Celtic Classic 5K…running with a kilt on.

In 1978 Van Hallen put out the sing running with the devil…this blog has nothing to do with that it was just a nice segway into the statement running with a kilt on. I know it was a cheap shot, but hey I take them were I can. When one thinks of the Irish does one think of them running? Well maybe one would think of the Scottish running like in the movie Braveheart, but as for the Irish I would see them running to the local pub, I can say this as I am Irish and I have run to the local pub a number of times so I am speaking from experience. Now Bethlehem PA has a big Irish Festival every year called the Celtic Classic and each year they do a 5K where the participants are encourage to run in kilts. And yes…yes  I did run in a kilt and it felt pretty darn good, lol.

Now I didn’t wear one of my good kilts, yes you read that correct one of my good kilts, and I got a utilikilt to run in which was actually rather nice. Now the race morning it was very cold out and it was really the first cold morning to signify the onset of fall weather with it being around 50 degrees. The nice thing was that the Morning Call Rotary Club, which promoted and managed the race event, supplied hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I did enjoy the fact that the dj played very little celtic music and ended up playing 80’s and 90’s hits, which was evident as I crossed the finish line to Chumbawamba’s I get knocked down, I haven’t heard that song I a long time.

The race started on time and was a few hundred runners strong. The race was a double race with a 5K and a 10K which would lead to some confusion after the two mile mark. As everyone lined up I wasn’t sure the exact course landscape, but I was soon to find out. We began running and the course started off nice on asphalt, which then turned to concrete, which then turned to gravel, which then turned to grass, which then turned into a wooden bridge, which turned back in to grass than asphalt and then back to gravel. A full gambit of course textures were definitely present during this race.

Now remember I said this was a double race of a 5K and 10K? Well immediately after the water station there was a small sign positioned that pointed the route for the 5K and the 10K split, however there wasn’t anyone there telling this to the runners. Can you begin to see the possible issue that may arise from this? If you guessed that some of the 10K runners ended following the 5K route and were pretty miffed at the end you would be absolutely correct.

At the end of the race I must say they had one of the best spreads I have gotten to be a part of. They bagels, crackers, crackers with cheese, bananas, packets of peanut butter, apples, oranges, water, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I cant wait to do this one next year as I need to use my kilt again, but overall I met some nice people there and the race was well put together. You had the opportunity to stay and enjoy the Celtic classic events of the day, but I opted to head home and relax and rest.

Thanks and run safe,

JB

The run that didn’t happen…for me anyways (Runners World 5k)

“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.” -  Ned Vizzini, It's Kind of a Funny Story

A little bit of a dramatic opening I know, but suffice it to say I was actually depressed. Why? Well because I couldn’t take part in the Runner’s World 5K, I had been training and prepping for it, I wanted to nail my personal  best as this was the race where I first broke the 45 minute mark and really ignited me to keep running. So what sidelined me? What took me out of the race and my goal to beat my personal best? I sprained the ever living hell out of my right ankle. Swollen with many shades of black, blue, purple and green this injury was not going to allow me to run. How did I sprain it, well I fell on it, my left leg slipped out from underneath me and my right foot stayed firmly planted on the ground while my body completely collapsed on to it. Ive had numerous sports injuries in my life so I was fairly certain I didn’t break or fracture anything. Now before you ask, yes I did see a doctor and I was correct in my self-diagnosis that it was just a very bad sprain.

Walking to the Runners world expo trying to not limp too much, probably for my own pride, I started to get more and more depressed. I just kept thinking over and over again how I could’ve done something different to prevent hurting my ankle. When it came down to it, I couldn’t turn back time, I couldn’t undo the injury and I just had to sit this one out because if I attempted it I could make it worse and ultimately take myself out of running all together…that was not going to happen. So I picked up my packet and the bib that would never cross the finish line and walked the expo. The expo was a nice size with a number of vendors for running gear, clothing and food. I did end up getting a nice summer running shirt so it wasn’t a complete loss.

So I started thinking, which usually winds up me doing something dumb, about sprains and ways to prevent and take care of them so I could get back to running quicker. I really wanted to understand what a sprain truly was. I found some good resources and they all explained it the same that it is a wrench or twist of the ligaments violently so as to cause pain and swelling but not dislocation.

 Ok so now that I know and understand what a sprain really is; what could I have done to protect from getting one and how do I go about healing it and getting on the fast track to running again. Again after much reading and research I have found that one of the best ways is to make sure your ankle is strong and loose, also after your sprain is healed you should do exercises in general to rebuild it and keep it strong as you run again. Now by no means am I doctor or a licensed health care professional so with stating that here is a workout for my ankles I have found that I have done before and after races as well as during workout sessions to keep my ankles strong…maybe I should have done it a bit more to keep me from this current injury. I got this particular set of exercises from the website, familydoctor.org

 Ankle Circles
Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Move your ankle from side to side, up and down and around in circles. Do 5 to 10 circles in each direction at least 3 times per day.

Alphabet Letters
Using your big toe as a "pencil," try to write the letters of the alphabet in the air. Do the entire alphabet 2 or 3 times.

Toe Raises
Pull your toes back toward you while keeping your knee as straight as you can. Hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times.

Heel Raises
Point your toes away from you while keeping your knee as straight as you can. Hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times.

In and Out
Turn your foot inward until you can't turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds. Straighten your leg again. Turn it outward until you can't turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times in both directions.

Resisted In and Out
Sit on a chair with your leg straight in front of you. Tie a large elastic exercise band together at one end to make a knot. Wrap the end of the band around the chair leg and the other end around the bottom of your injured foot. Keep your heel on the ground and slide your foot outward and hold for 10 seconds. Put your foot in front of you again. Slide your foot inward and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat at least 10 times each direction 2 or 3 times per day.

Step Up
Put your injured foot on the first step of a staircase and your uninjured foot on the ground. Slowly straighten the knee of you injured leg while lifting your uninjured foot off the ground. Slowly put your uninjured foot back on the ground. Do this 3 to 5 times at least 3 times per day.

Sitting and Standing Heel Raises
Sit in a chair with your injured foot on the ground. Slowly raise the heel of you injured foot while keeping your toes on the ground. Return the heel to the floor. Repeat 10 times at least 2 or 3 times per day. As you get stronger, you can stand on your injured foot instead of sitting in a chair and raise the heel. Your injured foot should always stay on the ground.

Balance Exercises
Stand and place a chair next to your uninjured leg to balance you. At first, stand on the injured foot for 30 seconds. You can slowly increase this to up to 3 minutes at a time. Repeat at least 3 time a day. To increase the difficulty, repeat with your eyes closed.

Ok so now that we have how to try and prevent and keep away from getting more sprains, how do we take care of it? Well after talking to my doctor she said use the RICE principle, which stands for Rest Ice Compression and Elevate. Now I have looked for that perfect quick fix for sprains, but it isn’t there, you just have to be patient and take care of it. I am not a patient person and I want to get out there and run hard and fast again, however that isn’t going to happen and I have to be patient. One thing I did add to the healing process is taking a nice long soak in the tub with warm water and Epsom salt.

How long will it take to get back to running again? Who knows, its all up to your body, up to you and the severity of the sprain.  It could be a couple of days or it could be months you never know, but if you don’t get frustrated and you actually take the time to take care of it you will be back lacing up and running in no time. So with that I am going to RICE my ankle right now…right after I get some pit beef bbq from a fantastic pace near where I live…I may not be able to run right now, but you better believe I am going to eat.

Be safe and have fun running,

JB

Two 5Ks one weekend…Part 2 (Yuengling Octoberfest 5K)

So as I continued my weekend of running by doing two 5Ks in one weekend, which by the way I would gladly do again and add another one for a 3 5K weekend, I rested and healed up my ankles, knees and claves for the Sunday run. I pretty much just bathed in ice and Biofreeze as well as taking some Aleve to heal and rest up for the next run.

So Sunday I ran the Yuengling 5K Octoberfest in Bethlehem which started around 10:30 AM and attracted about 5000 runners, the biggest 5K Ive done yet. The day before when I went to pick-up the race packet, which included bib, shirt and beer mug…yes a beer mug, it was packed and took about 45 minutes to get everything. So I met up with my friend Tony, who does a fair share of his own running, early in the morning before the race. It was extremely cold, about 40 degrees, and it wouldn’t have been bad if it weren’t for the wind which was giving a major chill to the bones. The biggest thing we wanted to do was to make sure we were stretched and warmed up so we didn’t freeze up.

The level of runners were all over the place and I had heard there were a number of people from other states who came in just for this particular race. They had different areas set-up for the different running times named after items associated with drinking/bars (ex. 7 min runners were station at the Growler station and 9 min runners were at the Pitcher station, and so on). Since I had run the day before and was still a bit banged up I decided to do the 9 minute pace mile group.

The nice thing was each section had its own start time so as to keep the groups from crowding on top of one another when running and trying to get through the timing gate. So as we began running the pain in my right foot subsided, which I think was due to help from the Aleve and the compression socks, and I started to feel good about the race in general. I heard later from Tony that about the 1.5 mile mark he lost sight of me and that he fell, but managed to roll and keep running. There were only a few hills, nothing major I thought, but all in all a nice flat run. The only thing during the run that was a bit congested was the water station where a lot of new runners didn’t understand the concept of keep running and grab, go and drink without stopping. There were to many that just slowed down and stopped in front of people to get the water. A bit frustrating, but I cant be to upset because they were new and didn’t know any better.

As I ran through the mass of people I found a strange desire to keep going and to keep pushing myself locking onto a person in front of me and then passing them and then another and then another. When I saw that final stretch I just started booking it as fast as I could to avoid those last few seconds added onto my time. Of course right before the timing plate you crossed over was a turn with smooth bricks, so all I could think as I ran past the hundreds of people cheering was please don’t let me fall and look like a complete idiot because that would be really embarrassing, lol. Thankfully I didn’t fall and shaved some seconds off my time which when it was all said and done turned out to be a better time than the one I did before, so I was pretty happy for that. I will have to say that as I was running I also paid attention to the person who was in the lead as he went passed us all and I have to admit that his stride and form was freaking excellent, I was a bit envious, Im not gonna lie, lol.

It was a nice flat route and once you made it to the end you got a german gingerbread cookie as your medal it was nice. Now the race itself and everything was good however the worst part came after the race when everyone went to cash in their two free drink coupons you got for doing the race, I mean after all it was an Octoberfest and was sponsored by Yuengling so it would make sense. Now here is where the logisitics of it got bad. Imagine 5000 people standing in line to get their free beer and the place to get this beer was the size of two port-o-potties put together and only a few taps so you could be in line for hours just waiting for your free beer. This wasn’t worth it for Tony and I so we just bought our own, gave our tickets away to those braving the line, grabbed some wiener schnitzel and potato pancakes and of course you need applesauce with it.

There were a lot and I mean a lot of angry people about the whole situation and they let it be known to the event organizers. I will have to say that the event organizers listened and even responded to everyone in an open statement on their facebook page ensuring it would not happen again. I know for a fact it wasn’t their fault as I have attended many races and music events at this location and they have their own agenda and aren’t for the people it seems like, well there will be a next time and Im sure the race promoters will make sure its done properly.

Am I going to do this race again next year…absolutely. I had a great time doing it and I would love to do this race with a group of people next as well. Oh and the amount of people in costumes i.e. lederhosen and St Paulie girl costumes was astounding. I particularly like the older gentleman who was running in a Kaiser helmet. If you are near the event next year make sure you sign up, its worth it.

Thank you and be safe running,

JB 
 

Two 5Ks one weekend…Part 1 (Keystone Wounded Warriors 5K)

So for the past couple of years I have been into running 5ks pretty heavily. In my very busy program the ability to run longer than a 5K on the weekend just isn’t possible at this time. With that said that doesn’t mean I am not planning to start doing some official half and full marathons, just unfortunately not at this time.

With doing all of these 5Ks I have grown to really enjoy doing them and meeting everyone and going to the different courses/venues with the occasional conference and expo thrown in there for good measure.

With the 5Ks as you may or may not know they tend to be themed towards one function or the other. If could be for charity (i.e. breast cancer awareness) or it could just be for plain fun (i.e. color run). We;; this past weekend I decided to try something new and take on 2 5Ks in one weekend. This will be a two part writing as each blog will cover each one of the 5Ks I took on.

Now the first 5K I did was actually supposed to be on Friday night, however it had been cancelled at the last minute due to not having enough people registered. It was a pity too because I was looking forward to as it was only a few minutes from where I live. Irregardless my plan was still to do two in one weekend so I went onto active.com and began to see what there was for a Saturday morning run.

I ended up finding one in Pottstown, PA and it was for the Keystone Wounded Warriors. I am a huge supporter of our armed forces and those who served so this was perfect. I signed up, did some yoga and went to bed early to prepare for the following days event.

So when I woke up it was 40 degrees out, very rainy and very windy…perfect for a 5K, please not the hint of sarcasm on that statement. Once I arrived the rain and wind hadn’t let up and the temperature was only a few degrees warmer. So I checked in with the committee and I got my bib number and my t shirt and went to prepare in my car and hope that the rain and wind let up just a bit.

The 5K kicked off at 9:30AM and by the time we had all assembled at the starting line the rain had stopped and the wind had died down. The weather was still being nice and cool with no sun which made it very nice to run in. Now I should state that it would be the smartest thing I the world to actually look at the map either before or after you register for the race in order to repair because it would seem this 5K was more of a trail run rather than a road race 5K. Thankfully we were informed of a slight hill “depending on how you looked at it”, this would be an understatement I would come to find out later.

So this would be my first trail run and as the race began I realized I was not prepared for this one. The course was a rough one as I started to run the wooded paths jumping over roots and branches I started running over wet leaves that were laying on rocks…please don’t be jealous. So after rolling my ankles about 6 times I came upon the hill…the 75 degree incline hill, it seemed like such an Everest to me as I have yet to really train for hills. I was not alone however as many of the people saw the hill sighed and then started the long walk, very few took the run up it and for those that did my hat goes off to them.

Now after I went up and back down the hill I was about 2 miles in and the weather changed, it got warm real quick which meant the rain turned into humidity which turned into …holy cow I cant breath, so good times for this one. I did have to walk a few times in order to catch my breath and rest a bit, but I pushed on and I managed to cross in 27:38 which I was more than happy with. They had snacks like pretzels and chips with water for everyone after the race which is always nice to have there waiting for you.

All in all I thought it was a good race and I would do it again, but this time I would be much more prepared for it.

Thank you and run safe,

JB

Run to the hills...the beginning

Run to the hills, run for your lives…Iron Maiden the masters of metal and the inspiration for this blog. No this blog is not about heavy metal, well sometimes it may touch on some heavy metal subjects like running music, but this is about my life in the world of running.

Being a new runner of only two years I have a lot to learn, but I have also done a lot in a short amount of time, so while I am not a master Im not a complete novice either. I am always meeting new people within running and I am constantly learning new tips and tricks to help in my journey of the road by foot.

I plan to share those tips and my thoughts overall about running and the running community while also giving reviews about races Ive done and anything that spurs my muse while running or reading & thinking about running.

I encourage feedback, because I will be the first to admit I don’t know everything, I am willing to learn and share…I would hope you would feel the same.

Thank you and run safe,

JB