Lone Star 5k Race Recap

Howdy, I am back from my trip to Texas and my first Texas race!  And my first race since being injured!  The Lone Star Half Marathon & 5k was so much fun.  I was registered for the half, but after being out with a knee injury for the past five weeks, I was ordered by the doctor to take it easy.  This was only my third run since my injury, and my knee felt pretty good!

My mom decided to do the 5k with me too, since she was feeling out of shape.  My aunt Sue was running her first half marathon, at 61 years young!  She was amazing, and it was fun to be able to cheer for her at the finish line.  I don't think I would have been able to keep up with her even if I wasn't injured, as she finished in just over 2:18.

Anyway, the 5k was a quick out-and back, and there were a few hills out there in hill country, imagine that.  It went by so fast!  I just remember feeling great but at the same time glad I did not have to run the half marathon!  The weather was nice, right around 60 degrees.  I just ran at a comfortable easy pace and enjoyed my race.  My official time was 32:40, good for 8/25 in my age group (sadly, my last race in the under 30 age group).  Gotta love those small races!  My mom won 2/15 in her age group with a nice time of 29:05, and my aunt won 3/11 in her age group for the half marathon!

Fun to have Robbyn Dodd at the race for some great photos!

After the race, we hung around for a long time eating and drinking Lone Star beer and also some yummy wine.  They had some nice live music and a festive atmosphere.  We could have stayed there all day, but we had a very busy concert schedule for the rest of the day!

This was a fun race and I would love to do it again, maybe the half next year.  We also talked about doing a spring race in Santa Cruz next year, there are a few half marathons that would be pretty awesome to try.  Decisions, decisions :)

The injured reckless runner

I casually mentioned at the end of my last post that my knees were sore...well that pain turned out to be a lot more serious than I thought. Here I am, 17 days after the Get Lucky race, and still unable to run due to severe pain in my right knee. Just walking, driving, and sitting at my desk at work are almost more than my knee can handle right now. I have been reduced to wearing my running shoes all day at work and taking the elevator rather than walking down one flight of stairs (going upstairs is bearable, downstairs not so much). 

I did visit the orthopedic doctor after about a week of pain that was not improving. He diagnosed me with "runner's knee" or patellofemoral pain syndrome. His recommendations of rest, ice and ibuprofen were less than helpful. After moping around for another week, I decided to try some alternative methods for getting back on my feet. I have three appointments with an ART chiropractor this week, as well as a body works massage at the gym and a visit with my trainer. So far I have not experienced any improvement but I am trying to stay hopeful that I will be able to run again soon! I don't know at this point if I will be able to run the Lone Star half in 18 days.  I was planning on running a local 10k race to celebrate my 30th birthday on May 3, and now I am doubting that I will even be able to do that. It is really hard to keep a positive attitude at the moment, but I came upon this old post from Lauren Fleshman that somehow made me feel a little better:

http://asklaurenfleshman.com/2011/01/fighting-injury-with-gratitude/

At least I still get to see REK when I am down in Texas (who happens to be suffering from a broken foot), so there's that.  And I need to get me one of these shirts. Even if I can't run the race, I will make the best out of the situation by cheering on my mom & my aunt Sue who will be running her first half!