Thursday, May 10, 2012

Last Mention Of Limerick, Honestly

Maia, my 4-year old, was puzzled about 2 things after I came home from Limerick. First, she wanted to know why I got a medal if I hadn't won the race. She clearly disapproves of the whole "everyone-is-a-winner" mentality. More pressing, however, were her questions how I had gotten my yellow balloon, because that was something NOT everyone got. She lightened up when we discovered the following picture:

(photo by Salvatore Conte photographer)
"You are running away from all the other ones! They could not keep up and that's why you kept the balloon". She is actually closer to the truth than you might think, the photo was from mile 22 and we have just lost most of our group. There were 4 guys with us at that point and a mile later that was down to 2.

Oh, and I'm not heel striking in this picture ;-) . I tend to be a heel striker with one foot and a midfoot striker with the other if the pace is quick enough. That asymmetrical gait started about 2 years ago, up to then I was heel striking with both feet. I never consciously tried to change my gait, it just happened, and I have been waiting for 2 years for the other foot to follow but no dice. Since then I have run about 7000 miles like that without getting injured; I am therefore not too worried about either my knee or the rest of my legs.

Paul and me made it into the highlights video as well, at 6:24 into it; I find the contrast between the frantic sprint finish of the other runners and our relaxed jog to the line quite funny.



Recovery is going reasonably well, I have been doing a series of easy 5 mile runs ever since and 8 this morning at "Kildare" pace. Luckily there have been no frantic phone calls this week to bump me up another pace group, so 3:30 it is. I'm kinda questioning the wisdom of crossing the entire country just to run a training marathon when I could do it from my door step, but the thought of sharing the run with others, helping them to achieve a time and also having it count as an official marathon finish is far more appealing than spending 3-4 hours entirely on my own.
9 May
5 miles, 38:47, 7:45 pace, HR 146
10 May
8 miles, 1:03:04, 7:53 pace, HR 145

3 comments:

  1. You should enter her in the Community Games. Then we'll see if the "everyone's not a winner" attitude changes ;)

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  2. To a 4 year old the balloon is obviously a whole heap more important than the medal!

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  3. The asymmetrical footstrike is probably balancing some other asymmetry in the legs/knees/hips/arms so you're right in not trying to 'correct' it.

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