Scott.Buffington.me

In April of 2011 I began my journey to become a runner. At the time I could not run one mile without my leg muscles retaliating, who am I kidding I could not run for 2 minutes without the muscles in my lower legs becoming painfully fatigued. By the end of 2011 I had run two official 5Ks and I was running 2-4 times per week, I had become a runner. Overall I was pretty happy with my improvement in my ability to run, though for a guy who lifted weights most of his life I was pretty frustrated at how I had lost my ability to run and the competitor in me wants more.

Beginning in June I have at times felt like I could really run, although currently the good days only come about occasionally, the sense of freedom I feel running is difficult to explain. I ran on the beach, I mean a real run of several miles, for the first time in my life in July and it was awesome. I ran two official 5K races for the first time in my life, the last being Thanksgiving morning, and I was not the one puking at the top of a steep hill. All of that alone was something I could only imagine doing at this time a year ago. Now my thoughts are turning toward, how I can recover faster, increase my distance and improve my running time.

This year I want to run at least one 10K and I want to run a 5K in under 30 minutes. For the first time in my life I am going to actually monitor what I eat for longer than a month with the intent of dropping some fat off my body. I actually lost around 15 pounds running last year, but I am still roughly 20 pounds heavier than I was in my early 30s. While my shoulders are a little bigger now than they were when I was 30, so is my belly. I am pretty certain that my lower legs would recover better and take a lot less pounding if I drop some more fat from my body and considering the amount of time I spent running and weight lifting over the last year, the fat is not coming off without a diet change. My wife and I are going to work on the diet changes together, the only way this is going to work is if both of us do it together.  

My running year ended on a down note, I last ran December 23rd, intending to run again the day after Christmas. The day after Christmas I came down with a terrible cold that both drained me physically and left me congested and coughing. I was actively already working to increase my mileage prior to the new year, so I hope I can recover from this cold soon and get back out on the road again soon, perhaps tonight. Here is hoping that Run 2012 is even more productive than Run 2011 was.

Yesterday the day finally arrived for me to run my first official 5k and I successfully achieved my goal of not only finishing (I knew I would finish), but to run the entire race(no walking breaks). Here is the GPS proof of my accomplishment -Race for Grace 5k. Now you might notice a nice straight green path, I ran the red path. It turns out that due to last weeks flooding they had to change the course. I drove the original course a few weeks ago and it did not seem too hilly, the new race path was very hilly. My running partners and other runners agreed that it was a hilly event.

While I would consider supporting the Race for Grace event again, the course was not clearly marked at all and thankfully we were able to follow other packs of runners along the race route. The race was a small event, I would estimate that there was maybe 80 runners/walkers. Because it was my first 5k, I am kind of hoping it is an annual event and I can run again in years to come. I found out upon checking in that this was only the second time the event was run and the last time was two years ago.

The weather was almost perfect, upper 60's, no humidity, sunny and windy. I could have done without some of the wind, but in reality it kept me nice and dry during the entire run. I did notice how accustomed I am to running at night, the Sun felt a little brutal when I ran in full sunlight. I found myself seeking out the shade from trees along the race route.

Running with someone was a nice change and my friend Thom is a veteran of a few 5k events. He assured I did not start off too fast, which was something I was worried about doing. We both setup camp at the very back of the field prior to the start. Unfortunately this meant we had to dodge a few walkers at the start, but I do not think this slowed me down at all. I felt like running at a faster pace to start the race, but I made sure I stayed along side Thom and we trudged along as most of the 1st mile was uphill. I felt good and was able to talk the entire run, although around the 2 mile mark I had about had enough of running up and down hills. It felt like we ran uphill a lot more than we ran downhill, but obviously since we went in a circle we went down hill as much as we went uphill.

A friend of mine had suggested starting at the very back of the field to start the race and I found this worked perfectly for us. We passed a lot of runners that started out faster than us, some eventually ran slower and we reeled them in. But there were a lot of runners that we caught late in the race who started out too fast and could not will themselves to run the entire 3 miles. Not a single person passed us the entire race. I look at it this way, if I had walked any of the 5k I could not honestly say I ran a 5k. This might not bother some people, but when I ran the Harrisburg mile in 2008 and I ran the first quarter mile in 1:36, I walked at least a quarter mile if not more of the event and finished in 9:44. I felt like I had failed, because I did not run the entire event. That might not have bothered some people, but it bothered me and I wanted to make sure I ran every inch of this 5k.

I finished in roughly 35:42, passing two more runners in the final sprint to the finish. This was not a blazing time, but it was about what I expected and best of all, I ran every inch of the 5 kilometers and a little more. It is like I finally got a monkey off my back and I cannot wait to run another event. I am hoping I can manage to schedule at least a couple more events before the end of the year. Yes, I can finally call myself a runner.

Beginning in April I began doing something that I have tried a few times before only to meet failure. I started running again. If memory serves it was 2004 when I first decided I wanted to be a runner and again in 2008 where I almost succeeded, but grew frustrated. I half heartedly tried again in 2009 and 2010 but each time I encountered the same issue that has plagued me since I reached age 30, an issue I thought might be shin splints. I now think I just have conditioning issues with my lower legs. Each time I haved tried running distances since 2004 the muscle structure in the front of my lower legs (Tibialis?) became so engorged with blood that the pain was too much to continue running. I am talking to the point of pulling so hard on the knee I was forced to limp. I managed to work through it enough in 2008 to run the Harrisburg Mile, but my time was horrible due to the lower leg issues and running the first quarter mile much too fast. I knew I could do much, much better than my 2008 effort. What I needed was a better plan.

Over the years I read about the Couch to 5k plan,but I was not sure if I wanted to bother timing how long I walked and ran. I just wanted to run, like I did in my 20s. I once went on a 10 mile run with a friend at the drop of a hat, never having run that far before. I do not know how I did it.

Late last October I looked at the Couch to 5k plan again and looked for iPhone applications in the app store. I have used Runkeeper for my running, walking and bicycling and I love that application. Sure enough, I found several applications and decided to try one called, Get Running. Get Running does all the timing for you and comes with a pleasant British accented female voice to queue you when to run, walk and when reaching various points in the program. So I used Get Running and Runkeeper together, thank you background applications, to track my running and to allow me to easily try the C25k training program. I tried initially in November and I liked the app but lower leg discomfort combined with cold weather does not make for the greatest motivators. I decided to commit to a weight training program, another difficult task since I lost my training partner in 2006, and revisit Couch to 5k in the Spring.

In April I decided I was going to do it, and I was going to work until I got past the conditioning issues with my lower legs. By week four I had a failed a run and took a few days off and rolled the application back a couple weeks, I was not giving up. I seemed to be noticing an improvement, the muscle tightening issue disappeared completely from my right leg and I now only noticed it with my left leg. Even with my left leg the pain was taking longer to show up and recovery happens quickly after I stop running. Was I finally going to be able to run like I could in my 20s?

I wanted to write a blog post so many times over the past few months talking about running, but I did not want to have to face failure again, and certainly not stare at it on the front of my blog. I still go back to my Harrisburg Mile post with disappointment. So I waited. I finished week 5 and ran for 20 minutes straight, I thought I was finally a runner. Week 6 started and each run felt harder than the week before, oh no, the dreaded lower leg tightness was going to defeat me again. I made it through run number 1 and number 2 of week 6 and decided to give myself a few days off. I wanted to take 2 or 3 days off but ended up taking 4 days as I was unable to find time to run due to family commitments. I like to run late evening, I am not a morning person and I have always felt that my body is warmed up better by late day. Last Fall I did morning runs and I felt rushed to start them at 5am and I hated it.

The day arrived (yesterday) that I could try the week 6 day number 3 run. The task ahead of me was 25 minutes of running. I have not run for 25 minutes straight since I was 27 years old, I am 40 years old now. I decided I would go for a morning walk just to warm myself up for the evening run, so I managed a mile and a half walk over lunch and felt ready for the evening run. I admit I was a little nervous, I knew I was going to experience some leg tightness and just hoped it was not extreme. Though mentally I had powered through some difficult runs throughout the program, it is difficult to face muscle pain every single run. Keep in mind, the muscle pain has caused me to limp or stop running in fear that I was going to cause injury in previous years attempts.

So I started my run on a slightly humid evening and the first 5 to 10 minutes of running felt great! I am finally also noticing more of a cardiovascular workout more so than on any of my previous running attempts in the last 10 years. I was not failing running because of cardio conditioning, it was muscle conditioning related, and finally I was having to monitor breathing a little more. At the 15 minute mark my legs were tightening a little more, as usual mostly the lower left leg and as I neared 20 minutes I noticed the tightness was pulling on the outside of my left knee. Oh no, I experienced this last Fall when first trying this program and it hurt. I tried to push off a little more on my strides to force the calf muscle to stretch a little more and this worked for me. The tightness and pain became no worse and actually seemed to subside somewhat. At 25 minutes I knew I could have easily run another 5 minutes, but after a few extra seconds of running for good measure I stopped and walked. In no time at all the muscles recovered and I could actually walk at a good pace. I think I might finally be a runner, maybe?

I have three more weeks of the program to go and I am looking at probably August for a 5k, barring no injuries. July I have too much going on and my vacation week for the third year in a row falls during the Harrisburg Mile. I definitely want to run a mile again, just to beat the embarrassingly poor time I put up back in 2008. I am focused on a 5k before the end of Summer, a hopefully somewhat flat 5k. I am not quite at the distance I need for a 5k but my current training route is down an incline and back up an incline. I might try to schedule one of my upcoming runs at the local high school track to see how I do on a flat service. My lower legs would probably also thank me for giving them a break from the road running. I am positive I have lost fat, based on the mirror and my belt, since starting the program, but I cannot tell you how much because we do not own a scale. I know I was probably near or at 200 pounds back in April, I have a solid build, having weight lifted all my life, but but at 5'8" that is 20-30 pounds overweight.