A New Marathon Training Season Begins

Wow! What a turnout of people we had today for our first official training run for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. I met a lot of people today, and I can't even begin to remember their names. I ran most of our seven miles with Jarred, Kurt, and Aaron. This was my first time to run with any of them. My usual running buddies, which includes Larry and two Bills and a few others, did a twelve mile route, so I sorta missed them, although I did see them back at the store.

We started at RunnersWorld, headed north on Peoria to 34th, west to Cincinnati, north to 31st, west to Riverside, and then north on the trail to 15th. Then we turned around and went back to the store following the same route. It was a very windy day. I think there were sustained winds of 20 mph, but there were times that the gusts felt like they were well over 30 mph It was tough running against that wind on the way back to the store. Everyone did really well on the run. Aaron had some side stitches, so we slowed and walked a bit while Jarred and Kurt ran ahead. Next time, maybe we will try to slow down the pace from the start just a bit. Average pace for the run, including the walking was right at 9 minutes per mile. Not bad considering the windy conditions.

Here is some information I got from Cool Running about stitches.

The Stitch

Description:
We've all had this one, a sudden sharp pain in the side of the upper abdomen at the base of the ribs. The side stitch typically strikes when you're really pushing yourself and fades quickly when you slow down or stop. The stitch is particularly common for new runners still adjusting to the rigors of running.

Likely causes:
The pain is caused by a spasm of the diaphragm, the muscle that controls your breathing. There are a number of possible reasons for this. If your breathing isn't controlled and disciplined, the diaphragm may be complaining. If you are running too soon after eating, your heavy stomach may literally be tugging at the ligaments connected to the diaphragm. Or you may simply be running too fast for your body's breathing machinery to keep up.

Remedy:
A stitch will usually go away quickly after just slowing down or stopping. If you're in a race or you just don't want to stop, however, you can often make it go away by bringing your breathing into careful control. Concentrate on belly breathing, pushing your belly out when you breathe in and relaxing it as you breathe out. Take deep breaths on the intake, and exhale suddenly, even noisily. To get the diaphragm to contract in rhythm with your steps, try to inhale and exhale as you land on your left foot. Strange but true, this can help prevent spasms by encouraging the diaphragm to bounce along in sync with your stride.

If the pain is just too much and you have to stop, try bending over and raising your knee on the stitch side while pressing your fingers deep into the painful area and tightening your stomach muscles. Or just walk while belly breathing.

Oh, I guess I should mention my daughter, Sarah. For a while I wasn't sure if I would make it to Saturday's run because Friday night I was in the ER with Sarah. She was playing basketball trying to save the ball from going out of bounds, and she ran into the concrete block wall, striking it with her head and shoulder. She had difficulty breathing and a lot of pain in her back, and we ended up calling 911. The Broken Arrow fire department sent an ambulance, and they strapped her on a backboard and transported her to Southcrest Hospital. It turns out that she does not have any spinal injury or any broken bones, although the x-ray guy said that breaks are sometimes hard to see in ribs, so she may have a couple of broken ribs. If not, they are definitely bruised. It will be a week or two before Sarah is back playing basketball In the meantime, Sarah is enjoying the pain medication and muscle relaxers. I am thankful the injury was not any worse than it is. Here are a couple of pictures of Sarah being carted out of the gym.