2014 is the year I began thinking of myself as a runner.
John Bingham, marathoner and author of An Accidental Athlete, famously said: "If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."
The history
I used to be able to outrun the high school cross-country team on training runs with several minutes to spare. I only tried it a couple of times, being more interested in figuring out life and what it meant to be cool.
While at Appalachian State, one of my favorite activities was to walk/run/jog/hike all or portions of the Tanawha Trail, a gorgeous 13.5 mile stretch in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some of my best memories in college are of being out on the trails, losing myself in nature and with close friends.
Once home from undergrad, I stopped running except for small spurts to ensure that I could still make it around the block. Once I ran 7 miles. It took me to the point of exhaustion. Outside of that I rarely ventured over a half mile.
Fast forward a few years to 2007, when I entered my first race. Rex invited me to try out the Harrisburg 5K, a local community run. I had jogged at a local park a bit, but nothing to write home about. I wore khaki shorts with pockets on the side that day, and finished in just over 30 minutes.
In 2008, Shannon put on the Right Moves for Youth Twilight 5K, a run through Charlotte. I finished in just over a half hour. I remember Shannon telling me that running was something that she thought I could be really good at, once I got into it.
In late 2009 Rex invited me to join him and a group of his friends at the Blue Points 5K at Bank of America stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. I was slower still, closer to 40 minutes instead of 30. Life was catching up with me, and I realized I was willingly sacrificing my health and ability to make room for the demands of adulthood.
In 2012 I picked up jogging again. I still didn't really consider myself a runner, but returned to the Harrisburg 5K. This time I was under 30 minutes - not by much, but under the half hour mark.
In June of 2013 I started jogging in earnest. I started using a running app in June, and my first outing was .76 miles It wasn't until late July that I crossed 2 miles in a single run, and in early August I ran more than 3 miles on some of my runs. 5-mile and 6-mile runs happened in September, and in very, very late November I ran 10 miles for the first time. In December I ran a 10K and two 5Ks, with a fastest 5K pace of 7:18 min/mile.
Then came 2014
2014 was the first year I thought of myself as a runner. It was a year of firsts for me, as I completed: my first ten-miler, my first half-marathon, and my first team relay event. My first consistent running partner with Chris and me running almost every Sunday on a 4-mile loop. My first foray into keeping track of how I'm doing in these races with a simple spreadsheet and a phone app. My first consistent blogging on the topic.
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| Yep. It's a spreadsheet. |
My first team event, the Tuna Run 200, was this past October. The team relay was different for me, and I had a blast. I would never surrender my solo runs, but we had a fantastic team and I couldn't be prouder. Someone stopped me at the gas station just the other day, asking about my 200.9 magnet on the back. He mentioned his wife was up to about 8-9 miles on her long runs, and I encouraged him to try the team relay. We had an amazing team and a tremendous amount of fun along the way.
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| It's the only thing I've ever stuck on my vehicle. |
Injuries
Over the past few years, every time I start running I tend to get injured. In 2011 and 2012, shin splints sidelined me pretty quickly. In 2013, I rolled my ankle on a long run that took a while to heal. It happened in the dark on the edge of a double-lined road. I remember thinking that glow-sticks would be enough to make me visible to drivers at night (not true, by the way).
The difference this year is that I didn't let the injuries stop me, even though it's been the story of the second half of the year with three issues to solve.
I have a shoulder impingement, which is a rotator-cuff injury that takes months to heal. It was first tweaked when I was around 12 years old playing basketball, and it began causing issues with my running as mileage increased. While annoying, it's absolutely manageable for a runner with some minor adjustments to the mechanics of my run. Less movement + more ibuprofen = no problem.
Second is an abdominal muscle strain which has been bothering me since October. This is a large muscle injury that is usually not related to running, but can be extremely painful when running and cause gait changes and other compensatory movement (both not good). Thankful there is no hernia, but the injury continues to frustrate me as I wait it out. The most pain is from sprinting and fast running, which for me right now is anything sub 8:00 min/mile for more than a mile or so.
The most painful has been plantar fasciitis, a debilitating condition with a feeling that is often equated to walking on shards of glass with every step. There is a band of tissue that runs from your heel to the ball of your foot called the plantar fascia, which experiences pain when aggravated. To learn more, you can check here, here, here, here, or a host of other places on the web. I believe it started for me after I really wanted to start strengthening my calves - I ran for a few miles fully on my toes and the balls of my feet. I also picked up the awesome Kinvara, a 4mm drop shoe, after running in my 12mm drop shoes prior. I've been paying the price since this summer, with some days where it's been too painful to walk for most of the day. It's getting better, but it's been a long road.
I'm going into 2015 still managing through all of these, but think I'll be at the end of the road to recovery by June. That's the plan, anyway. :)
2014 by the numbers
- Races (12)
- 5K: 5 races (1 first place age group, 1 third place age group )
- 10K: 3 races
- 10M: 1 race
- Half: 2 races
- Team Relay: 1 race, three legs (20.3 miles)
- Places
- Overall: 35.2% on average
- Gender: 30.4% on average
- Group: 45.3% on average
- Injuries (3)
- plantar fasciitis
- abdominal muscle strain
- shoulder impingement
Planning for early 2015 (so far):
- UNCC 49er Gold Rush 5K (2/7/2015)
- Charlotte 10 Miler (2/21/2015)
- BB&T Corporate Cup Half Marathon (3/7/2015)
- Cooper River Bridge Run (3/28/2015)
- Harrisburg 5K (4/11/2015)
It's official
So now it's official as of 2014. I am a runner. And I'll bet you are, too.
Best,
Bryan
Link to Active.com: "How You Know You Are A Runner"
Link to Running in the USA: "You Might Be A Runner If"
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