I'm back!

Did I mention that I hadn't taken 4 weeks off from running in a row other than the weeks after each of my children were born?  Being injured was tough for me and I did not take it well.  Needless to say, when the doctor told me to take 4 weeks off I cut it short by a day or two (really, it was only a day or two) and didn't exactly go back at it as slowly as I'm sure he wanted me to.

Which leads me to today.  After a couple of mostly comfortable runs I decided to keep at it.  After 18 days of "keeping at it" I decided to run the Fox Cities 1/2.  I signed up for it a couple weeks before the injury and Sunday was supposed to be a 13 mile training run for Goofy's and since I was feeling pretty good on my runs I thought I would take it easy and see what I could do.

Race day arrived and I was nervous . . . much more nervous than I usually am before a race!  I kept telling myself it was time to see what I was made of, but deep down I was worried that I couldn't do it.  Was it because I had only been back for 2 1/2 weeks?  Was it because my longest run in 2 months was a 9 miler only 8 days prior?  Really, I just wanted to finish to prove to myself that I could do it.  I knew I could run a 1/2; I've run almost a dozen over the last few years.  But could I run a 1/2 with the limited training in the final weeks?  Was I tough enough, mentally and physically, to pull it off?  Would my injury rear its ugly head mid-race?

Well, I'm happy to report that all went well.  My husband and I started off together slowly.  I was mostly hoping just to finish, but I also wanted to do so with respect.  I wanted to run the entire race and I wanted to be under an 11:30/mile pace.  The first few miles hovered around an 11:00/mile pace, which was comfortable.  By mile 6, we were speeding up, but I still felt good.  By mile 11, I knew I would be okay and the last 1.1 miles were my fastest of the race (by quite a bit).  I have to admit I was giddy at the finish and I knew I had my mojo back!

Now it's time to train for Goofy's.  I have 3 1/2 months and a lot of injury-free miles to cover.

Time keeps moving on

It's been awhile since I've landed at my blog.  My biggest hang up has the the inability to run.  It all started with a great backpacking trip and a run 3 days after returning home.  Two miles into that run, it hurt a little and then a lot.  I just had to get home . . . hoping it was just shin splints.  Four weeks and 2 doctor appointments later (and an x-ray to be on the safe side) and it was determined that I needed to take some time off, might have a stress fracture although I was told it was unlikely, and that it was probably some tendinitis.  So, for the first time in my life I missed a race I had signed up for and watched all the racers run by without me.

For only the 3rd time in 10 years I took more than a week off from running (and the other two times were after giving birth to my two children), and almost 9 years since I had an injury.  It's unbelievable how stressed out all of this made me and how bad I was jonesing for a run.  Yes, I could ride my bike and I was allowed to swim (although I probably would have drowned if I had tried), but it just doesn't compare to the release and the great workout of a run.

So after 4 week without a run, I gave it a try last week.  It was ugly and painful, but not in the leg-hurting kind of way.  So, I tried again a few days later.  Leg still felt good and I actually felt like I was running again.  It's not real shocking how much my stress level has gone down the last few days also.

I'm hoping this means I'm back, but only time will tell . . .