My Plan for the Ventura Marathon

When I first talked about my running plans for the summer I knew that I wanted to run the Ventura Marathon or Half Marathon since it takes place on my birthday. I didn't want to put any pressure on myself and I just wanted to enjoy my run since it will be a while before a race falls on my birthday again. 

For the past few weeks I have been dealing with pain in my left hip. It never hurts while I run but seems to be sore the next morning. I self diagnosed myself with hip bursitis so I took nine days off from running to see if it would get better. I have been faithfully doing these exercises at home twice a day. I decided to go for an easy 6 miles run on Monday since I needed to make a decision by Tuesday and still had some minor soreness. I also saw my doctor on Tuesday and he confirmed that I have a case of hip bursitis. 

The good thing is that I have already been doing the exercises he recommended and taking anti-inflammatory meds so I am a already a lot better. He told me that I should not run as long as I feel the pain which is what I expected he would say. The words that us runners hate to hear!

My deadline to defer my race was Tuesday so I had to make a decision or take my chances and lose my money. I honestly felt like I could still run the race if I ran at any easy pace which was my original plan to begin with. After much thought and listening to the advice of others, I decided to defer my entry to 2015 because it is the smart thing to do. I have to listen to my body and think of how this will affect me long term. I also have to practice what I preach. I still have my heart set on running Long Beach with my friend in four weeks so I need to focus on getting better for that race. I already have a 20 miler under my belt so I think I can pull it off if I allow myself to heal. My doctor thinks that I should be feeling 100% in the next week or so since I already took some time off.

So if you are running Ventura I won't be out there running in my birthday outfit. I won't have a chance to run a race that falls on my birthday for quite a few years so that is kind of disappointing. I think I am at peace with my decision and am grateful that I am already feeling a lot better. I am a little sad that this is my second DNS for 2014. I almost feel like I am jinxed but hopefully this is the start to something even better for me.

Have you ever ran a race on your birthday?

12 Weeks From Now and an 80 Minute Plank

Guess what happens 12 weeks from now? It will be my birthday. I am old so I don't really look forward to birthday's anymore but I am actually looking forward to my birthday this year. I started running in the end of 2010 and since then I have never found a local race that takes place on my birthday. I have always wanted to run a race on my birthday and this year it is actually going to happen. What a great way to torture myself on my birthday, right?

I signed up for the full marathon since it was only $70.00 but I am leaving the option of running the half open as well. I want to enjoy the race and not pressure myself too much on my birthday but the other voice in my head has other ideas that I am ignoring at the moment. The thought of a Birthday BQ would be awesome but I don't want to be sad on my birthday if it doesn't happen. Registration for Boston 2015 starts the day after my birthday  so it would make perfect sense to get with it but I am not committing to anything at this point. It makes me nervous to just think about it.

In any case, my training has been aimed at the marathon. September is known to be a hot month here in Southern California so if the forecast is pointing at a hot day I will most likely run the half and then start looking for a fall marathon to run in October or November. I don't do well in the heat. I am not sure how I survived the LA Marathon earlier this year. I just remember it was not pretty and not wanting to ever do it again.

I don't think I mentioned this but I have been kind of challenging myself with planks lately. I am not following any kind of plank challenge or anything like that. i am just doing my own thing. I just try to add 10 seconds every to my record each time. When I first started I think I could hold it for 1:20 and within a week I was up to 2:40. I am kind of proud of myself. I don't really have a goal but I hope I can hold one for 3-4 minutes within a couple of weeks. 

Did you hear about the 16-year old girl from Boulder,Colorado who held a plank for one hour, 20 minutes and five seconds and earned her way into the Guinness Book of World Records? I have some serious work to do if I want to catch up to her!

Source

 Have you ever ran a race on your birthday?

What is your record for a plank?