Let's rewind.
This past September I was 4-5 weeks out from my second 1/2 marathon (in October) when I injured my foot. I was out on my longest training run (13 miles - was running the race course) with Chris following me on his bike. Around mile 9 my foot started to ache. Then between miles 10 and 11 my foot completely fell apart. I could bear no weight. I looked down at my watch, fighting back tears of both frustration and pain, to see that I was basically at a walking pace. We got to the stop light to cross the street and I said I couldn't walk, let alone run the rest of the way. Chris said he would ride back to the car (about 2 miles away) and come back and get me. At this point I was at, oh...mile 11? Now, in case you don't know this about me, I'm extremely stubborn. If I set out to do something, I'm going to do it. So, I put my foot down (literally. Well I tried) and limped my way across the street. I remember seeing these two men staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I seriously thought they were about to ask if I needed to be carried. I would have said no. I kept attempting to run, thinking it was just a small mishap, but every time I started to run, my foot wouldn't let me. After limping, and stopping 4 or 5 times because of the excruciating pain, I finally called it quits at mile 12.5 and waited for Chris to come and get me. To this day, I still don't really know what happened. Fallen arch? Torn tendons? Whatever it was, it caused me to lose a lot of training, and it wasn't until about a week (maybe 2?) before the race when my foot started to feel better. Even though I set a 2 minute PR, it wasn't what I wanted. My legs broke down at mile 10 and I struggled the last 3 miles. I didn't hit my goal of going under two hours. I was beyond frustrated.
What did I learn from that injury? Patience. Something that I have very little of. That, and being okay with the fact that races don't always go the way you expect them to. Take the time to heal properly; I can't be defiant all the time.
I moved on from that struggle, and IMMEDIATELY got excited about my next BIG 1/2, Tom King, in March! The one I just knew I'd race right.
And then something ELSE happened...
From September to February my training was right on track. I had been doing a mixture of tempo runs, easy runs, and intervals trying to work up my mileage and my pace. My long miles stayed between 10 and 12. I was feeling good, and had already talked myself into running around 8:50 pace for Tom King. Then, as I got a little further into my training I thought with as flat a course as this is I might be able to average between an 8:30 and 8:45 pace! Mayyyybe. But I didn't get my hopes up.
Anyway, somewhere around the beginning of February I started having problems with my hip and knee. It started in my hip for a few runs. My hip would start to collapse if I had to stop for traffic. I thought it might have been from not stretching after a run a few days before, but I wasn't sure. I ran off and on for a week or two and it wasn't feeling better. I took 4 days off and that seemed to help. I ran my third 1/2 marathon on February 9th simply as a warm up race for Tom King. I ended up doing better than I had planned, even with my knee and hip still acting up, and set a new PR with a 1:59. Not too shabby seeing as it was an extremely hilly race. Thought I was in the clear after that, but stupid, stupid me didn't stretch afterwards (whether that's related or not, I don't know), but it wasn't smart. And it didn't help.
Present time:
A month has passed, and since then I have only had 6 or 7 runs that have actually felt good. The rest have felt horrible. Some have been bad because of my knee and hip, the rest are because I've also been under the weather the past week or two. So that hinders training, as well. First injuries, then sickness. I feel like I can't catch a break.
But no more complaints. zip. none.
Tomorrow is the big day!!! The race that I've been looking forward to since September. I am more excited about this race than I was my first half! Which also means that race nerves set in about a week ago. To be honest, my mind has been all over the place the past few weeks. I've had a lot of negative thoughts go through my mind because of this injury. I don't know what's going to happen during the race. I don't know how my knee is going to react. I don't know how I'm going to wake up feeling. All I know is that I'm excited, because I know I've put in the training. I know that as long as I can endure any pain my knee may give me, that I will come away with a PR. I don't have a set goal. All I really want is for the run to feel normal. And I want to enjoy it. If that happens, I will be happy.
Injuries happen. Sometimes ones that could have been prevented, and sometimes ones that couldn't. You can't get mad about it. You can't let it get you down, and you sure as hell can't let it keep you from achieving your goals. Tomorrow's going to be a great race; my mind knows it, and my body will follow suite. And in the end I'll still be my stubborn self - never giving up until I've reached my goals.
From September to February my training was right on track. I had been doing a mixture of tempo runs, easy runs, and intervals trying to work up my mileage and my pace. My long miles stayed between 10 and 12. I was feeling good, and had already talked myself into running around 8:50 pace for Tom King. Then, as I got a little further into my training I thought with as flat a course as this is I might be able to average between an 8:30 and 8:45 pace! Mayyyybe. But I didn't get my hopes up.
Anyway, somewhere around the beginning of February I started having problems with my hip and knee. It started in my hip for a few runs. My hip would start to collapse if I had to stop for traffic. I thought it might have been from not stretching after a run a few days before, but I wasn't sure. I ran off and on for a week or two and it wasn't feeling better. I took 4 days off and that seemed to help. I ran my third 1/2 marathon on February 9th simply as a warm up race for Tom King. I ended up doing better than I had planned, even with my knee and hip still acting up, and set a new PR with a 1:59. Not too shabby seeing as it was an extremely hilly race. Thought I was in the clear after that, but stupid, stupid me didn't stretch afterwards (whether that's related or not, I don't know), but it wasn't smart. And it didn't help.
Present time:
A month has passed, and since then I have only had 6 or 7 runs that have actually felt good. The rest have felt horrible. Some have been bad because of my knee and hip, the rest are because I've also been under the weather the past week or two. So that hinders training, as well. First injuries, then sickness. I feel like I can't catch a break.
But no more complaints. zip. none.
Tomorrow is the big day!!! The race that I've been looking forward to since September. I am more excited about this race than I was my first half! Which also means that race nerves set in about a week ago. To be honest, my mind has been all over the place the past few weeks. I've had a lot of negative thoughts go through my mind because of this injury. I don't know what's going to happen during the race. I don't know how my knee is going to react. I don't know how I'm going to wake up feeling. All I know is that I'm excited, because I know I've put in the training. I know that as long as I can endure any pain my knee may give me, that I will come away with a PR. I don't have a set goal. All I really want is for the run to feel normal. And I want to enjoy it. If that happens, I will be happy.
Injuries happen. Sometimes ones that could have been prevented, and sometimes ones that couldn't. You can't get mad about it. You can't let it get you down, and you sure as hell can't let it keep you from achieving your goals. Tomorrow's going to be a great race; my mind knows it, and my body will follow suite. And in the end I'll still be my stubborn self - never giving up until I've reached my goals.
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