I did it!

I ran the Mississauga Marathon on Sunday and finished in 3:51:28. The ankle was still a bit sore and then I rolled it at the 18k mark (oops) which definitely caused some pain, but it did subside, but I was left with a swollen ankle (swelling's down now).

All in all, I was definitely happy with the race. There was wind and rain, but I didn't mind. I ran a marathon. I even knocked a few minutes off my half marathon time.

I don’t know what happened.

Yesterday morning, I got up and ran 9km. The run felt good and it was great weather. I got home and stretched as usual. Stretching my left calf felt a little odd, but that’s it.

All day, my left ankle hurt and it felt like it needed to crack, but even if it did, it didn’t feel any better. I already had a massage appointment booked because my low back and right hip were acting up on Monday/Tuesday. By this point my back and hip were fine, but my ankle, not so much. RMT worked on my back, hip and ankle, but couldn’t get the ankle to give.

Today, it felt a bit better, but still not right. I wasn’t limping today, but it still felt odd. I attempted a bit of a run tonight, which turned more into a 10-15 minute fast-paced walk with some intermittent brief spurts of jogging and then a 15 minute easy run afterward.

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I certainly hope that it’s better very very soon. I took some muscle relaxants tonight and rubbed some pain-relief cream on my ankle and lower leg in the hopes that it fixes itself overnight. It’s 3 days to marathon day and I really hope I don’t need to walk most of it.

** update – I wrote this post last night, but blogger was down, so I couldn’t post it until today. The ankle is still hurting today. **

I finally did it!

I finally got past whatever strange mental block I had with the 10K race distance. You know something is wrong when you can run the first 10 km of a half marathon faster than a 10K race. That was the position I was in for almost 2 years.

In September 2009, I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach 1/2 Marathon, with my first 10 km of that race being completed in 51:27. Click here for my results from this race.

I had run 4 10K races prior to this half. My times were as follows:
Oct 2008 – Zoo Run: 54:57 (chip time)
May 2009 – Mudpuppy Chase: 53:22 (gun time)
June 2009 – Waterloo Classic: 55:54 (chip time)
Aug 2009 – Muskoka Rocks: 54:46 (gun time)

At this point, one could argue that my training was paying off and that’s why I did so well for the 10K portion of the half, but then I look at the results for 10K races AFTER September 2009.

Oct 2009 – Laurier Loop: 52:30 (c)
May 2010 – Mudpuppy Chase: 52:30 (c)
Jun 2010 – Guelph Lake: 53:47 (g)
Jun 2010 – Waterloo Classic: 55:50 (c)
Oct 2010 – Laurier Loop: 52:03 (c)

Then came the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon in December 2010 where I once again finished the first 10K faster than any 10K race. This time it was 51:31. My results for this race are here.

So.. this brings us to today. I ran the Downtown Mudpuppy Chase, which is one of my favourites, due to it’s close proximity to my house and fabulous post-race food. I ran the 10K distance (the race has a 3K, 5K, and 10K) and I finished in a gun time of 49:04. My chip time was 48:52.

I’ve finally run a 10K race faster than the first 10K of a longer distance race! I’ve finally broken 50 minutes, which was my goal for last year that didn’t happen, and I’ve crushed my previous best 10K race time by over 3 minutes!

I think I’ve gotten over whatever it was that had been holding me back. Today was a confidence boost indeed.

Bring on the marathon in 2 weeks!