Race 52: Go OTR 5k

Kayla and I have run the OTR 5k for each of the last three years.

Kayla didn’t run this year, as she is still on the mend, but she didn't seem to mind spectating and checking out the City Flea while I warmed up.

Each year we've had a great time as the OTR 5k combines a race and a festival into one event. Typically all of this takes place on a beautiful May morning. (This year it was overcast and drizzling, but that actually made for good running weather).

 

Another change from the usual was the shift in the race's headquarters from the Gateway Quarter to Washington Park. This was a change for the better, as there was even more space to enjoy the festivities, including the Cincy Brass, a Hudepohl beer truck, and some guy with bubble-making sticks.
 

The Race

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a racing standpoint. My last 5k attempt--the Bockfest 5k in February--was a total disaster. As I do before races, I scanned the starting are for any familiar faces.

I didn't see anybody I recognized, but there was one guy with a track foot tattooed on his thigh, so I figured he would give me a good run.

With the headquarters shifted west to Washington Park, the new start line was on Elm Street just south of  Magnolia slightly down from the City Gospel Mission.

Before the masses of runners migrated from Washington Park, I was warming up across from the CGM as a group of residents went about their Saturday morning routine. If you've spent anytime on Elm Street, especially in the summer, you know that the block encompassing CGM is a neighborhood gathering place, where people bring out lawn chairs, sit on stoops, and otherwise enjoy their shady surroundings.

As the start of the race drew nearer, the 1,100 runners pushed their way up Elm Street, seeming to swallow up the Saturday morning regulars.

Kayla's picture of the start line captures the density of the participants:
 

When the race set off, I quickly found myself in the middle of the masses, as a group of over-eager sprinters decided to charge forward at full speed. 

I wasn't too concerned about getting my butt kicked over the first few meters and by the first turn onto Twelfth Street, I was pretty much alone in first place. 

From there I was able to enjoy my favorite part of the race, which is the crowd support from throughout the neighborhood.  Along Main Street people were yelling from their apartment windows as others had come down to the street to show support. 

For the first time that I can remember, in addition to a lead biker, there was also a lead "Segwayer" as I made my way to the first mile marker.

The crowd support continues along Central Parkway as cars headed in the opposite direction honk and folks who are at the coffee emporium cheer as well. 

By the final mile, I was pretty confident that the victory was sealed, so I took in the scenery along Race and enjoyed the final push. 

After the race, Kayla and I shared a Christian Moerlein OTR and listened to music. 

While racing is always a good time, it is about time to get back to our regular Run 52 schedule. Fortunately, Kayla has made it up to 4 miles of running, so it is only a matter of time before we hit the streets of East Price Hill!

Eat to Run: Kitchen Tour

Q: Eat to run or run to eat? 

A: Eat to run, definitely. 

My food and meal planning principles are rooted in MichaelPollan’s advice to “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”  More specifically, I try to eat whole foods with five or fewer ingredients and buy organic produce whenever possible.  I also try to avoid things I have to unwrap and only shop the perimeter of the grocery store.

And then about once a week I’ll drink a bucket of Diet Coke which basically negates these efforts. 

You might say that makes me a hypocrite.  I like to think of Diet Coke as my insurance against self righteousness.

Either interpretation is acceptable.

For nearly four years we’ve been planning out two week’s worth of meals, creating a shopping list, and then filing these lists in a big binder.  The binder also started a place to store recipe clippings, but Pinterest has rendered that function obsolete.

 

 

I know, I know, admitting to “the binder” in public is like standing up and saying, “My name is Kayla and I have OCD.”  However, it’s been interesting to watch our tastes and habits change over the years.  The first entry in the binder shows that we ate cous cous tacos, frozen lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, penne with asparagus, and Zatarain’s Jambalaya. Today, that menu sounds exceptionally pasta-heavy, overly processed, and seriously lacking in nutrients.  The binder also reveals the years where we ate “people food” at least once a week: stir-fried rice and veggies with scrambled egg (we called it "people food" because it provided fuel but wasn’t particularly appetizing--like dog food for people).

Originally, meal planning and shopping for two week’s worth of groceries was a way to save time and money.  Today we’ve gotten to a place where we’re willing to spend more money on higher quality food.  Let me rephrase that: Donnie dragged me kicking and screaming to a place where I’m now willing to spend more money on higher quality food.  
 

 

(Meal Plan on the fridge above a picture of my running idol, Allyson Felix.  And a Great Clips coupon.  Keeping it classy.)

 

I also have running to thank for my improved nutrition.  Running has taught me to find the right combination of carbohydrates, protein, and fat so that I have enough fuel to run and enough energy to stay focused at work.  I’ve also become a lot more intentional about eating a variety of nutrient-packed fruits and vegetables every day. 

Here is a tour of our kitchen after a shopping trip:

 

 

In the fridge we've got cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, eggs, Shadeau bread, big boxes of spinach and romaine, tomatoes, strawberries, asparagus, leeks, celery, cheese (feta, goat, cheddar, mozzarella), LaCroix, a steak for Donnie, and plenty of beer.  Carrots, green pepper, basil and apples on the bottom. 

 

We're thinking about investing in some Chiquita stock.  If not for the troubling socio-political implications.
 

Our wine rack serves double-duty as a place to keep our pita bread.

In the cupboard we’ve got peanut butter, almonds, walnuts, chick peas, black beans, pasta, orzo, brown rice, oatmeal, and spices.  Sweet potatoes and onions in the bowl underneath. 

Dark chocolate and strong coffee.  I could probably live without them, but I'm not sure I'd want to.

Last night we had our first outdoor meal of the season—it really is starting to feel like summer!  We had roasted new and sweet potatoes and black bean burgers with feta and red onion.

 

 

 

One time the woman who was checking us out at the grocery store said, "I can tell you two don't have kids. Kids wouldn't eat this stuff. And you won't be able to afford this kind of food when you have kids."  Ha!

 

I'll admit that it does take a lot of time to plan and cook 95% of our meals from scratch at home.  It takes two hours to meal plan and shop and at least an hour a day to prepare food.  And unfortunately it is pretty expensive.  Hopefully this time and money are an investment in our long-term health.  Unless the toxins from the Diet Coke are as bad as I suspect they are, in which case this will all have been an exercise in futility. 


-Kayla
 

 

 

Trail 52: The idea of trail running and Ault Park

Yeah, I know. This is my first post in a while. So here I am showing my commitment to the project as Kayla recuperates (just another week or so and we should be charging forward through East Price Hill!). After a little hamstring set back, I've returned to running, but not with much purpose.

I decided to demonstrate my commitment to Run 52 by doing something that I normally don't do: going on a trail run. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of trail running, its the practice that bothers me. I like the idea of trail running in the same way that I like the idea of all of these other noble things that I don't/rarely do:

- Reading Moby Dick

- Listening to classical music

- Eating a vegan diet

- Learning calculus

-Going to Wrigley Field

-Making sushi

-Shopping at Findlay Market

-Using reusable dish towels

-Breaking out the saxaphone 

-Seeing plays

-Watching the PBS news hour

-Polishing my boots

-Making smoothies

-Watching Mad Men

-Getting certified in CPR

-Watching the NBA

-Changing the oil in my car

-Celebrating the solstice

The list goes on....

For me the problem has always been the disconnect between the idea and the practice. My idea of trail running features visions of me leaping over fallen trees, tip-toeing through creeks, and charging up muddy slopes. My practice of trail running has never included any of those things. Instead, I fall over trees, wade through water, and slide backwards down muddy hills.

Still, I enjoyed this morning's trail run quite a bit. So here are a few tips for trail running, and maybe life, too:

#1: Wear your regular old running shoes: do you own bowling shoes?

#2: Proceed with caution.

#3: Watch for stumps at the top of rocky stairways leading to the bottom of sharp downhills.





#4 Follow the signs unless you like getting lost. If you like getting lost tell someone where you're going.

#5 Cross broken bridges.

#6 Even if the crossing becomes precarious,

and you’re not really running anymore.

#8 Beware the tree monster!



#9 Stop to look at the nice retention creek, but don't inhale!



#10 Enjoy the flat stretches.

#11 And the graffiti. 

#12 Oregon Trail rules: Ford every creek!

#13 Go ahead and have a PBR if you want, but throw it away!

Weekend in Pictures

Things I love on another weekend of no running....

 

Saturday morning at The Contemporary Arts Center:

 

 

Rivertown Brewery’s Wit Ale (the box describes it as having a complex, herbal aroma, golden cloudy color, orange-citrusy fruitiness, and spicy flavor):

 

Pots waiting for plants:

 

Not pictured: The Portland Cello Project, The Language of Flowers, and the  "spicy ranch" salad dressing that I made with Sour Cream and Tapito:

 

1 Tablespoon Sour Cream

12 Shakes Tapito Hot Sauce

A few splashes of water

 

-Love, K (almost healed)

 

The Verdict is Just

I went to the sports medicine doc on Thursday.  I had to take an hour off work and drive through a downpour to get there but I was excited because I was feeling about 98% better and hoping for good news.

I had picked Tri-State Orthopedic which is connected to FitWorks and has its own physical therapy room.  I was fully expecting that the doctor would try to sell me on physical therapy sessions and put up a fight when I refused an x-ray, but neither of these things happened.  These guys were so good.  I got to see both a doctor and a nurse practitioner who just listened for a long time to my symptoms and history and affirmed the diagnosis that I had come up with:  stress reaction in my pelvis. 

Although twelve days of complete rest had left me almost entirely pain free, we settled on a plan that includes two more weeks of no running (for a total of one month).  Over the next two weeks I’m free to walk and do pilates or yoga.  They said I could swim, but that’s not going to happen.  Mainly because I don’t really know how to swim for exercise, but also because none of my bathing suit attire is actually meant for the pool. 

After two weeks I can try to jog a mile.  Slowly. If I have any pain or discomfort I need to take more time off. Then I can add three minutes or a half mile every day as long as I’m pain free.  He said I should be back to where I was in six more weeks, which will put me at eight weeks from the onset of the problem.  Not bad, especially since I was able to avoid crutches this time.

Knowing what the answer would be before the words even came out of my mouth, I asked if I could run the races that I had planned for April and May.  The doctor said it would be fine if I was willing to go slow and not put in the intensity.  Which might as well mean “no.”  So I won’t be running the Rat Race, the Little Kings Mile, or the Go OTR 5K. The only one I had prepaid was the Little Kings Mile so I’m only out about $30.

Of course, we discussed the reason I got this stress reaction (increased intensity and duration, possibly overcompensating from the sprained ankle I had after the Carthage run) and how to avoid the problem again in the future (get back on calcium supplements, take at least two days off running every week, give myself at least one day a week of complete rest).  They doctor told me I was “smart and reasonable” for a runner, which I think meant that I never tried to run through the pain and that I’m willing to take the time off necessary to heal completely and not prolong the issue.  He also said that now that I’m “getting older” my body won’t recover from high intensity runs as quickly as it did five or ten years ago.  Ha! 

Oh, and the nurse practitioner adjusted my leg length with a little pushing and tugging, which put me back in place.  

I’m disappointed that I’ll miss some of the most beautiful running weather and foliage that Cincinnati has to offer (this is the blossoming week—the trees are just gorgeous!).  However, I think we’ll be able to finish Run 52 this year if this recovery goes as planned and we double up for a couple months.

Not sure how to illustrate this post, so here is a picture of me writing it:

 

 

Obviously, I got fixed up for the occasion. 

 

Also, Mel and Nick, I'm sure you have more important things to do today than read this blog, but in case you read it later, I can't wait to watch you guys tie the knot tonight!  So excited for you!

 

 

Stress Fracture 3.0

Well. I definitely have a stress fracture. Or at least a stress reaction, which I've seen described in my medical research (aka compulsive internet searches) as a "wannabe stress fracture." I shouldn't be surprised. This is actually the third time running has given me a stress fracture, although it's been about six years since the last one and I'd almost convinced myself that wearing the right shoes had solved the problem.

 

Nope.  

 

I really need to accept the fact that I am not a distance runner and that regularly running further than 8 miles at a time is just not good for my porous vegetarian bones.

  

Also, I should probably have been taking the calcium pills that I bought in bulk and let rot on the shelf. 

 

I have an appointment on Thursday to have this confirmed and get an official rehab schedule, but like I told Donnie, I'm basically a doctor so here is how I have arrived at this diagnosis:  

 

History of stress fracture: The first one came in early 2004. As soon as I learned to control my side stitches I felt this wild euphoria and immediately upped my mileage to 7-13 miles a day. Because I didn't have the base mileage, I wound up with a pretty severe stress fracture in my right femoral head and was on crutches for almost 12 weeks. The second one came in early 2007. It wasn't nearly as bad--a stress reaction on the left side that barely showed up on an x-ray. That time I was on crutches for about 6 weeks. After the second one, I had a really good physical therapist who told me that a leg length discrepancy was leading me to overcompensate. I went through months of strength training and got fitted for the right kind of shoes. And I've been running pain and injury-free for the better part of six years.

  

Current symptoms: The races that I had planned for the spring led me to increase both the duration and intensity of my runs. The pain started after a series of hill repeats on 3/25. I thought it was just adductor tightness until an interval workout on 3/28 left me limping. Now I feel stabbing pain when lifting my left leg or bending over to put on pants. I can sort of feel it from just walking, but really only when I'm wearing heels, which admittedly I shouldn't do given my current condition. I've been coming home from work and icing it and trying to restrict my movements as much as possible, all in the hope that by the time I see the doctor he'll say I'm out of the danger zone and can skip the crutches.

  

Eh, this is all probably TMI for the casual reader of this blog. The bottom line is, I'll probably be off running for a minimum of 8 weeks and a maximum of 16 weeks.

  

What does all this mean for Run 52?

  

First, I am committed to finishing this project. We will finish it. It might not happen in this calendar year like we had planned, but it will happen.

  

Second, not being able to run has left me with a huge expanse of time. How will I fill it? Hopefully with something more productive than watching endless episodes of Dance Moms and looking at Facebook. I hope to use this downtime to remind myself that there is more to life than running. There is more to me than running. Recently I've been turning down too many invitations and events because I have to run. I've been leaving work at 5:00pm on the dot to come home and run. I've left a stack of books on my night stand untouched.  I asked a friend to plan her bachelorette weekend around one of my races.  (Whoops, that last one seems pretty selfish now that I type it out!)  

 

So over the next eight weeks I'll probably have a few more afternoons like this one:

 

 

 

 

Which might not be so bad. 

 

 

-Kayla

 

Lunch in Covington: Not a Run and Not a 52



So now I'm feeling a bit injured.  Like the miles I put in over the weekend plus the hill repeats I did on Tuesday have put a limp in my gait.

 

Or maybe I'm just coming down with a case of hypochondria. 

 

Either way, better safe than sorry.  My running goals this year are: 1) Finish Run 52, and 2) Break 20 minutes in a 5k.  Neither of those are likely to happen if I have to take three months off because of over-training. So my plan is to sit out for a week and then return with a vengeance.

 

With a suddenly free Saturday on our hands, we hit the open road:

 

 

 

 

We wanted to try Silverglades for lunch, but it was closed.  Instead, we wound up getting to-go orders from my favorite spot on Court Street.  Not the new Mexican Grill being advertised with the flags and the sidewalk sign, but the quaint little sandwich shop behind it which Donnie likes to call "Le Soob Way". 

 

 

 

What can I say?  I could eat it every day and there have been periods in my life where I have, in fact. 

 

We crossed the Roebling and headed into Covington:

 

 

 

I love the Ascent.  Love. Love. Love.

 



 

 

 

 

Taking a recommendation from Emily Lee (who seriously impressed us last night with her cooking skills, btw) we took our sandwiches down to the park in the Licking Riverside Historic District. 

 

Obviously, this neighborhood is not one of the 52 Cincinnati neighborhoods that are the subject of our running challenge.  Still, we had never been here and it made a great side trip for a recovery day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The riverside mansions have a distinctly Southern character. 

 

 

 

 

From a park bench, we watched preparations taking place for an afternoon wedding and saw a Chihuahua barely escape being run over by a horse-drawn carriage.  We also had a great view of Downtown and could see the Great American Ball Park getting warmed up for Opening Day:

 



 

 

 

Four hours later, Donnie said, "You know what?  I don't know if I could live in that neighborhood because I'd always be worried about dead bodies washing up on shore." 

 

Really?  That's what you think about?

 



 

 

He also told me today that taking dietary advice from me would be like taking dietary advice from "Bart the Fart." 

 

Clearly there is some substantive conversation going on at our place.

 

We'll be back next week with East Price Hill!

 

 

-Kayla