In today's 31st running of the London Marathon, with more than 35,000 participants, the course record for men was broken. Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai came in at 2:04:39. That's a 4:45 min/mile for 26.2 miles. Can you imagine running like that?! The top three in the men's race were all under 2:06 and all three were from Kenya.
On the women's side, another Kenyan, Mary Keitany, was first with a time of 2:19:17. That's a 5:19 pace. The top three women were all under 2:21.
What amazing athletes! And what's really cool is... that when you participate in a big city marathon like London, or New York or Chicago or tomorrow's Boston, you get to run on the very same course that the elite athletes do.
I found this video on YouTube.. It takes you from start to finish of the Boston Marathon course in eight minutes... driving (of course), and in fast motion. As I watched it, and it went on and on, I remembered the times I ran it.
Congratulations to all who ran London today! And to all who will run Boston tomorrow, hope you have a great time!
I guess I should have known better. That it was going to be slow. The road back.
I forgot that I had to get my regular gait back, that it wasn't right. And last time, the last surgery, where I just had the diseased lining and loose bodies that needed removing... no labral tear... it took at least a month just to do that.
This time... the repaired labral tear needs to heal before we can even begin to work on my gait. The muscles of my hip and thigh are so weak and so hurt. In PT I am doing just the smallest of movements with those muscles... and I can barely do it! My leg starts to shake.
It's getting hot and humid out there--summer is right around the corner here in So FL!
I finally had surgery on my hip last Wednesday. I saw my surgeon this morning; he said it all went very well. He removed 16-17 little loose "bodies" and the inflamed lining. I also had a labral tear (tear in the ring of cartilage around joint cavity) that he repaired. I'm on crutches and have to wear a brace that keeps my leg from abducting or extending back too far. I am also not supposed to internally rotate my leg (the labral tear was in the inside front area). Physical therapy will begin next week--dr said six weeks, then another six weeks of more intense PT. Then... I can begin to get back to my running! Yay!
My runners are doing great. Several of them ran a local 10k this past weekend and I wanted to go. But my husband had a terribly bad cold, bad enough for him to spend most of Sunday in bed, and I didn't think I was up to driving over to the race by myself as I was just four days post-op. I want to get some more video of them. There are some 5k's coming up I will go to. I want to get some racing video and some doing things like form drills and techniques.
Over the past several months I've been reading studies, articles, opinions, debates... about the barefoot controversy, running form, minimalist shoes, stride length and rate... whether shoes help or hurt, or barefoot running is "good" or "bad", whether the minimalist shoe is anything other than just hype and another way for the shoe companies to sell shoes...
I met with my runner Mark on Friday to take some video of him running. It's always fun to talk with runners about running, and we had some interesting conversation about running form, injuries, stride rate/length, shoes, and such. Here's what I think about the whole thing.
I'm a big believer in having a balanced overall fitness, and working on strengthening the feet, legs, hips, core as injury prevention. It would be best if we could all run around barefoot all the time during childhood, and into adulthood (and also, literally "run around all the time"). Since that isn't the world we live in today, barefoot running (or in huaraches, which is pretty darn close to barefoot) is a great tool to help us develop strength, not just muscle but connective tissue, tendons, ligaments. Barefoot running also helps running form, which is more about running economy. I think the minimalist shoes are good for gradually helping to strengthen the feet and lower legs. There's all this controversy about whether they help with midfoot or forefoot striking, for better form and less impact forces. I don't think that's the point. I think the point is that there is less shoe, less support, less construction; it's that they're not stabilizing, supporting, or holding the foot so that the foot has to actually work... So that gradually, over a period of time, years maybe, of wearing a less constructed shoe, you'll be more resistant to injury because you will be stronger. Working on form, stride length/rate, midfoot/forefoot striking.. is about running economy, being more efficient and thus being able to run faster longer.
Anyways... here's Mark just running easy over in the park:
Presently, I am working with several of my runners on form, so I thought I would take some video of them, just running easy or during a race, along with other runners in those races.
After Sara's debut marathon in January, I posted a video of her finishing. But I had also taken some video of runners at about the 12-mile point, including both male and female leaders, runners coming before Sara, and then Sara. Here it is:
Now, here is my runner Barb, just running easy over in the park:
Then this past Sunday, Jane ran the Shamrock Run 10-Miler. I shot the start of the race and then stood at about a quarter mile to the finish and took some video of the first male, first female, then runners till Jane came through.
I will be taking more video in the next few weeks...
It's back. The disease is back. The surgeon told me not to worry, it wouldn't come back, very unlikely to come back.
My hip and leg have been getting worse over the months instead of better, so I finally went back to the ortho doctors. They thought it might be coming from my lower back, had an MRI--no, not my back. I had an MR arthrogram a couple weeks ago... wasn't very hopeful of anything showing up because nothing did the last time. But there it was.
From what I understand now, this thing is like cancer (though not cancer--it's a benign condition) in that if you don't get it all, if there are still cells left, it can come back.
It's not as far along this time, but I still can't run.. I mean really run. I've been trying to get my mileage up and run a little faster, but whenever I do, I start to break down... And now it's hurting all the time.
So, I'm looking at arthroscopic surgery again. Hopefully they'll get it all this time.
Sara had a wonderful first marathon... weather cooperated, everything went well till mile 21, when her hamstring knotted up and slowed her for a few miles. But she finished strong and is already looking at what she will do differently for her next marathon!
Sara's Miami Marathon Finish - 18th woman overall, 4th in her age group (For some reason, I couldn't get the sound.. don't know why)
