HOLY CRAP IT'S FALL, HERE'S AN UPDATE

Silver Falls with the 'rents a few years ago.

I still need to write that Shamrock Recap. Gah. I have a few notes already saved, I just need to buck up and do it. It'll probably be a lot shorter and less elaborate than most my race recaps, but that's okay. I just feel the need to recap any race I really try at.

Unfortunately (or fortunately??), my body was not in a place to do a marathon this year. When I tried to ramp up to ten miles in late May to get ready for the "start" of training in June, I had a huge flair of my psoriatic arthritis. The "long runs" the previous two weeks, I think they were 8 and 9 miles, were absolute death marches with my heart rate in the high 170s. This after my ramp up from 5 to 6 to 7 went swimmingly. So I don't know what the fuck was up.

Anyways, by the time I could realistically try to run distance again, it was late June and the marathon was out the window. Around this time, the Silver Falls Half Marathon opened for registration, and over the years I guess it has gotten less popular. Back in the day you had to be ready to register at 7am to even have a chance. I registered at like 2pm the day it opened without issue. I think it was open for weeks before filling. Long story short, I kind of blacked out and somehow signed up for a trail half marathon in early November. Oops.

The trail half really appealed to me because worst case I could just walk most of it like it was a hike. Generally, a trail half is more forgiving goal. There are uphills you kind of have to walk, your time is going to suck because its a trail so you don't have weird mental hangups about getting "under 2:15" or something, and generally a trail sounds nicer to my body than a road. Basically, I can just go out there, try my best, finish in like three hours, and call it a day. Sounds good.

In preparation, I am increasing my "long run" again. I just did 8 miles last weekend and it actually felt pretty good. My heart rate was in the high 150s and my body was adjusting nicely to the slow increase in mileage. I'll try for 9 this weekend and then 10 the weekend after. I then have two more weekends before the race. We'll see. Basically, I'm now confident I can run a majority of the 13 miles. That wasn't the case a month ago when my runs were capping out at 4 miles.

So that's the update. Once that half is out of the way, I'm sure I'll go into my normal hibernation mode. Every winter I pretend I'm going to work on speed and I never do. So I won't even pretend this year. We've just had the first wave of "winter-like" weather and I could feel it in my body instantly. Hopefully I can feel good enough to try the 15k again next spring in the Shamrock Run.

2022-23 WINTER RECAP

What a fun, beautiful jaunt through the forest! What could go wrong?

Trying not to fall too far behind here on the blog. I will have a seperate post recapping the Shamrock 15k this year, but I've also been meaning to do a general update since the Portland Marathon. So that's what this post will be about.

The recovery from the Portland Marathon went really well! I attribute this to my decent amount of training and slower time not pounding the crap out of my body. I was definitely sore for a few days, but by Thursday or so I felt almost back to normal. I did take a full two weeks off before running again just to make sure I was rested enough. I could still feel the race a teeny bit that first run or two, but I was back to my normal self pretty quick. Unlike some years, there wasn't really a lingering hangover in my legs from the race. So that was encouraging.

In November I did the Silver Falls 7-Miler with Katie. She signed us up when it opened (hard to get into and you have to be right there ready at like 7am, so there's no hope I could ever register myself). I was excited to do it because I had never done a trail run. I knew we'd just run it for fun and not actually race it, so it would be a nice way to test out a trail run. I didn't have trail shoes or anything, but that loop at Silver Falls is improved enough where you didn't really need them. I felt okay in just normal running shoes and a lot of the "normies" running the race were in the same boat.

And it was pretty fun and great until Katie fell about four miles in and completely gashed her knee open. She was in a decent amount of pain but still able to run, so we walked/ran the rest of the way. Unfortunately for her, she really didn't have much of an option given the trail nature of the race. After we finished she stopped by the medical tent to get a bandage and OH MY GOD she lifted her running tights past the wound and it was like a horror movie. Anyways, I spent the rest of that morning and most of the afternoon in the Salem ER while she got that attended to with internal and external stitches. Poor Katie! I would definitely do that run again but I'm not sure she would!

Other than that, it was another winter just trying to stay above water with my fitness. The cold weather makes my joints hurt and that makes running really unappealing. It doesn't really make me feel better or worse (well, it would make me feel worse if I overdid it) but the motivation is just so hard to come by. I was able to mostly run twice a week for four miles, whether that be inside on the treadmill or with Sunstone on the weekdays. I just really, really dislike dark & cold running.

I did feel better than last winter though which is attributable to Cosentyx versus Simponi I believe. It still was FAR from perfect, but I did not experience a miserable amount of inflammation very often. Just kind of a constant dull pain with mini flares, but that is an improvement! I felt better to the point I was able to sign up and do the Shamrock 15k, which is a huge improvement over last year barely being able to stomach the thought of the 8k. I'm in about 8-mile long run shape right now, so if I can maintain and build on that, I'll me much farther ahead this year if I end up doing a marathon in the fall.

So yeah, that's the update. Still hate the winter, it still makes my body feel horrible, but it wasn't as bad as the last few years and I am in better shape at this point in the year than any year since... 2019. So that's encouraging. Now, I'm still slow as SHIT, that hasn't improved at all, but frankly that's the least of my concern. The goal is just to be out there trotting around, so I'll continue to make peace with whatever pace that is. Oh, and that AI picture is "arthritic man running the New York Marathon," I saw it and was like "yup, that looks about right!" Credit Bing photo generator.