Med City - New plans

I went into Med City with expectations and hope. The hope was that it would go so well that I could continue on to Minneapolis and then Grandmas with no concerns. My expectations were that it would go well enough that I at least would have a decision to make.

I love the Med City marathon, it is exactly the type of event that I enjoy doing. First it has great volunteers, a nice course with enough variety to keep me entertained, a great race director and very easy logistics. All in all it is a great event.

For today's run, my day started at 3:30 am as I needed to leave by around 4:30 to 4:45 to get to Rochester in time to catch the bus. Around 4 am, I had a minor crisis arise as we lost power, kind of hard to get out the door when you are walking around with a flashlight. The worse part was I didn't get my second cup of coffee. I got out the door and made it Rochester just before 6, parked within a 100 feet of the bus and before I knew it, I was heading to Byron for the start. Picked up my packet with no issue other than they were out of shirts in my size. Since I had dropped from the marathon and missed the expo, I was ok with that.

I started the race at the back of the pack and ran with the 5 hr marathon pacer, not by choice but it just happened. The reason I say not by choice, it has been my experience that pacers are just a bit too encouraging for me. I was again running and walking and I expected that I would maintain the pace through at least the first 10 to 12 miles. By mile 6, I knew that I would hold my surgery appointment for Thursday. Similar to Lake Wobegon, I could not hold a consistent pace, the difference though was that it happened even sooner, I watched my mile times slow from 11 1/2 to 12 to 12 1/2 to 13 to 14 to 15 minute pace by the end. It was a bit warm but my issue was pain and push off, as the pain wore on, I seemed to lose the ability to maintain the running at a decent pace and the walking slowed as well.

Oh well, it is what it is. I do hope the surgery goes ok, I am more than a bit worried about the amount of meniscus I will have left, I think last time the surgeon removed about 1/2. The main concern is what he tells me for resuming running.

It may surprise a few folks but in the back of my mind I am still thinking of running Grandmas, it will be 23 days after surgery so there is a chance. Again, I will wait and see, other than Grandmas, I am definitely planning to resume with marathons at Eugene Curnow (44 days post surgery) or worse case St. Paul Urban (86 days post surgery).

Of course I will follow my Doctor's advice on when I can resume running, at least for the first week or two :-).

Stay tuned.