Tag Archives: half marathon

feet frustration

25 Aug

The best laid plans…

CaptureI seem to fail a lot. And this time it’s not even because I’m being lazy or procrastinating or anything like that. Its because I can barely walk in the mornings and throughout the day after sitting for a while, and although the foot pain eases, I can’t go more than 3 miles before I have to stop. At first I thought maybe it was poor circulation, but now I think it’s classic plantar fasciitis. Friends have passed along exercises, stretches, and the recommendation for a special sock thing to wear. I’ll try all that and maybe a doctor appointment, but my imaginary running career, and specifically the October half marathon are fading fast.

It’s to the point where my kid keeps saying, “here mommy, use this”, and hands me a decorative walking stick which only makes me grumble at her and proceed to stubbornly limp through the house without help. Sigh. I blame old age, flat feet, and weight gain. Bleh. Sigh. Bleh. Sigh.

If all my blehs and sighs didn’t clue you in, I’m really bummed. The Accountant asks me why I insist on trying to run over the years when I just seem to always hurt myself and I don’t know. Its just this THING I’ve always wanted to be able to do, but has always eluded me. I don’t look like a runner because I can never stay injury free and/or couch potato free enough to make it part of who I am. I’ve never broken 30 minutes in a 5K or 3 hours in a half. Those were always goals I wanted to achieve but maybe I just need to let them go and move on to something else. So dramatic I know.

There’s always the bicycle I guess. Bleh.

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the 1/2 marathon that almost wasn’t

13 Oct

MiddleHalfCollageSometimes I think too much. I almost talked myself out of doing this race for a couple of reasons. My running partner was benched and my training had fallen apart over the last few weeks. I was disappointed in myself that I hadn’t stuck with my training plan and knew I wouldn’t be able to run most of it like I’d wanted to. But I also knew that I was in better shape than I had been for the 1/2 in 2012 and so I decided to pick up my bib the day before and make it a last minute decision. The scale finally tipped in the direction of going for it since I knew in my heart that I would feel worse about myself if I bailed completely for no good reason. Sometimes I take some serious convincing.

I’m so glad I did. Well, I mean, I’m glad NOW, but at 4:30am that morning I was cursing myself for committing to it. Ha. But I got out of bed, dressed, choked down 4 scrambled eggs and a granola bar, then battled mad traffic and porta-potty lines and settled into a spot in the very back with the walkers.  My goal was basically to go fast enough to not get thrown off the course by mile 6 (you had to pass mile 6 in 1.5 hours/15:00 pace) and not to pass out. I’m an overachiever, I know. Shut up. I wore my trusty Garmin and kept the walking pacer person well behind me and a close eye on my watch. I decided to just go a mile at a time and keep pace below 15:00 even if my feet fell off and I was walking on stubs. Which didn’t happen literally, but it sure felt like it. I walked and jogged the entire race and maintained a sub 15:00 pace throughout. Yay!

I was feeling good through about mile 8 and then I’m pretty sure my entire body from the waist down started hating me. My bum foot was getting pretty sore and my hips felt like they needed a serious dousing with WD-40. I saw The Accountant at mile 7.5 and that gave me an extra boost of energy that lasted until about mile 10. I was dying inside again but really, who’s gonna stop when you’ve already tortured yourself that far? I saw a couple of friends at various points on the course and that was super nice, plus all the people cheering and yelling from the sidelines. It was a very supportive crowd! My favorite sign…”You’re running faster than our government”. And 2nd favorite…”Run like you hear banjos”. One water station was handing out slices of oranges and it was for real the best food I have ever tasted in my life.

I noticed that I had maintained a consistent pace and starting thinking that I was going to hit the finish line around 3 hours and some change. Official time 3:12:08, much better than I’d hoped for given that I was mostly walking and better than my last half (at least I think so, but I cannot find those results online to save my life). Anyway, I’ll take it as that time is better than it would’ve been if I’d stayed home and sat on my couch. Now granted, a day later and I’m hobbling around like a 95 year old, especially if I sit still for too long. Even my toes hurt. But its a good pain.

What this race gave me is something I thought I’d lost. The desire to run again. It was a reset for my brain in other ways as well. Regrets, if there are any, are that I dropped the ball on training those last weeks. Because I know that I can run more and break into the 2+ hour time at my next attempt. Which will be soon. As in, as soon as I can move again without groaning and get back out there. 🙂

 

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1/2 mary and battles with wacky nuts

8 Jul

In a few months I’ll be “running” in my second half marathon. I use the word running loosely because I walked the majority of the one last year and while I plan to run most of this second one, I am not above walking parts of it as well. Ain’t no shame in walking my friends. I have a training plan worked out and will officially begin this evening. I had the greatest of intentions of getting up and going this morning but hello, snooze button. The best laid plans… This is why I will never make it to the Olympics. I like running in the mornings best but getting out the door is the hardest part. Afterwards I’m all happy and feeling good and ready for the day. Will try again though.

I’m excited about this one because its local and flat and a big deal for my town. I was to partially train and run it with a friend but that fell through so now I’m kind of looking for a new training partner, or at least seeing which of my friends are also running in it. If I’d known I’d probably have signed up for the Women’s Half with a couple of girlfriends like last year but you know what they say about hindsight.

I’ll try to keep this site updated with progress. Maybe. I’m not very good at blogging commitments so we’ll see. I have been killing it at the gym lately but I also killed some “wacky nut cookies” (as kiddo calls macadamia nut cookies) last night too so I’m probably breaking even on weight loss. Actually not true, I’m down some pounds and would like to keep that trend going. I am also trying to listen to my body for a change because injuries are lame (yuk yuk yuk). I have super sore biceps and my knees started complaining a couple of days ago. I shifted to the bike yesterday and got a good 17 miles in. Tonight we’ll try a steady run/walk on pavement and see what happens. It sucks getting old y’all.

Happy running!

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i want to beat something with my crutches

12 Jan

I’m a mess, angry and dejected. Ever since hearing this afternoon that I have a stress fracture in my cuboid bone I’ve alternated between severe pissivity and extreme doldrums. Both involve mass amounts of tears.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to sign up for my first half marathon this April and how pumped I was to have been running consistently for the past nine months and improving distance and pace. For the record, I hadn’t even worked up to running over 5 miles at a time and my pace was averaging about 11:30 so I don’t feel that I went out “too hard and too fast” or over trained. If you say anything of that nature to me I will punch you in the face. Both of my fists are still in working order.

Regardless of any progress I’ve made thus far, I’m now staring at the crutches leaning up against the wall and will have no need anytime soon for a regular shoe on my right foot since it is encased in an aircast for the duration. I’m upset about the half marathon that I won’t be running, yes. But I’m more upset about the progress in my running that I’ve worked so hard for all going down the shitter. I had been semi-content riding the bike at the gym for the past couple of weeks, convinced it was for the short term and that the MRI would show nothing other than the need for new running shoes and maybe some inserts. Not a fractured foot that will have me out of commission for weeks or months.

I know I will have to regroup and come up with a Plan B but right now, I am going to wallow. I know there are babies starving in Africa and people dying every second of some malady or other. I know that my stupid foot is a First World Problem. But until I figure out a First World Solution, I don’t want to hear about running, read about running, watch running on tv, or even SEE anyone running. Call me if you’d like to run the Country Music Marathon in April and you can have my bib. I’ll even throw in the t-shirt. Oh, and you get a cool medal if you finish.

Turning comments off because I don’t want sympathy or a lecture. Just to rant.

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