This is what happens when you like to run too much…

Voici qu’est-ce qui se passe quand tu cours trop… (français ici) 

On Sunday Nov 20^th, my body let me know that running is OK. It also let me know that if I ran too much it was going to stop me.

This is how it all started. I started running in 1998…. ran 5 marathons… stopped in 2001. Started up again in 2009… I ran my first marathon since 2001 in May 2011.

My summary for 2011 before the Route 66 marathon was a couple of 10K , a 12K trail run,  a 20K, a half marathon road race, a half marathon trail run, 2 marathons and a 56K trail run… all of this since March 2011.

When I did that half marathon trail run in Orford, Quebec in October in 4:40 minutes, I was questioning my sanity. I did the Montreal marathon 2 weeks before, so a nice ½ marathon would be easy….right?  Aaaaaack ! NOT !!

I was kinda exhausted after. No pain in the joints but I was just exhausted. I took it easy for a week right after the run but I thought I was still good. My long runs went well and I was feeling pretty good.  As they say the marathon begins at mile 20… it did as well for me.

The day started quite fair. Temperature was lower than 40F (8C) instead of the above 40 that I was expecting.  I’ll plan on gloves next time.  

But I still felt confident. Start slow and finish strong was my plan. It was a good start (or so I thought).  I loved the atmosphere of the Route 66 marathon. The route in Tulsa showed lots of beautiful areas of the city and of course quite a few of their hills.

At 10 km, I was at 1 hour and 1 minute. So far… so good… The wind was annoying but I was moving so I was OK. I felt a tad tired just before I got to the half finish line. Of course, some thoughts popped in my head. It would be so easy just to stop and go to my wife, who is sitting there waiting for me… but I’m too stupid to quit… so I keep going. My time at the half is 2 hours 12 minutes so my goal of 4 hours and 15 is gone. I figured I still had a good shot at 4 hours 30 minutes.  I kept checking in with my wife over the cell phone… she worries you know. 

After the half, I got my second wind and felt better. Not too long after I hit the 30 km marker at 3 hours 15 minutes. I WAS on track for my 4 hour 30 min. I made it to the 20 miler and called my wife saying all is good. I had barely hung up when a “weird” feeling started in my right knee. Not pain… just a LACK of feeling. I know my body and when I feel funky stuff that I’ve never felt before… PAY ATTENTION TO IT.

I kept jogging until my knee started collapsing under me. So the walking began…  I was not alone. There were quite a few other walkers out there… so I felt a “tad” better. (OK… then again I felt like crap!!)  I kept trying to jog for a bit and my knee kept telling me “NO WAY YOU FRIKKIN MORON… YOU ARE WALKING NOT RUNNING.”  It kept collapsing under me.

Finally I got it in my head that I ran too much this year. I’m VERY lucky right now. There’s no pain and nothing’s torn. If I would have been pig headed and tried to keep going, it would have been nasty. So it took 2 hours to do the final 12 km )I got a final time of 5:12:52) but I got a great look at the University of Tulsa walking thought there.

Here I am, two days later, almost all symptoms gone. I know the knee is not right, but there’s still no pain and I’m walking normal. Ankles feel a little funky but all in all I’m good.

Each and every time I do these things, I keep asking myself “Why the bloody hell… Do you do this crap?”  Each and every time all I can come up with is “Running helps me believe I can”