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:

Mind over matter

Last Wednesday, my running plan called for a 60-minute run that increased in speed throughout. I’ve done tempo runs (as these are called) before, but what I hadn’t done was an hour long run in 22F with a wind chill of 9F at 4:27 AM. That’s some wind, to drop the temperature that much.

But I did it, and then I had Kent take this lovely photo as proof that yes, I ran in that weather super early in the morning. I look so glamorous!

How cold was it? I always take a little snot rag with me because my nose gets really drippy in the cold weather. It was so cold that the little rag froze.

WW1 Museum & Memorial 8K Double

Originally I was supposed to be flying to Utah for work today. That trip got canceled, which meant I could run in this race. Unfortunately, because I made the decision so late, my normal runs were probably not ideal in terms of coming into this double race all fresh and ready.

But that’s OK. I haven’t run any race in 9 years and sort of feel like those two don’t count because I’d never run any races before and didn’t have any clue on how to prep. This time, though, I asked my younger son’s advice. Ben’s one of those people who dives deep into whatever topic catches his interest, and he’s been an avid runner for a while now. He comments on my runs on Strava and always has an encouraging word to say.

We talked this last week and I asked him how he’d run a race like this:

• 9 AM: 5k race starts
• 10:15 AM: 3k race starts

While I regularly run hills, the hills around the Liberty Memorial are no joke: they are steep and long, or super steep and short. So I knew this course would be a challenge. (Fun note: my Garmin marked enough rapid elevation changes and decided I'd climbed 49 flights of stairs . . . during this race!)

He suggested running a negative split on the 5K—in other words, go out faster than normal so that when I hit the hills, the bleed off of speed would be offset by the faster start time. And that’s what I did. I could also tell that the hill running I do every day paid off because I passed a lot of people on those uphill portions.

For the 3K, Ben suggested going all out, which is also what I did. Too bad the first mile of that 3k had an elevation gain of 58 feet. Ouch!

It was fairly chilly this morning and raining lightly, and also pretty windy. I wore the long tights and long sleeve hot weather shirt for bug mitigation (no more oak mite bites please!) and of course to keep the sun off me. Then the sun broke through during the intermission, so I swapped to a short sleeve shirt. I was pretty happy with the gear, but I should have brought a different pair of sunglasses since those slid down my nose all the time.

For this race, I’d set three average pace per mile goals: 8:45, 8:55 and 9:05. I didn’t meet that goal at all in the 5K (pace was 9:12), but did well in the 3K with a pace of 8:48. I’m a little surprised at the 3K pace, since I tend to have my best speeds on longer runs. Then again, I was taking Ben’s advice and I wasn’t leaving anything on the table.

Pics or it didn't happen:

5k start

5k finish--I tried to motivate that guy behind me
but he was flat out of gas

3k start but after that freaking long hill at the beginning

3k finish

Yay!

All in all, I had a blast and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can do. Also, check out the WW1 Museum and Memorial's site. If you are ever in Kansas City, consider going to this museum. It's truly amazing.

More running randomness

I’m running in the new Brooks shoes now but the jury is still out on whether or not they’ll be OK. My feet have no meat on them so my ankle bones sit closer to the bottoms of my heels than most people’s do. This means that my shoes – whether running or normal – need to be lower cut around the ankle or else I’m in pain.

Speaking of pain, the hot, humid weather is back in Kansas and my runs are pretty darn miserable because of it. When I’m running up the last, long hill, I have a little mantra that keeps me going:

• Here’s the houses that’s for sale – three more blocks (to the top of the hill)
• OK here’s the pool house – two more blocks, I can do it
• Now the Marine’s house, can’t stop here because oh the shame
• Whew, made it!

The one house that was for sale the last time I did a post like this, the one listed for $1.5million, is no longer on the market. I have no idea if it sold or not but the one next to it is now available.

One of the reasons I run so early in the morning is because I prefer to run in the dark, with less traffic and no glare from the sun. Ironically, I run faster in the dark and am more aware of the potential tripping hazards due to cracks in the sidewalk. If I ever do take a tumble, I can guarantee you it will be because I ran during the day or some driver had their lights on high beam and blinded me so I tripped.