Race Report: 2011 Rescue Run 10K
Rolling out of bed prior to 07:00 on New Year’s Day is always tough, but for the 4th year in a row I got myself up and headed down to Colorado Springs to do the Rescue Run 10K. It’s a great way to kick off the new year. I had a long list of excuses as to why I shouldn’t go – the roads were bad, it was cold (single digits), I didn’t get to bed until 2, I only just started running again after letting some injuries heal – but I ended up going because I just wanted to get back into racing again. I’ve missed it. I knew I would likely be running my worst time on this course, but I still wanted to go anyway. Despite being over-fed and under-trained, I had a really good time.
I got in a good warm-up by running on some snow covered trails. I was a little late getting back to my car and almost missed the start. I had to sprint the last 100 yards just to catch the middle of the ~600 runner pack (5k +10k runners) as it began to move.
I felt good warming up, and seriously considered just putting in a couple of hours on the great trails.
The conditions were cold and icy, footing was tricky to say the least.
Only 5 degrees, but it didn't feel too bad out in the sun.
I stayed comfortable on the hilly course and never really felt a burn in my legs or my lungs. I had forgotten my watch and so was just running by feel – probably not pushing as hard as I should have, but I enjoyed taking in the awesome views of Pikes Peak and the surrounding area.
The downhills were a blast. Scary, but fun. I just let it roll and tried not to wipe out. It was slick!
Running down roads like this at top speed added a little pucker factor to the race.
I had been steadily passing people the whole race, and worked my way up to 25th place out of 269 finishers by the end. My time was 47:27, my slowest by far, but I came away satisfied with the effort and very glad to have made the trip. It was an absolute joy to be racing pain-free again for the first time in over two years. I had seriously forgotten what it’s like. Look out 2011.
Posted on January 2, 2011, in race, run. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
The Scene Begins 
chris – curious about the heel issues you were dealing with. I too have been having heel problems for the last couple of years. finally got really bad this fall. Took 18 days off and had some active release therapy work done. Better now, but still a huge pain in the a**. What have you been doing to address your problem? Just rest? More?
Hey Jim,
Sorry to hear about your heel, truly is a pain in the azz. I just crossed the 2 year mark in December, and although I am much improved, am still dealing with flare-ups and setbacks. I’ll get a post up soon with more detail (in case it can be of any use to others), but I have tried just about everything short of surgery. The pain is a dime-sized area right on the back of my heel. Combination of Haglund’s, insertional achilles tendonitis/tendonsis, and bursitis. My chronically super-tight calves are a huge contributor. Sadly no quick fix. Time off, and a fair amount of bike riding have helped the most. I also seem to fare much better in a shoe with a lower heel (which is counterintuitive to the heel riser approach), but that has led to other problems in my forefoot. I’ll see if I can get my thoughts a little more organized and put up a post, and feel fee to contact me at my gmail address if you want to discuss anything further (chris dot boyack).
Sounds familiar, although I’ve not heard of Haglunds or insertional achilles tendonitis/tendonsis. I used to call my problem PF, but since it is solely focused in the back, leftish part of my heel, I’ve simply called it heel pain. I figure calf tightness is part o’ the problem. Going to try acupuncture on Friday. Will do a post on how that goes. I’m at about 1.5 years.
Thanks for the info. Look forward to the post.