Tuesday, December 11, 2007

8 on the 8th

Warning: Half-Fast not responsible for hours lost staring into those steely blue eyes.

I awoke on Saturday ready to run 8 miles only to find it cold and snowy. I almost bagged the whole idea in favor of hot cocoa and gingerbread cookies in front of the fire. I wish I would have. Instead I drove to a 1.4 mile loop that circumnavigates a small lake near my house, strapped on my Garmin and commenced operation crazy.

When I began the first lap at 10am mine were the only footprints to blemish the pristine snow that covered the loop. A fresh start. Here I was being a hardcore runner and there was no one around to witness it, nevertheless I was excited to be alone with my thoughts. Alone with the exception of my digital training partner, whom I’ve decided to name Gustavo. (Thanks to Doug for that suggestion.) I set Gustavo out at an 8:50 pace as I was hoping to complete the run in 1:10:00.

Roughly one tenth of a mile into the run I noticed that my right shoe had a fairly large rock jammed into the cavity in the heel. Just my dumb luck I chuckled to myself and stopped quickly to pry it out. What I discovered was not a rock, but a snowball. As I ran the snow would press up into the cavity in the heel (see Figure 1.1) until it was full, at which point the snow on the ground would stick to the snow packed into the cavity and cause a buildup. It was like trying to run in heels that were getting progressively taller with each step, or at least what I would imagine it’s like to run in heels. Despite the fact that I felt like a saucy minx for wearing “heels” I was convinced that this was not a healthy way to run 8 miles.

Strangely enough, this snowball effect was occurring mostly in my right shoe. I tried everything to stop it, I tried landing more on my forefoot, I tried stopping and scrapping it out with a stick, I tried to ignore it, I tried cursing like a sailor on leave which didn’t abate the problem but it sure made me feel better. In the end the only solution was to thump my heel down hard into the gravel path under the snow and then drag my heel. This seemed to work to clear it out, but I ended up having to do this every 50 yards. For 8 miles. I considered quitting many times, and even now while I write this I do not know why I didn’t. Trust me, it’s totally in my personality to just give up and quit when the going gets tough, but for some reason I hung in there on Saturday.

Figure 1.1

As I began my final lap, I noted that my footprints had been joined by a few others. One jogger, and a couple of walkers who had no doubt puzzled over the man with the epileptic twitch in his stride. The path which had once looked like a fresh white canvas was now forever ruined by the punch marks in its surface, the scars of a frustrated runner etched into it by my spastic heel-dragging routine.

My Garmin beeped signaled that I had completed the 8 miles. My final time was 1:13:11 for a pace of 9:09. Gustavo had long since finished. He was already at home in front of my fireplace, drinking my hot cocoa, eating my cookies.

Thanks to Nancy for putting this together, you can visit her blog to see everyone’s final times. It was fun. Honestly. Also, Mizuno running shoes suck!

32 comments:

  1. You saucy minx. Way to gut it out. I would have been long gone, race or not. Especially if there were cookies waiting...

    Thanks for participating in the inaugural 8.

    Nanc

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  2. Congrats on your perseverance! Hope Gustavo saved you some goodies...

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  3. First, congratulations on a great 8 miles, I would of opted for cocoa and gingerbread.

    Second, you are totally right about mizunos. The exact same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I bought a pair cause they look fast and sexy. I wore them in the snow and they turned into a high heel. You described it perfectly. The snow was so packed in there I had to use my key to dig it out.

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  4. Thanks for the link, and nice job on the run!

    I completely agree that Mizuno's suck. Both myself and a friend of mine suffered hip injuries shortly after switching to them.

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  5. ROFLMAO Love the label "Screw you right shoe" That's why you have to switch to Nikes :P Actually I don't even know if they'd fare any better, we don't have THAT kind of snow here. I'll soon find out though *rolls eyes*

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  6. Oops and I forgot . . . AWESOME JOB!!! ;D ;D

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  7. Dude, trail running shoes work great!

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  8. Didn't you complain about your right shoe recently? All you freezing cold 8 on the 8th runners put my crappy six miles with a burr in my pants to shame. Way to gut it out!

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  9. Really good babe. Great writers have to fight it sometimes- you are one of them :)

    btw- I'd love to spend some time lost staring into those steely blue eyes

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  10. Great time, man. Way to tough it out in your sexy snow pumps. How come it seems you look different in every picture you post? Maybe it's because you either have a hat on or sunglasses, or ninja headgear.

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  11. Try spraying a little Pam in the hole. Nice steely eyes

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  12. James just pointed to your picture and said, "Yook! Es Mommy!!!"

    I think we should both feel sad about this.

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  13. I had that EXACT same problem with Mizuno Alchemys. I think I posted about it. I ended up switching shoes for winter running I think, but someone (Heather?) suggested using Vaseline in the pocket (water and oil don't like each other). She used it on her horse's hooves to keep the snow from sticking up in there in the same manner as the Mizunos. Might be worth a try.

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  14. You had me until the Mizuno remark. I heart mine.

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  15. Wow, you and Marcy totally kicked my butt in the 8 on the 8th, and I was running on dry pavement. I feel a speed work New Year's resolution coming on.

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  16. So let me get this straight: you not only walked out of the house where there were cookies, but you walked out knowing you were going to run in snow?? Incredible. I can't get over the snow in the shoe part...I hope you stuffed your face with those cookies when you got home. Great job!

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  17. Way to get out there, and excellent race. I am starting to doubt my Mizunos after my second injury now. Guess, it is time to consider others. I hope Gustavo saved u some cookies!

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  18. Nice run. For some reason I hear the Bionic Man sound effect when I look at that Vanilla triptych. It makes you look too fast.

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  19. I was all excited to read your race report, because you finished closest to me. Then I see that you had problems, and under normal circumstances you probably would have beaten me by a lot. Oh well...

    Congrats on working through the annoyance! Yes, high heels are no fun to run in...

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  20. Great job on the run, even if the snow was prestine, and sucked. I think that trail running shoes would solve this problem. I love the hat, I want one. The last time I was in Bolder was for my brothers graduation over 10 years ago.
    I hope there was hot coco and cookies left for you when you got home.

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  21. Yeah, I'd have bailed once I saw that I was the first one on the trail. Congrats on hobbling the 8 miles.

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  22. How'd you do that last picture? That's pretty cool.

    Congrats on your finish; the weather on my end of the race was MUCH nicer.

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  23. Looks like you got some sort of dirt on your jacket. It's in the shape of a CU. Weird. Most years, a RED N will get that out.

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  24. I just have to say it must've been fate for me to read your blog entry today on running 8 miles in that snow and wintry temps. I was dreading getting outside for a 52-minute run, decided to procrastinate and read some of my favorite blogs _ and saw your post. Needless to say, I didn't have any difficulty getting out after reading it! Thanks!

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  25. RazZDoodle, this is a family oriented blog. Please do not post such disgusting profanities in my comments section. Besides, aren't you picking the wrong year to talk trash about CU?

    ;)

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  26. Nice job! Sorry to hear about the shoes!

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  28. Vanilla,

    I am picking the wrong year. Remember when Barnett was a lame duck coach? That's what NU went through this year. I'll try and keep the obscenities to a minimum.

    :)

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  29. Way to go Vanilla - love the action shots - although I was hoping for a play by play of you kicking the snow out of your shoes. If it makes you feel any better, I have a pair of Adidas that have the same type of malfunction. They like to pick up rocks too.

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  30. I love the running sequence photos. Good job keeping on til the finish, in spite of the snow high heels! I had the same problem today with my snowshoes. Just another little annoyance of winter to put up with.

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  31. I'm out in Denver on business and I went out onto the Mall this morning and ran around Coors Field. Had to sneak under a security gate to make the loop, because the field seems to be girdled by non-runner friendly highways. But where's the snow? Alack, all I saw was some black ice where some thawing/freezing was going on. I had even made sure to wear my shoes w/o a hole in the heel. I was so disappointed I took the free bus back to my hotel, after capping off my early morning run by mingling with that rough crowd in the McDonalds on 16th one block up from Curtis.

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  32. Peter, the snow doesn't stay long here. I think it's due to how dry the air is, the sun comes out and the snow not only melts it evaporates into the air.

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