Grace W.'s blog

After having a great 10 miler on Sunday, I had a 5K circuit race the next Saturday. If it wasn’t a circuit race, I would not have gone because I was already signed up for a half marathon the very next day. I wanted to do well for my Fleet Feet team, so my strategy was to really try for the 5K and take the half marathon easy.

The husband of a good friend of mine died a couple of weeks ago. He was a fellow athlete although we trained separately. He died doing what he loved best…running. He had a massive heart attack while finishing an 8 mile run, and he was only 50 years old with no previous warning. He didn’t make the news like Jim Fixx or Ryan Schay, but he touched a lot of us. Our kids grew up together (known the family for over 15 years).

As I reflect back to my 2007 running season, there’s more disappointment than happiness. But that’s all behind me now. I’m wiser in terms of injury prevention, cross training, and what my body can handle and works for me. I look forward to a better 2008.

After Grand Rapids I did 2 more 10K races, one of which was a circuit race. Because both came the day after running hilly 12.5 miles, I did not expect to do that well. Finished both races in 47 minutes and some seconds which was good enough to win my age group, even in the circuit race (a pleasant surprise, but that just meant my faster counterparts did not show up). It was a nice way to end the season which put me in third place overall for the year. No more races for me in 2007 as I focus on my long runs for Disney World.

It is now three weeks after the Chicago Marathon and finally time for the Grand Rapids marathon in Michigan. I drove up with fellow runner Mike who also did very badly in Chicago. There are so many of us from the Chicago area running in this marathon hoping for revenge. Mike knows a lot of the runners from the Lake Forest Running Club so I met some of them at this race. I was finally introduced to Laura at the Expo. Of course I already knew who she was because she’s such a talented runner in my age group, but she didn’t know me until then.

That same left ankle again...twisted it last Saturday on a trial run.  With the Grand Rapids Marathon coming up in a week and a half, this was not good timing.  This was the first time running on a trail since last May when I sprained my ankle at Ice Age in Wisconsin.  This trail is no where near as rocky as Ice Age, but the trail was covered with leaves so I couldn't really see where I was stepping.  I rolled my ankle on a rock or pine cone.  My ankle must really be weak because I didn't roll it that bad, but it really hurts!  I've taken time off since it happened and will re-evaluate