednesday morning, T looked out the window and said “There is about 3” of snow out there.”

I said, “Is it runnable?”

She just laughed and said, “NO!”

That is when my life as a runner came to an end for 5 days!

Oh my! What is this world coming to?! Well can you say “snow shovel?”

We picked up our snow shovels and hardly put them down for 3 days. There was a run on shovels, and Ace Hardware ran out of them and had to ship them in from some of their stores across the state.

The only good thing that came from all that shoveling was a good workout!

One thing I did notice was although my back was aching from all the shoveling, but it was my middle and upper back that was sore, not my lower. So I know all my sessions at the chiropractor’s is working. This was just soreness from all the strenuous use of previously hibernating muscles.

I had every intention of going to work on Thursday, and had done all the shoveling and clearing I needed to do for T to drive me to work. But as we backed out of our driveway into the alley, we promptly got stuck…oops, there was over a foot of snow in the alleyway.

So I called work and left a message that I would not be in that day. Luckily one of our neighbors had a 4 wheel drive, and he hooked up chains to us and pulled us out.

Before he did that, we first shoveled most of the alley to the street so we would have a place to land when he pulled us out of the hole/drift.

T then backed our van into our driveway and there it stayed! We decided it was a good day to stay home!

On the news that night, we heard of numerous reports of vehicles getting stuck, and how treacherous the roads were. When it was all said and done I took Friday off as well, as the roads were still being cleared and I knew even if I took the bus, I would still have to navigate by myself downtown from the bus stop to work, not something I was willing to do with the conditions.

So on Friday morning T and I went out again and shoveled (again – so by now we were on about our 10^th shoveling event), and as T came from the front of our house down the alleyway, she said, “You know what makes me really happy?”

“This time when I’m done shoveling, the snow isn’t covering over where I just shoveled! Yes that makes me very happy indeed!”

We found out later that it was 5th biggest snow event since they have been keeping records in 1893! I think that it ended up being 16.7 inches! No wonder my back hurt!

Saturday morning I tried to walk to my mom’s place – just a few blocks away – but it might as well been 100 miles away. It was way too hard to navigate through the unplowed sidewalks, and then . . . it started to rain!

So before I could even get to my Starbucks a block and a half from my house, I had to turn around. And if you know me at all, it really does take a force of nature to turn me back from a Starbucks mission!

Okay by now it’s Sunday, and I am officially going stir crazy! T and I went grocery shopping and then drove down to see if the bike path where I run was clear. It was!

Right then and there I made a plan to have T drop me off where it was cleared, and I could run until the path was covered over.

It ended up being clear for about 2 miles. So I ran back and forth on the same stretch of dry path. Hey it was great to be running, and not on a treadmill!  It was sunny and in the low 30’s and felt great! I got in a total of 8 miles.

We have a city ordinance that your sidewalks have to be shoveled by 9 a.m. and by Monday I was tired of all these places where I travel being unpassable by a blind woman with her cane.

So I got on the city website and submitted several complaint forms about sidewalks that had not been cleared. I’m hoping to have a clear path to my running route and work by the end of the week!

Until then, T will drop me off after work where it’s cleared on my running path so I can get a few miles in each day. As Anne Burrell would say, “That makes me a HAPPY, HAPPY Girl!”

How ‘bout it?

- Vision Runner

Popularity: 1% [?]

Third Time’s A Charm

I just finished my third full marathon on Sunday July 10, 2011, about ten days ago.  And I guess what they say is true…Third time really is a charm!  I had the best marathon experience, despite a few mishaps along the way.

Not only did I finish the 26.2 mile race with a PR of 5:06:55, knocking more than 20 minutes off my best time, I finished strong and could have run further if I had wanted to…No I did not really want to, thank you very much, I was very happy to cross the line when I did!

But seriously, I just kept waiting to hit the “WALL”, but never did, never even came close to running in to it…Only parked cars, but that’s another story…

So in light of such a great marathon experience, I decided to look back and think about why it was that I had such an awesome marathon. This is what I came up with.

For starters, my overall conditioning is better this year.  I have been walking on average 7-8 miles a day for over a year and a half, setting up a really good base line for my fitness level. Of course walking isn’t enough. 

About 3 months before the marathon, I started to get up early to run 6 miles, approximately 4 to 5 times a week, in addition to my walking. Then I was doing my long runs on the weekend.  Then about 2 months before the marathon, we started hiking up to the “M” which is about a 620 foot climb above the Missoula valley.  It’s a ¾ mile switch back trail up a very steep mountain. We usually make it up to the “M” in about 20-ish minutes, soaking in the beautiful views of the valley below, and then heading back down.

I also finally got dedicated to my strength training this year. And I know that helped immensely.

Another factor that I believe played a major role in my marathon success was the food and nutrition element. We have been on a journey over the last several years to take baby steps towards being smarter and making healthier choices when it comes to food, without being too obsessive or rigid about the whole process.  This year I was able to cut my sugar intake a lot.  And we also started using portion control…Using actual measuring cups, and not my eyeballs…You can see where that might get me in trouble. J J  I wasn’t heavy before, but I was able to drop 10 lbs.  I was not even close to being overweight, but by trimming and toning to an ideal race weight, I had less joint pain after my runs, making recovery so-o much easier.

I also know that having my back in alignment for these past 2 years has made a huge difference in my training and ultimately in the great race I had and the easy recovery.  I was faithful about going to my wonderful chiropractor every month for my tune up, and going again 4 days before the race itself, just to make sure I was in tip top shape.

These were all things I had control over.  I simply stuck with what I knew worked, and implemented a few new strategies. One of my new tactics was to eat pasta with roasted turkey and broccoli for my pre race meal, and then having a delicious bagel from my favorite bagel place, “Bagels on Broadway” right when I got up at 4:30am, instead of the banana and yogurt that I had in previous years.  I still had yogurt, but since I had the bagel at 4:30, I waited until just before we left the house to have that. 

But there were things I could not control, such as the weather.  And what a glorious day it turned out to be.  We had a very cool start to the 5th Missoula Marathon.  In fact it was so cool, 45 degrees I wished I had kept my knit gloves for the first half hour of the race. But I toughed it out, and the sun came out and warmed my hands up quite nicely. 

It was a warm, sunny day, but the sun seemed less harsh, the light almost diffused, and I never got overheated like I did during my first marathon when we had that record-breaking heat wave. (You can read all about that adventure in my book: Running Blind.)

The other thing I don’t have any control over is my fellow racers.   As I get closer to town, I rely on the kindness of strangers to help guide me around turns, round-abouts and other potential obstacles.  Once again my fellow marathoners and the volunteers and spectators rose to the occasion!  Sometimes even grabbing my hand and saying “I’ll take you through this part here because there’s a lot of turns and obstacles.” (Thanks, Joe and Daniel!)

And of course I rely on T to be at our pre-designated spots to give me encouragement and my electrolyte drink and honey pack.  Without her support and willingness to get up at the crack of dawn to take me, and then to meet me four or five times along the race course, I know my marathon could not have been as successful as it was!

So not only did I have an incredible marathon this year, my recovery time was almost non-existent.  Sure, I was tired and my legs were a little bit sore, but not once did I have trouble walking down the stairs.

After the marathon, we took three days off and went to our favorite lake and camped.  There we floated in the lake and sat around the campfire.  By day four I was more than ready to run. So I did, running 6 miles that day, in addition to walking another 7 and climbing to the “M”.

So now that I’ve had the best marathon experience I could ever hope to have…the decision looms. I have to contemplate whether or not I want to run the full Missoula Marathon again.  Do I end on a high note?  Or do I keep riding this rollercoaster that is marathon training?

Hmmmm? What do you think? Leave your comments below!

How ‘bout it?

- Vision Runner

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