Congratulations to everyone who finished the Run-of-Luck, presented by Orthopaedic Associates! You can find full results here. Read below to hear stories from our River Run Ambassadors!
Lori
Week7! Run of Luck!! SOOO very happy with my results, did the 4.6 in one hour, not great by running standards but I now have an official race under my belt and I know where I need to go from here. That is after my ankle heals, rolled my ankle at the 1 mile marker at start of race, didn’t feel bad during the race but it is very sore now. I will be babying it for this week to get ready for more intense training next week. I have to better my time to 13/14 minute mile and I am confident that I will get to a comfortable 6 mile run/walk. NOW, dealing with an injury. I iced it, elevated for most of the rest of Saturday and Sunday but it’s still a bit sore. So how to train with an injury? This week I’ll concentrate on my upper body and the PhysiMax exercises and try to keep from injuring my ankle more than it is. It’s ok to walk on, more painful to drive. No swelling and a tiny bit of blue color so I’m thinking more muscle/tendon then bone. So, on to a new chapter in the running world; injury.
With 6 weeks to the big day I want to make sure to stay healthy and uninjured. AND Ri Ra’s was a great place to have a race! The people were great, the soup after the run was delish, I plan on participating in next year’s Run of Luck. AND as a side note, I think my shoes saved me from an even more severe injury, they have a lot of support on the ankle so I didn’t fall and was able to catch myself with a minimal injury. Great work Ultimate Fit for the excellent work on proper fitting of my running shoes and the support I needed!
Katie – What Would Elle Woods Do?
I spent a lot of time this past week thinking back to when I first started training for the River Run. I can proudly say that I no longer need to dream about Oreo Blizzards to get through a training run #winning. I can also say that I haven’t had any barbecue wings since…well, since my last not-so-great experience.
On Saturday we participated in the Run Of Luck, which was about 4.35 miles. And I was able to run so much more than I thought I could. I definitely wasn’t able to run the whole time, but I kept my pace, and ended up finishing the race with a 15.47 minute/mile pace. I had tears in my eyes throughout most of the last mile; I was SO tired and my legs were SO worn out and my feet were throbbing, but I was SO proud of myself. Because I knew that I had kept a good pace, and I pushed myself so much farther than I ever have. Those tears weren’t because of the pain (because quite frankly, I was in pain pretty much the whole time); they were because of the accomplishment. When I first started training as an ambassador, I was at an 18.1 minute/mile pace, and I’ve been able to cut my time by over 2 minutes. I haven’t been as consistent with my training as I’ve wanted to be, but I can still see the positive changes from where I started to where I am today. I was still very sore after the Run Of Luck, but the pain wore off much quicker than the pain I’ve had from my previous trainings.
I am very excited about the progress that I’ve made, and seeing these results has encouraged me to become more engaged in this training process, and put more time and energy into preparing for the River Run coming up in May. I’ve wanted to become more active for a very long time, and I hope that I can continue this momentum even after the race is over. I’m not ashamed to say that when I need a little push, I often turn on Legally Blonde—because sometimes, we all just need a little Elle Woods motivation.
“Exercise gives you endorphins; endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands—they just don’t.”
Nikki – Don’t forget to use the restroom prior to a run …
I was reminded of this on Saturday before my 7k run for the Run of Luck. The week leading up to my run had been slow as I tried to find motivation to run/work out. I had not been able to get myself up earlier than when I had to get ready for work, so any kind of morning work out was not happening. All of my training had to be done after work, which is hard enough to do when you get home around dinner time. I found motivation to run a couple days after work, but running by myself is lonely and it is hard to run for distance when it is you and Pandora radio motivating you. Needless to say, I was worried that with me being sick for 2 weeks and then running a 7k that I would have difficulty finishing the race.
Saturday morning I woke up, ate a couple pieces of toast, and heading to Ri Ra’s for the race. Not only was it colder than I thought it was going to be, I also did not realize I had to use the restroom until there was a couple of minutes before it was time to start. When 8:00 hit, I was off with the rest of the runners with the goal of running non-stop until I crossed the finish line.
The race was not difficult in the sense that there were hills/obstacles, but it was difficult running along the river on the same road twice. I used to live downtown when I was at USI, and I do not remember it being so far to get to Ri Ra’s but my legs were heavy as I ran. Thirty-eight minutes later I crossed the finish line, pleased in the fact I did not stop and walk as well as being able to use the bathroom at last.
Ruth – March is Taking “In Like A Lion” to a Whole New Level
So best laid plans, right?
Progressive Health armed me with exercises I could do at home, I was going to run outside, I was taking this whole running thing by storm (I have yet to classify myself as a runner). Figuring even if a little cold snap happened I would be alright.
Then Punxsutawney Phil, rears his little head and gets the last laugh. Lulled into a false since of hope for sunshine and warmer weather, he giggled as all our hopes were dashed (I am feeling a little dramatic today) into the cold hard ground.
Alright, so the plans were to exercise at home and run outside, this way I didn’t incur the extra expense of a gym membership. With recent cold weather it has been hard to get motivated to run outside. I had managed a little exercise the past weekend but not much. So when Katie suggested we get together as a group, I was all for it.
We have met to exercise indoors and have plans in place for some outdoor walking/running. Having a plan in place and exercise dates added to my calendar makes me feel better and more prepared. While I am happy to being spontaneous, I also love to having plans on my calendar. In my already super active family, if it’s not on the calendar, it’s probably not happening.
This last weekend was the Run of Luck. This is my first ever actual timed race. My overall goal was to get the 4.5 miles finished in a hour. Not only did I meet that, I beat it! My feeling after was total excitement, tiredness, and proud. I was so happy to have made my goal time. It makes me feel so much better, less nervous, about getting across the bridge the day of the River Run. I had so much fun more fun then I thought I would. I ran so much more then I thought I would.
