Double Trouble 30k (Read 799 times)

Definetly lived up to it's name. I finished in 3:29 something. I have an ankle injury (happened around mile 17) Won't know how how bad the ligaments are until I get into the doctor tomorrow. Race report is a few posts down.

Hope your ankle is okay, Pam! ((()))

Oh, Pam...that's miserable! I'm so sorry! I hope it's not a long-term recovery. Take it easy and get that ankle healed well. k

Ok now that I'm settled on the couch with some pain meds and an ice pack on my ankle guess I can write up my race report. Dh and I headed down to Morgantown around 7:30 and got to the race site promptly at 8:30. Picked up our shirts and race bibs and hung out for the next hour and a half. Race started late due to the fact that the race director left two very important things at home. The timer and the clock. Have to say this guy is one of the funniest race directors I've met as he had everyone in laughing. They finally start the race and talk about traffic jam. I think it took a good half a mile to mile before we we're actually able to RUN. Very frustrating way to start but eventually things thined out and I was able to get in my groove. HOWEVER my groove was not my dh's groove. Not sure if it was due to just a bad day or the fact that this was his first trail race , but he was having problems. I shouldn't of been suprised but I was. Guess I figured since he was an avid hiker that he'd be better at it than I am. Of course running up and down hills with THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of rocks isn't exactly an easy task for anyone let alone someone doing it for the first time. The course was alot like Charlie was except that it wasn't quite as steep BUT it had ALOT more rocks and roots to deal with and it was just as narrow as Charlie was. If it wasn't for all the stopping I did waiting for dh to catch up the first 15k would of been super awesome. Even though you can't tell by my pace, the miles just flew by and not once did I wish I was anywhere else. Second 15k. After running about 20 feet dh decided against doing the second lap. I stopped gave him a kiss and asked him if he was sure he didn't mind me going ahead. He's like DO IT! So off I went. I caught up to a guy named Doug and we chatted for awhile. At one point during the first loop he had heard my husband comment about me running away from him , so Doug stretched his arms out so I couldn't pass him (that's how wide the path was). Anyway he's like now you can go as fast as you want and I was like HELL YA (not that I didn't want to run with Ken, it was just very difficult to slow down and or stop and wait). We got to one of the steep inclines and I decided to slow down since I haven't ran anything more than 14 miles in who knows how long so I wanted to make sure I had enough energy to finish. The next few miles after we split were nice. It felt great running outside on the beautiful trails despite the ugly rocks and roots except that there wasn't another person in site. I started the second loop with another woman but passed her early on and never saw her again. Despite the quietness I was still enjoying MOST of the run. Like the first half the miles flew by. UNTIL I my camelback ran out of water around mile 16. Fortunatly there was a waterstop at mile 17. I stopped at my first waterstop at mile 17. Had a couple of glasses of water and used a couple of glasses of water to wash the dirt off my upperbody that I had gotten from the two almost flace plants that I had done earlier (one during the first 15k and the second not too long into the second loop. Neither did any damage other than a few minor scrapes and getting me really dirty).One of the kids that was at the waterstop was like less than 2 miles and your done and it's ALL downhill, unless you fall on one of the hundreds of rocks he quickly added). Well needless to say I turn the corner and about 50 feet when my left foot lands wrong, I hear (or maybe felt) a loud pop. Everything else buckles and I find myself on the ground in major pain. A guy comes up behind me and asks if I need help the rest of the way or if I need him to send someone. I had already had a flashback to my skiing accident and replied I'm pretty sure my ankle is done for send someone for me please. So he leaves, I start to cry while untieing my shoelaces to take my shoe off. I sit there for about 5 minutes thinking DAMN only 1 1/2 miles left to the finish like and I'm going to DNF. Well guess the devil on my shoulder said no way in hell is that happening. I put my shoe on, tie my laces and hobble off to finish the race. I managed to catch up to the guy who was going to get help, he was just talking to a guy with a phone trying to see about getting me help. He was totally shocked to see me, I was like everything's fine I think and I'm going to finish. Well the adrenaline of the race let me finish the race without too much pain. Heard a wonderful voice call my name at the finish like, it was Ken. He had a huge smile on his face as he told me how proud he was that I finished and what a great time I did it in. I told him I needed to get ice on my ankle asap so we headed to the Ambulance. NO emt's in site. I then make the decisiion to go get something to drink maybe a bagel to eat, go take a shower and head home. Well I was able to limp around all the way to the showers but once I was showered and ready to go to the car everything changed. My ankle was very visably swollen and despite my high pain tolerance I couldn't put pressure on it. At that point I'm like WTF how the hell did I finish the race? I had already started convincing myself that my ankle was fine and that what I heard was nothing. Well it's not fine. As far as the race it was AWESOME!!! Weather was perfect, course was great though it could stand to lose a few thousand rocks and a bunch of tree roots. I'll definetly do it again next year. As far as my ankle. I'm definetly going to a doctor tomorrow. I'm going to try and get into the sports doctor, we shall see. I'm pretty sure I at least tore a ligament, if not much more damage. I'm depressed and pissed off. I know that it's not just a slight sprain but I can't get myself to say that my running is done for the next few weeks (or longer). I'm also not sure how will handle being so useless to my family like I am tonight. I can't put any pressure on my foot and a wrong move sends pain up my leg. If it wasn't for that one wrong step, it would of been the perfect day. Oh almost forgot my inlaws stayed for dinner and when we we're talking about my injury they we're like I bet you don't want to do that race again. I quickly said Oh no I plan on doing it again next year! Oh and I got the shame shame shame on you for running on your ankle after hurting it

Thanks Michelle. I've had it wrapped since last night, taking the wrap off only to ice it. I've also been keeping it elevated. Fortunatly I got an appointment with local sports doc at 2:30 this afternoon. Would of been much easier if I had gone to the ER from what I understand. Of course I've always thought of the ER as life or death or broken bones.

Nice job. I've been in similar circumstances (Dirty Bird last year). So rest it, you'll be back up and running around in no time. I told ya it was tough.....

Sorry to hear about your ankle, Pam! Nice job finishing the 30k and hope your ankle recovers quickly.

Thanks Joe, Scout, Mike & Mike. If the injury had happened much earlier I may have DNF BUT I don't think I could let my self DNF that close to the finish line. I sure hope continuing on didn't do more damage. I'm actually having some positive thoughts, that it may not be so bad and I'll be back to running by the end of the week. Let's hope I'm not starting to sale on the river of "denial"