Runner with Raynaud's

I've mentioned here before that I have a condition called Raynaud's. People with Raynaud's experience an exaggerated spasm of the blood vessels as a response to cold or stress. It's more than just having cold hands or cold feet (though I normally have both) although the fingers, toes, and nose are most commonly effected. When your body is exposed to cold temperatures, your extremities lose heat. Your body slows down blood supply to your fingers and toes to preserve your body's core temperature. Your body specifically reduces blood flow by narrowing the small blood vessels under the skin of your extremities. In people with Raynaud's, this normal response is exaggerated. Affected areas of skin usually turn white at first. Then, the affected areas often turn blue, feel cold and numb, and sense of touch is dulled. As circulation improves, the affected areas may turn red, throb, tingle or swell. The order of the changes of color isn't the same for all people, and not everyone experiences all three colors.

Both hands affected, about 30 minutes after I finished running and stopped at the store on my way home.

Just one finger affected- this was at a restaurant

I only have trouble with my fingers. I don't usually have trouble when I'm running, but if I can't or don't change out of my sweaty clothes right after a run and take a hot shower, I will usually have an episode. Even in the summer, being in the air conditioning in sweaty clothes is enough to chill me and cause an episode. Sometimes I have episodes when I'm not running, like at a restaurant when I'm drinking something cold, or at the grocery store if I spend too much time in the refrigerated or freezer sections. My fingers will turn white first. They feel cold and numb and I lose the sense of touch. Hot water is the #1 thing that will reverse an episode for me. When an episode reverses, my fingers turn red and throb/tingle. It's not completely painful, but the best way I can describe it is an uncomfortable tingle.

I guess I had my first episode of Raynaud's as a teenager, but then it didn't bother me for a long time. Episodes became much more frequent when I started training for my first half marathon in winter 2010. There are treatments, but all medications come with risks, and I haven't had any long term effects from Raynaud's so I've shyed away from treatment in the past. I wear gloves outdoors most of the time when it's below 60 degrees. I carry a pair in my purse in case a restaurant or the grocery store is chilly. I use those chemical hand warming packs when it's near freezing. Keeping my core warm is the most important thing I've found, so I wear a jacket or vest even when it's as warm as 60.

I see a rheumatologist yearly to make sure I don't have any autoimmune disorders because Raynaud's can sometimes be affiliated with  them and I have a family history. So far, I'm negative for anything like Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis. A couple weeks ago, I went to my regular appointment with the doctor. He again brought up the option of treatment for Raynaud's. Because the episodes have become more frequent, last longer, and are harder to reverse than ever before, I was interested. He suggested a calcium channel blocker, a type of heart medication, that is used for high blood pressure and chest pain because it relaxes blood vessels. It can work for Raynaud's. I started taking Procardia about 9 days ago. I started at a very low dose, and the plan is to increase the dose if I still have episodes and as long as I tolerate the medication. I can take the Procardia seasonally- maybe just November through March. I had some low blood pressure and didn't feel quite right for the first few days but I've been feeling good the past week. I also haven't had any episodes! It's been pretty warm, so I'm not certain there's been a full challenge, yet. I should go up on my dosage tomorrow, but since I haven't had any episodes I'm going to wait. It would be great if I could stay at the lowest dose and it be effective.

New PR- for Distance!

This morning, and into the afternoon, I ran my first 15 miler. This is part of the plan I wrote for my half marathon PR attempt. I've mentally put that PR attempt on the back burner. I'll make that call on race day. But the plan calls for a 15 miler and a 17 miler before taper. Checked the first one off my to-do list. It was my longest run so far!

I ran with Shannon and Libby, from Libby's house. Our first 4.5ish miles were part of a loop that took us through one side of my neighborhood. We briefly stopped at Libby's house before heading out on the 10+ mile loop. Libby took us through most of west Allen I'm certain. There were lots of pretty houses and neighborhoods I've never seen before. There were also hills that I didn't know existed in Allen. We made 2 stops at CVS, one for me to potty and one to buy water since we'd run out. The last 2.5 miles were tough and I think we were all hurting. Shannon and Libby had excuses, with a 10 miler just yesterday. We took walk breaks every half mile instead of every full mile. I was thankful for the breaks, but my hips/legs were so tight that it hurt to get started running again. Libby measured the distance perfectly, and my watch beeped 15 just as we got to her street.

So, 15 was tough. We ran a comfortable pace so it wasn't my lungs that limit me... But my legs (and brain) are wondering how I'm going to do that PLUS 11.2 more miles! The good news is I only have 2 more really long runs before the marathon... 17 and 20. The bad news is I only have 2 more. I'm kinda freaking out that I don't have more time to add more 20(+) milers. I believe the marathon has a 6 hour time limit, with the option to start earlier if you think it'll take longer. I will be re-reading that section of the website just in case!

Oh, and the best part of the run was a chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake that Shannon got for all of us to celebrate my 15 miler. It was absolutely amazing. I might have licked the chocolate chips that stuck to the paper.

Stonebridge Ranch Half Marathon Report

This is long and mostly uninteresting, but it's helpful for me to go back and read race details sometimes. The last paragraph is where it's at, so if you want to skip and go there, I'll never know.

I hadn't originally planned to run/race this half marathon. But, my training plan called for 13 miles and a friend was selling a voucher she bought for the race but wasn't going to redeem, so I bought that from her and decided to race. I ran part of the course with Shannon last weekend and I've run races on parts of this course... so I definitely knew it was hilly. When I bought the voucher and registered, there was only a 10% chance of rain for race day. As the week progressed and race day grew closer, the chance of rain was up to 80%. I've never been running in the rain, so I had zero rain gear. I searched online and asked for advice on Facebook. The only thing I needed to buy was a water resistant jacket. I found one I loved at the Nike outlet- purple and on sale.

The temperature was in the upper 40's on race morning. I'd read that you shouldn't dress any warmer for running in the rain, but my history of getting cold easily led me to believe that was advice for everyone else and I should still dress warmly. It turns out, I should follow the advice. I decided to wear a long sleeve top, my new jacket, a hat, gloves, full tights, and a skirt. Early in the race, when I was running hard, I was hot. If I had it to do over, I would wear short sleeves with the jacket and gloves and either just the skirt or the skirt with capris. It was only light rain to drizzle during the race, never a full on downpour. Other than the one time I stepped in a puddle (so didn't see it, and exclaimed "sh!t" in suprirse- police officer laughed at me) I kind of liked it.

Just before the race, Jake spotted Victoria. We lined up next to each other, at the back of the pack (small race with only 233 finishers I believe). I went into this race with the idea of setting a PR, despite it being a tough course. So when we crossed the start line, I took off. After 15 minutes of climbing the biggest inclines of the course, I was sucking wind and hurting. I took my first walk break and decided to switch to the 4:1 ratio I'd been playing with. I kept my running pace in the 8's to accommodate for my walk breaks and still keep my pace in PR range. It worked for a few miles, but everything was hurting. I remember my right shoulder and neck feeling incredibly tight and my back and legs aching. Victoria passed me at about 55 minutes. A long and straight stretch of the race was on El Dorado. That beat me down. Looking at the elevation chart, it appears to be downhill. There's no way! I nearly got hit by a car that turned onto El Dorado and picked the runner's lane instead of the car lane. I hopped onto a curb and the driver figured out she was wrong. The police officer at that intersection apologized for the car, which was nice. I was really surprised that much of the course was on the road instead of sidewalks. There was a ton of police and volunteer presence. But by this point, the runners were spreading thin. I could usually see somebody ahead of me and behind me. I saw Jake while I was on El Dorado and he took a couple pictures of me. I saw him again around mile 10. Somewhere in the middle of that I ran with Robin for a little bit. In the 9-10 mile range my calves started to cramp. It slowed me to a walk. I tried stretching. Nothing was working. I'd try to run a little, but that hurt more, so I was back to walking. Getting to the 12 mile marker was a big mental boost, as I knew I could make it another mile to the finish. Through all of the walking, I'd been passed and passed. I could no longer see anyone behind me and convinced myself I was DFL (dead fu**ing last) (Thank you for the term, Libby). I picked it up to a slow jog for a half mile or so, walked a little, then picked up the jog again. I was freezing and ready to be done, so I just tried to put the pain out of my head and concentrate on moving toward the finish line. I finally made it- in 2:34:46. It turns out I wasn't last, there were 27 people behind me. It also turns out that was my second fastest half marathon time. In looking at my splits, I'm surprised that my walking miles weren't slower, though I think I could have finished a good 10 minutes faster had I been able to run instead of walk.

By the end of the race I was cold, miserable, and beat down by my performance. I questioned why I had just registered for Rock n Roll Dallas, why I thought a sub-2 half was anywhere within reach, why I was running a 203 mile relay with a great group of girls, and why I thought I could run a marathon. I felt like a bad runner, one who has no business tackling crazy things like these. I've done some soul searching since then and come to a conclusion. I'm breaking up with Speed. My relationship with Speed is verbally abusive. Speed is physically abusive to me. He played a big role in my stress fracture. Goodbye Speed and our abusive relationship. I'm going to hang out with Distance. I enjoy our time together and he doesn't hurt me the way you do. Our dates last longer because I don't obsess over pace and I take walk breaks, but he's the one I really love, so more time is fine. No, it's great. Next weekend I'll embrace Distance with 15 miles, my longest run so far.

Long Runs Getting Longer

Yesterday I met 11 other girls from North Texas Runners at Arbor Hills for a run. The actual trail trails were closed because of our recent rain, so we stuck to the pavement. We ran 2 mile HILLY loops, so it was double duty hillwork and long run. My plan called for 7.5 miles, but I knew I'd probably go a little long because of the loops- and my stellar math abilities told me that 2x4=8. :) We ran the first loop together, then in the second loop I caught up to Fiona who was leading the pack. I'd forgotten how well we run together- she was my 5am running buddy through the summer. We took walk breaks every mile, and a little more in our last mile since I'd technically met my quota, but my average pace was still just over 11. That's faster than my other long runs, especially figuring in the hills... but it didn't feel like it. We finished with 8.5 miles. Next week calls for 9, so not much of a bump unless I go long again.

I got some input from another runner who I respect very much and am taking to heart. She pointed out that it's quite ambitious for me to try for a sub-2 half PR one weekend, run TIR the next weekend, my 20 mile longest run the next, then taper for a marathon. I certainly don't want to get injured again! I think I'll know how my body is holding up by my 17 mile long run 2 weeks before Rock n Roll Dallas and I'll make the decision about sub-2 way closer to that date. It's sort of like the marathon. It's flagged on my calendar but I realize my health will dictate what I can do.

I was the last person on Earth to be tagged for the random 11 things going around running blogs. Thanks, Pam. I am planning to get to this in the next day or two.

It's Been a Long Time Since I Came Around

What motivates me to come here and write is when I am doing something I love- training. Training requires a race and a goal. Sometimes the race is the goal, sometimes they're separate. I committed to running the Texas Independence Relay a little while back, during a night out with my girl frunners. It's a 203 mile relay from Bastrop to the San Jacinto monument. I don't know which legs I'll run, yet, but according to the site teams of 12 end up running about 17 total miles each. I'm really excited about that weekend so I've been leery of signing up for any other races that might cause me to get injured again.

Over the past week or two I've decided to go ahead and run the Rock n Roll Dallas half marathon again. It was my first, last year, and still stands as my PR (hopefully just due to hot weather and injury standing in the way of better times at the other races). It's the weekend before TIR. It seems like almost every runner I know is going to be running RnR and I know I'd be sad to not race that day. I'm going for my sub-2 goal that day, assuming the weather is right and my body is healthy. I've been reading Jeff Galloway's book and I came across the training plan to go sub-2 using his run/walk/run method. I think my increase in mileage and speed at the same time are what caused my stress fracture, so as of right now I'm thinking of following his distance recommendations (longest long run is 17 miles) but not doing the speedwork. That will also shorten the number of weeks in the plan to exactly what I have left between now and the race. I'm hopeful that run/walk/run will keep me off the injured list and allow me to run the faster pace that I'll need comfortably because I'll have the walk breaks. We'll see- since I'm not following the plan in it's entirety I know I may not be ready to go sub-2. Part of me just holds onto my sub-par training for last year's Dallas RnR and the fact that my time was only 9 minutes over 2 hours.

But then I started thinking (at about 3am today)... I'd run 17 miles before the half. Many novice marathon training plans take you to 20 miles for the longest run. It seems like a shame to take myself to 17 and not go get my marathon. The Oklahoma City Marathon is April 29th. It's within driving distance, a little farther north so maybe a little cooler than Dallas at that time... although who knows, the end of April could be hot or cold here or there. But timing seems like it could work.

• Run 17
• Taper next weekend
• Race the half
• Run TIR
• Run 20
• Taper for 2 weeks
• Run my first marathon (NO time goals. Promise.)

The marathon is super tentative. I'm hoping sell out is not a concern and I can make the decision to register a month or less before the race.

What You Get for Waking up in Vegas

I registered Jake and myself to run the Rock n Roll Vegas half marathon months ago- on opening day, in fact. It was supposed to be my "A" race, my sub 2 attempt if it hadn't happened yet. But with my stress fracture, my hopes switched to "maybe I'll get to run and not have to walk." I was cleared to run a couple weeks ago but only ran once prior to arriving in Vegas. It was Jake's first half marathon and he wasn't feeling particularly strong about his training (longest long run was 9 miles and that was in October), so I promised to run with him. I secretly hoped to pace us to sub 2:30, but surely at least 2:45.

We went to the expo on Saturday, as soon as we put our stuff in the room and Jake placed some sports bets. The expo was packed. We stood in long lines twice- once to buy RnR merchandise (bought a tee very similar to the race tee but since they wouldn't swap the women's small I signed up for with a larger size, I'll be giving it to my 5 year old who it may fit) and again for a longsleeve race shirt for Jake since all he had at home was short sleeves. The highlight was meeting Dimity and SBS, the authors of my favorite running book- Run Like a Mother. I brought my copy and they signed it. Both were very friendly and sweet to talk to me for a few minutes.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay, which is where the race started and ended. That appears to have been a majorly good decision. I've read some stories of people taking hours to get back to their hotels last night. It still probably took us 30 minutes. The hotel, and really entire strip, was incredibly crowded all weekend. We left our hotel room and headed down to the corrals around 4:50 for the 5:30 start. I was originally assigned to corral 6 with my sub-2 predicted time. Wow!!! We moved back to 24, for the 2:30 finish. It was chaotic trying to get into the corrals. They were too small for the number of runners. The race started right on time but I think they only did the waved start for a few corrals- by the time we really started moving toward the start, we walked right to the line and started running. I think that was the beginning of the end. I've run some big races and this was my 3rd RnR half. I expect it to be crowded for a mile or so. It never really thinned out. I fell somewhere in mile 2 but thankfully wasn't injured or trampled, then injured! The marathoners ran their first half off the strip, starting 90 minutes before the half. I felt awful for them as they joined the halfers on the strip. There were cones to separate the race distances but there were so many halfers and it was so crowded with half walkers, that half runners were moving over to the marathon lane to have running space. Marathoners were faster but had nowhere to go.

Jake and I planned to take 1 minute walk breaks at each mile, plus walk the water stations. We didn't walk until mile 4. By that time we were turning off the strip and had a little more space to spread out. That was about the only time I was thankful to have so many people around me. Scary part of town. Jake started struggling around mile 8 so we took longer walk breaks. By mile 10, we walked at every half mile. It was nice to get back on the strip headed south, and even better when we could see Mandalay Bay. I didn't feel strong by any means, but the walk breaks hurt more than helped. My hips were so tight that the first few steps of running were painful. Other than that, no groin pain from my fracture. I was really worried about Jake for the last 5k. He said he was ok but he didn't look ok. I was worried he wouldn't tell me if he felt like stopping. At one point I kinda joked about not raising the life insurance before the trip so he couldn't die. We ran the last .6+ mile in. We got our medals, space blankets (just in time because it started sprinkling and the cold/wind set in on bodies quickly), and I got some water and a bagel. Jake was getting sick, so we got back to our hotel room as quickly as possible. I ordered room service within 5 minutes of arriving in our room and it still took 2 hours to get. By then Jake was feeling better and managed to eat/drink. Today he says he feels 75% better than last night. I have the expected soreness, especially for my lack of physical activity since September.

Jake says he crossed 2 things off his bucket list last night:
1) half marathon- done
2) full marathon- no desire whatsoever

I don't know what my plan is. I thought I'd make RnR Dallas my comeback/sub-2 half. I'm seriously rethinking that. This RnR race was so poorly executed that I can't get excited about doing another. St. Louis RnR was great. Dallas last year was fine. I just have to think there are half marathons in the Dallas area that are perhaps smaller, but much better organized. And likely cheaper. I wouldn't do Vegas again. Running down the strip at night sounded amazing, but with 44,000 people you couldn't look up to enjoy the sights or you'd trip over somebody. I read that they want to have 60,000 do it next year. That's so incredibly stupid when a race of 44,000 was so messy.

Our unofficial time was 2:57

Rock n Roll St. Louis Half Marathon Race Recap

Before the race

Sign I've seen many times and always love

Before the race, as my corral approached the starting line

Taken during the race- LOVE THIS!!!

Race morning started with a 5:30am wake up. I had my usual pre-race meal of Diet Dr. Pepper and a Honey Stinger Waffle on my way to the race. We were there in plenty of time to hit porta potties. Twice. One of which I got really lucky because the door was stuck in the locked position so nobody had used it. A guy standing in line yanked it open so only the dude before me used it before it was my turn. Score! Hate stinky porta potties but it's a necessary evil at races. I walked all the way up to corral 5, where I should have started if I was going for my planned sub-2. It was so close to the front. Scary! But instead, I decided to start in corral 21, with an estimated finish time of 2:50-3:00. With my bib I could have started pretty much anywhere, but I decided that it might kill my morale to be passed the entire race. I was really happy with my corral selection. They did a really good job of letting the corrals go every couple of minutes. It was warmer than I'd expected it to be- about 58 degrees at the race start- which made it not too miserable waiting to get started. I didn't take any throw away clothes, but I used some hand warmers and tucked my hands inside my long sleeves for a few miles since my hands get cold so easily. It was tough to not run across the starting line and I almost teared up. At that moment I promised myself I could run across the finish line if I wasn't in terrible pain after the next 13 miles. There were a few other walkers who I saw at the beginning, including one lady carrying a cane. Lots of people were using a run-walk-run strategy, so it didn't take long for me to start passing people and I kept that up the entire race. There were some beautiful areas on the course. I carried my camera, but the photos just don't do it justice. I was also hoping they'd capture the elevation, but they don't. I wouldn't say it was a hilly course as in lots of ups and downs. It was more of a long slow (sometimes several miles) uphill and not much downhill. St. Louis had some great spectators. There were tons of people watching throughout the course. Jake ran from the starting line and met me around mile 5 (he ran a more direct route- not the winding race course). I was ahead of my schedule at that point. He jogged alongside me (I really was walking fast!) for a little while before turning back so he could be at the finish line for me. Half and full marathoners shared the course until about mile 8 when the course split. At our mile 9, the marathoners re-joined, but running on the other side of the median. It was neat to see the really fast marathoners pass. I saw a couple women, including the female winner, I just didn't realize it at the time. My hip really didn't hurt during the race. Everything hurt by the last mile. I'd been doing the math all along to figure out what time I might be able to finish at. I knew I was ahead of my goal pace and I hadn't done any math below that sub-3 mark. I knew I was close to being under 2:45 but I just couldn't keep my pace up for the last 2 miles. I ran the last 20 or so yards to and across the finish line. It felt *SO* good! I thought I stopped my watch but apparently I didn't, so I had to wait until they posted official results to find out my time. I got my medal, picked up some water and snacks in the finisher's area, and went to get my beer. It was kind of nice to not feel like hell after a race. I enjoyed my beer and was starving- I usually don't feel like eating for hours after a race!

My official time was 2:46:02, making my average pace 12:40 (which is 4.73 mph if we're talking treadmill). That's actually my 2nd fastest half marathon (not huge given the fact that my last 2 were so awful), but my 2nd fastest nonetheless. And with a fracture in my pelvis... can't forget that.