He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Last Sunday, the same day of the Silver Strand Half Marathon, my brother participated in the Big Sur Half Marathon. (That's my bro, pictured to the left at another run event.) He wanted me to join him at this event but it just wasn't in the budget to make another flight up there. Since he usually runs at a fast pace for his age category, they gave him a seeded number. He was surprised at this, but at the same time almost embarrassed. He hasn't put the effort into training, plus he was running with a sore calf. His goal is to at least place in the top 500 over all at any big run event. Here's his results:

Bib: 164
Name: Karl S
Gender: M
Age: 52
Hometown: Fremont CA
Place Overall: 541 out of 3596
Men: 430 out of 1564
M 50-54: 29 out of 175
Age Grade: 62.39% Place: 483
FINISH: 1:46:26 pace: 8:08
Turn: 1:00:50 pace: 7:51
Chip Time: 1:46:26
Gun Time: 1:46:36

I guess it's all relative, but he normally can run well under a 7:45 minute mile for a half marathon. This was a slow day for him. I'd give anything to have one of his slow days! He doesn't train as much as he should. His wife gets irritated with him for doing these long runs and not training properly. She kept telling him that he would get hurt. Well... It finally happened. My brother, the go machine who has never had a major running injury ever, the guy who has been running since he started high school a zillion years ago, has an injury. He blew out his calf trying to sprint to the end. He said he just about collapsed right at the finish line, but managed to stay vertical, hobbled around to collect his medal and post race nutrition, and went to find his brother-in-laws who also participated in the event.

After our respective races, he called me to chat about our runs and the experience of getting injured. Before we ended the conversation, he casually mentioned something about sitting in the hotel Jazuzzi for some relief. I responded with "Say what???" Then he repeated wanting to get into a hot Jacuzzi. I was kind of shocked that he didn't know to ice the injury to prevent swelling and further injury. Yikes. His response to that was "I've never been injured running before... I dunno." Then I reminded him of the book that HE REFERRED ME TO, "Marathon Training For Dummies," a book he actually owns, that has a whole big section on injuries... He said he never thought to read that chapter. *sigh*

I need to give him a call to find out how he's doing. I'm sure he's received a big dose of "I told you so" from his wife.

Peace