Showing posts with label first in my age group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first in my age group. Show all posts

Sunday, September 29, 2019

The Heartland 30K Challenge

Or how I did a little scope creep and ran three 10K races instead of just one.

Backstory:
  • Was diagnosed with melanoma in August, 2017. Got that removed and dealt with the mental side of having a really nasty cancer, mostly by running.
  • Broke my pelvis May 2018 (actually ran two races on it because I thought it was a groin strain—nope, I fractured it and was on crutches for nearly 10 weeks). I was dx’d with osteopenia then. I started slowly training last fall, swam first then ditched the pool and did a walk/trot combo for a bit. Still had a lot of pain but turns out the bone I broke is notorious for that and I’ll probably always have that pain.
  • OK so by March this year, I was getting my base built—still nowhere near the 30-35 miles a week I was running in 2018 but working on it. Then I got dx’d with breast cancer April 9.
After the Plaza 10K
Condense all this down: surgery in May, radiation the entire month of June (I ran all the way through radiation treatments, slowly but by golly I ran). And I signed up for the Plaza 10K race as my first race after all of that.

I’ll be honest, the race didn’t go as well as I hoped. I trained well, worked hard but when my radiology oncologist said recovery from radiation takes four to six months, she wasn’t lying. My heart rate wouldn’t stay down, the rain wasn’t pleasant and long story short, I ran 1 hour, 42 seconds.



1st in my age group
The second 10K was the following Sunday (the Great Plains 10K) and the weather was much different, cooler and sunny at first but then . . . boy oh boy the temps rose like crazy. I also didn’t realize this 10K was mostly on a trail, and while the trail was in good condition, I don’t ever run on trails. I knew I hadn’t run my best race, not even close, but since I had to wait for my husband to finish, I figured I might as well get my time. I was gobsmacked when the lady said oh you came in first for your age group.

Say WHAT?! That’s the first time ever for me—I sort of felt like a fraud because my time was slower than the week before (1:01:04) and yet somehow that was first in my age group.

This photo of Kent
really shows the rain.
Then last Sunday, I ran the third 10K (Dot to Dot). We had terrible thunderstorms forecast that morning, so I wasn’t even sure the race would happen. But it did . . . in absolute torrential rain. I’ve never run in rain like that, not ever. But it wasn’t hot, and the course wasn’t on a trail and I finally, finally broke one hour: 58:53. Still not my PR but holy cow I was ecstatic about that finish AND I won my age group again!

To top it all off, the final results for the Heartland 30K Challenge were posted on Thursday and I won my age group for the whole thing.

What’s next for me? I need to build my stamina back up and continue building my base. I’m toying with the idea of running the Kansas City Marathon’s 10K race on October 19, but not entirely positive that’s a good idea. It's an incredibly hilly race, plus I’ve just started on two new drugs, one for the cancer and one for my bones, so I need to make sure those play nice with me.


Here's how rainy it was for the Dot to Dot 10K:



Wednesday, May 30, 2018

I’m shocked and thrilled and also bummed

On Saturday, I got the full results of the Heartland 39.3 Challenge.

This challenge was comprised of three half marathons: Rock the Parkway, The Land of Oz Garmin, and Run with the Cows. I did well in the first two races, although I didn’t place in my age group. Ironically, the race I had the most trouble with because of my shoes is the one I placed in (second in my age group).

Apparently I did well enough to win—yes, WIN—my age group for the challenge. I can hardly believe it and I’m so incredibly tickled!


But I'm also bummed.

Remember the race I ran on Monday and the leg issue I had? I did go to my PCP's walk in clinic, who immediately said this injury was outside their expertise and sent me to an urgent orthopedic clinic (I didn't even know such a thing existed but it does and they were packed yesterday).

I'm now on crutches, had an x-ray and I'm scheduled for an MRI on Friday to determine if this is a muscle strain or a tear or who knows what. I fervently hope it's just a strain and heals quickly. On the plus side, my arm/back muscles aren't sore at all. Guess all my strength work is paying off.