Week Ten-Tour De Pain Race Review & Maybe The End

   Several years ago I heard about a local race series called the Tour De Pain. After some research it looks like the Tour isn't unique to my side of town. Tour De Pains are run across the US with varying race distances. The one thing they all have in common is that the races are held one after the other and runners are scored cumulatively based on all of their finishing times. Pure insanity that I always wanted to give a try but it never worked out. 

   My town's Tour was sponsored by a local running club called the Genesee Valley Harriers and consisted of a 5K race, mile race and 400 meter sprint run in the Cobbs Hill Reservoir area. Very hilly, very challenging. Earlier in the month we signed my son up for their weekly children's cross-country series of races consisting of a 400 meter, half-mile and full mile races. After the children's series an adult 5K was also run each week. He had a blast the entire month and learned two important things: that running distance requires practice and that sprinting isn't in our family's genetic makeup. The Tour was run on the final Wednesday night after the children's race series. I figured that since I was already going to be there, why not finally scratch this one off the bucket list? I had no excuse. 

   I've been training for my ultras all summer. So I didn't do anything special to prepare earlier in the week other than taking it easy with regards to speed work and resting my legs as much as possible. I was feeling good. But my forte is typically longer distances. So I wasn't planning on breaking any speed barriers. Ry ran the half-mile race that night and had his best race of the month. It was hard watching him struggle through the four weeks. But in the end he was as proud of himself as we were of his four finisher ribbons. It was time for the Tour.

   I've run a lot of races in my day and this was by far the most poorly organized. Which surprised me a lot because the Harriers are a well respected running club with lots of experience within their ranks. The 5K was the first race run. I tried to look at a hastily drawn map on a dry erase board but couldn't make heads or tails of the course. Before the race started an announcer asked for a sign of hands who was unfamiliar with the course before. There was only a handful of us who raised our hands. After a brief, vague description of where to run and before anyone could ask anything the race started. The hills were devastating but I didn't do half bad considering all the hill training I've done all summer. The course was very poorly marked and it was all I could do to keep some of the faster runners in sight so I didn't get lost. I managed a very good 5K time but no PR. I felt lucky that I didn't get lost. The mile was run about ten minutes later. Shorter distance so it was easier to figure out where the hell to run. I was dead tired and the hills were again a killer. But I surprisingly managed to clock a PR for that one. The 400 meter was run again about ten minutes after that. Being even more tired faced with more hills meant that there weren't any surprises there. Overall the races were run so haphazardly. I only knew my finish times because I recorded them with my Garmin. I won't be running the Tour again anytime soon. It was good to scratch it off the list but never again.

   This is when things got interesting. The following day I was really sore. So I decided to take it easy and do my cross-training and an easy mile. Challenging but nothing too crazy. It was my birthday too. Who wants to kill themselves on their birthday? The next day I knew that something had gone really wrong. All summer long I've been fighting off hamstring pain and tight hip muscles. Apparently the hills during the race mixed with some race pace level running proved disastrous. I was unable to stand due to extreme right hip pain that radiated down my thigh making my shin and foot numb. It's one of the most severe running related injuries I think I've ever had. 

   Since last Thursday I've only managed a painful mile a day to keep the running streak alive. Running being a very relative term. If my treadmill didn't have side rails I would've died three days ago. I've tried ice, heat, OTC pain revilers, yoga, using my foam roller and a tennis ball. I've even started a five day burst of steroid. Nothing has touched it. After listening to my wife I went to an urgent care center today to talk to a doctor and get some x-rays. On the good side, nothing appears to be broken and if I can stand it, continue to keep my streak going. Running won't do me any more harm but it may continue to aggravate the pain. On the bad side the doctor thinks that my lower lumbar vertebrae are compressing a spinal nerve. I'll be scheduling an appointment with a spinal doctor tomorrow. On an interesting note the doctor thought it was really cool to see that I have six instead of the normal five lumbar vertebrae. Apparently it's a very rare but harmless genetic trait. Still planning on trying to get in to see my chiropractor this week too. He's going to be pissed at me. 

   According to the doctor today this could get better in three to four weeks. That really means a lot of different things. First, there's no way I can work without being able to walk or stand. Being who I am, I'm going to go crazy being out of work or being on light duty. This is going to stink. Second, I may not be able to run my 2013 deferred Rochester marathon in 40 days. I probably could do it in my sleep. I won't be able to defer it another year which means I'll be out $70. But should I even try? Third, I can't miss four weeks of ultra training time. I'm going to check tomorrow to see if I can withdraw from the Canandiagua 50K without penalty. My back up race is the Mendon 50K three weeks later. Which I could maybe muddle through if I got better in a month's time frame. That's a big maybe for the farthest I've ever gone on an unfamiliar course. Fourth, after 609 days what do I have to prove? Why am I doing this crazy non-stop running streak thing anyways? I'm 243 days over my original goal of 366 days. Why continue?

   Over the last 12 years of my life I've wrapped an extremely large portion of who with running. It's where I'm from, who I am and where I'm going. I know this isn't the end. I've been around long enough to realize that runners who say they don't get injuries are liars, period. Pain and suffering are part of the deal. But being unable to even stand or walk far for the past three days has been a humbling experience. 

   Lots of things to to think about during the coming weeks. Lots of decisions to make. Lots of research to do. I've always said that the trick in becoming a better runner is going to the edge of breaking and then hitting the break a little. I accidentally hit the gas instead. I'll keep the blog going on a weekly basis. With all this down time I'll have lots of time to write more to bore you with. Who knows? You may even be subjected to a whole other year's more worth of my ultra nonsense?

   My friends, hope you are well, have your foot over the brake pedal, but still riding that lightning...