September-present

It's been about two months since I last posted, so I figured it was time for an update. After a solid August my shin started hurting pretty bad in one spot within a 3 day span. My knee also still hurts from the fall I took on the trails at Mt. Airy back in May (smashed it on a rock). I decided to take 3 weeks off in September to heal up, then hopefully get some runs in so I can at least finish the St. Louis Rock N Roll half-marathon on October 23rd. I got 3 weeks of 15-20 miles in with all 4-6 milers. I decided to help pace good friend Amy Marxkors who would be attempting to run the full marathon in 3:15. The two races run together for 8 miles when they split, so we were to run 7:24 pace for those 8 miles. 6 days before the race I did a fairly hilly 8 miler at 7:15 pace, so at least I knew I could make it to the 8 mile mark with her. The race turned out to be a lot of fun as we just chatted the entire time and had a great water stop at the 6 mile mark where all my former co-workers were working. We averaged 7:18 pace for the first 8 miles and we were off on our separate ways. The last 5 miles I ran in 34:56 with a 6:40 last mile...totally shocked myself. Time was 1:34:11, not shabby for running 50 miles total in the previous 6 weeks. Amy had an amazing race running 3:12 for a 5 minute PR! After the race my knee and shin were hurting pretty bad so I decided to go see an Ortho. He informed me that I have a ruptured bursa on my patella tendon...awesome. I have been doing physical therapy and getting treatment 3 times per week and hopefully can start back up around Thanksgiving. It is hard seeing all my co-workers head out on runs and I am heading home to eat too much food. Soon I will be back out there though! Until then...