Shelter Island 10k - a lesson in survival

Well, on Saturday we headed over to Shelter Island to run the 10k race. Wingman and I met up with some friends (Liliana, Tammy and family) and chatted about an hour before the race. Finally, I was able to crack the hard exterior of a 3 1/2 year old. She was animated and happy to talk with me. For as long as I have known her, Tammy's daughter has barely said boo to me. She has been shy whenever I saw her. But today, she was 'a buzz' with her post race experience. She participated in the kid's fun run and got a medal and shirt. Lucky bastard.

Anyway, it's time to line up for the adult's race and I suddenly notice how incredibly humid it was. I dressed very lightly for the race and thought that I hydrated properly. Oh how foolish I was. Nothing I could have done would prepare me for the next 6.2 miles.

Gun goes off and I head out. Slow and steady was my goal. I did not start my watch and just wanted to enjoy the scenery. I did this race a few years ago and was trying to remember where the hills were. I found out soon they are everywhere. Within the 1st mile I was sweating profusely. The water stations were at mile 2, 4 and 5. At mile 1 I considered bailing on the race. I mean, how much fun can a sufferfest be? But, since I was not hurting and nothing was really wrong, I had to keep going. I wasn't really ready to deal with a DNF at this time. So I soldier on. At the 1st aid station I grab two cups of water - one to drink and the other over the back of the head. I had to be careful because I was wearing a white shirt and Shelter Island is not prepared for my version of a wet t-shirt contest. At this point I turned the music off and tried to keep the feet moving. I think it was more of a shuffle than a run. I had my eye set on 76 year old man. I could not let him out of my sights. He was going to get me through this race.

I just kept thinking "man, where the hell did these hills come from. I swear I remember flats on this course." Finally at mile 5 the old man made a tactical error - well, he had no idea he and I were racing - we were approaching a left turn on the course. He stayed on the right side of the road and I moved to the left to stay to the inside of the turn. It worked!!! I was able to pass him. HaHaHa!!! Eat my dust. At this point I was focused on staying ahead of him. I ran the last 1.2 miles in fear of him catching me. I would keep looking over my shoulder just to see where he was. I had to keep him at bay. I did have one scare less than 1/2 mile from the finish. My shoe lace untied. I stopped and frantically tied it. I did not want to lose any precious seconds in case he had a 'move' in the finishing shoot. Hey, I am not afraid to knock anyone down or use some elbows. But I was lucky. I had enough distance between us that I could cruise into the finish. Phew. Beat him by over 1 minute.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I managed to survive the Shelter Island 10k..........

Photos from our nation's capital

We took a garden tour of the White House and were allowed to walk along the south lawn at the White House.

This is just outside the oval office at the White House.

The White House rose garden, which is just outside the oval office.

California trip photos

Here are some shots from my trip earlier this month in California:

The yellow 'spec' in the middle of the shot is Xantusia, the compound I stayed at for the bike fitting course

Some nice shots from the road on one of my rides:

'Xantusia' is a small lizard native to the area:

Bike Riding

"I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like" - Queen

All day at work today I kept thinking about the bike ride I was going to take when I got home. Well, 4p rolls around and I am leaving work, but instead of being full of energy and excitement about riding, I was exhausted. I drove home hoping that would change, but no. Got home, hit the recliner and took a quick nap. 20 minutes later I woke up and changed. I figured I had ~1 to 1.5 hours to get a decent ride in. So I grabbed the road bike and went out. From the moment I clipped in, I felt great. It's amazing how quickly your mood can change. I took my usual route and figured I would do ~18 miles today, focusing on my pedaling/spinning (think - "the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round, the wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town") . I was flying the whole way out and back. I probably could have gone longer tonight, but I wanted to be sure I was home before dusk (I have no riding lights). When I did get home, I was starving. Made a quick dinner and then had to do some food shopping.

The weather was perfect. The last few days we had some wicked heat, but it broke last night and I could not ask for better weather to ride in. No wind and perfect temps. I woke up early yesterday to run 4 miles before it got too hot, but no such luck. it was hot and humid. Tomorrow I will get up early again and get out for some more running.

Tomorrow night, the Wingman comes home!!! He's been away for almost a week and before he left for his trip, I was away. So, it's been ~1 1/2 weeks since we really spent much time together.

Another trip

Heading out this weekend on another trip.  Wingman and I will be going to Maryland/Washington DC. for a concert and then some sight-seeing.

 

I'm in the process of planning the touring day.  We'll probably just walk around and see what's new.  Last time I was down there I saw the area while running the Marine Corp Marathon.  It will be nice to see it without having to run ;-)   Of course we will be back there in October for the Army 10 Miler.  

I guess we'll check out the war memorials (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) and whatever else is in walking distance.   Little known fact there Normie, ~30,000 objects are left at the Vietnam wall each year and every night it is someone's job to pick it all up and catalog it.   

Back from the West Coast.......

Well, made it back. I wish the flight back was uneventful. We were delayed on the 2nd leg from Vegas to NY due to a storm in the area.  Sat on the runway for an hour then finally took off. There were storms across the country so we had a little bit of a bumpy ride - which is not good if you easily get motion sickness........

* Learned a few things about bike fitting and can't wait to test it out.  Met some interesting people from Trek bicycles (fitters and engineers) and got some good input from them.   The "Boss" and I have to sit down and figure out how we can improve upon the process and really tailor it to each client - making it a unique fit.  There's more to the Tri position that just "what feels good".  So, we'll work on a plan and find some guinea pigs to practice on.  There will be no shortage there ;-)

* Just a few more weeks and I begin the DPT program at SBU.   Got my supplies in for the anatomy with dissection course (scalpels, forceps, scissors, etc).

* Been riding well since I got home.   Went out early on Saturday to avoid the heat, but still managed to get a little red.  Didn't realize how much I missed the flat lands of Long Island.  Out in CA, we were at ~45oo' and it was hilly.   It wasn't too much fun to ride because I am not in 'climbing' shape.   I am sure if I was doing more hills I would have enjoyed it more.  I ran well, though, go figure.

* Dropped the Wingman off at the airport for his trip to FLA.  When he gets back we head out on a short weekend getaway.  Can't wait!!

* Got the deck cleaned (mostly) and cleaned my BBQ.   Grilled up some chicken.   Love chicken.

* Stopped in at the bike shop to innocently pickup my gels and could very well end up with a new component set for my road bike.  Ice water running through my veins.............

Sports Medicine Conference

Well, I went to Hilton Head, SC for the Advances on the Knee and Shoulder course. Since I wanted to fly from an airport near home, that left me flying into RDU in NC. That means a 5 hour drive to Hilton Head, SC. Flight and drive was uneventful.

Pretty interesting stuff. I sat through 3 days of seminar and breakout events. The first day covered the shoulder. I got to see some great stuff from top shoulder surgeons in the field (namely Dr. James Andrews) and what procedures they use and why. This is important to know because from a rehab standpoint, it makes a difference in how you treat a patient. The breakout sessions were of most interest to me. I got to see Kevin Wilk (amazing PT and author) and get some useful tips from him.

Day 2 was shoulder and elbow. Interesting surgery they covered was UCL reconstruction, AKA "Tommy John" surgery. The sad thing about this surgery is that kids are having it done and they are way to young to be in this position. It stems from playing baseball all year and throwing waaaaaaay too much. Dr. Andrews has done a lot with youth baseball and getting pitch count restrictions on young pitchers as to how often and how much they can throw. Though with the pressures parents put on their kids today, I doubt it will make much difference.

Day 3 was ACL/Meniscus repair. Good stuff. Many athletes tear their ACL's each year and it's a long rehab process. They reviewed the whole process from when the patient walks in the MD's door to when they are discharged from rehab. I have started to work with one patient at work (16yr old female with an ACL tear) but the problem is I am only there part time so she sees other therapists. There is no continuity in her care. She had started a plyometrics program called "SportsMetrics" but I am not sure where she is at since I am not there everyday.

Overall it was a good conference. I learned a lot and have some good ideas that I can implement with patients that I am treating. When I get home, I have to go through two 4" binders that I got at the course and put together my ideas for treatments.

This course helped me confirm that sports rehab is where I want to be. I enjoy athletes of all levels - kids to the weekend warriors. I have to sit down at home a come up with my 'roadmap' of how to achieve my goal.

Next weekend, I am off to Valyermo, CA for the F.I.S.T. tri bike fitting course..................

"Run, Rabbit, Run....

....dig that hole, forget the sun

And when at last the work is done

Don't sit down it's time to dig another one" (Waters/Gilmour)

Prepping for the last of my finals for my grad school pre-req's.   Seems like it never ends. As soon as I get one test done, time for another.  Motivation is waning for these courses.  I just want to get on with the courses I want to take, not have to take.  Glad a break is coming up.  I will actually have a good month with no homework, studying, classes so I can have somewhat of a life again.  

My serious tri training will begin next week.  I'm looking forward to some good structured training.  I am traveling a bit over the end of May/June so that will make for some creative scheduling, but I'll manage.

I am taking some fun courses soon.  End of May I am heading down to Hilton Head SC for "Advances in the Shoulder and Knee".  June is the F.I.S.T. triathlon cycling fitting course.   

1st race

Well, last week I ran my first race in quite a few months - the LI Marathon 'Festival of Races' 10k. I have been running sporadically for a few weeks after nursing a nagging lower leg injury for a while. My longest run to date was ~3.5 miles so this would be a challenge to get through it a live to tell about it ;-)

I woke up and my Wingman/Sherpa drove me to the race. I told him that I was going 'old school' for this race - no HRM or watch. I was going to run on perceived exertion. Since I hadn't really been running much, I had no time goals. So the gun goes off and so do I. I had my iPod shuffle on just to have something to listen to.

Oddly enough, I ran a nice even pace throughout the entire race. A woman even came up to to me afterwards to tell me she was running behind me and I paced her well. Phew, I was afraid that she was going to tell me I spit on her during the run or something.

When I crossed that finish line I actually had a great sense of accomplishment. It felt like the first time I had a really good run in a long time. I almost felt like the running I had done over the last few weeks was just junk miles. It was like I had finally run with a purpose.