A Teamwork Tale

This weekend, for the first time in a year and a half, I laced up my shoes to race a half marathon. As you can probably guess, the long lag time between races of this distance had me a little nervous. If that weren't enough, I STILL have some of the laryngitis/chest cold symptoms from the cold I contracted the week before Disney Princess and I have just been exhausted and not sleeping well for the whole week leading up to the race. Needless to say the sum of these factors was that I spent the week before the race vacillating between being incredibly anxious about the race and figuring that I had enough strikes against me that the pressure was off because I was going to run a time somewhere between unremarkable and disastrous. When I signed up for the race I had 2 goals in mind: don't walk (more on that later) and, hopefully, sneak in under 1:24:59. I honestly wasn't sure that I had either goal in me but I also knew that the only way to find out was to prepare as best I could and give it a go.

Despite my concerns going into the race, I was also really excited for the weekend. As usual, Ellen and I were traveling together but this time we were also joined by a bevy of our Bull City Track Club teammates. I had travelled to Kentucky with Rachel, Jen and Caren and knew that I loved spending time with them; as a bonus our fab store owner Kim was racing as well. It was exciting to be going to a race with such a big team of women and that anticipation balanced out at least a small amount of my anxiety.

In the few days before the race I began implementing pertinent elements of the soon-to-be-patented Ellen and Allie official marathon (and now half marathon) prep program. I guzzled down improbable quantities of electrolyte-laced water, tried to sleep extra, ate A LOT (mostly carbs, taking an exciting break from my regular mass quantities of veggies) and fell asleep nightly with visions of my weekend packing list dancing in my head. 

Saturday morning finally rolled around and after a shakeout run/race-planning session with our Oiselle teammate Allison and some delicious crepes and coffee Ellen and I hit the road for Wilmington. Both the drive and bib pickup were extremely easy and before we knew it it was time to cheer for Kim's husband Jason as he dominated the 5k. Then it was off to dinner and some emergency last-minute St. Patrick's Day accessory procurement, green nail painting and finally, bed. Unlike most pre-race hotel stays I was able to sleep like a log but before I knew it 5 a.m., and race day, rolled around. After a hearty pre-race breakfast of bagel with nutella (thanks Caren!), lots of water and a LUNA Lemon Zest bar, it was time to go see what I had in me for the day.

We started the day with a walk/jog/History of Rap part 4 dance party on the way down to the start. Unfortunately we we having too much fun to work in much of a warm up and I was a bit unsure of how this was going to affect me. Before we knew it the time had come to drop our bags, line up, assess the competition and go!

pre-race (post walk/jog/dance party),
sporting our fab new Oiselle
spike bags and our lucky shamrock
hair clips

Although I was still completely unsure about how race-ready my body was I had decided upon an aggressive race plan: start out at 6:25 pace and try to keep it up as long as possible and run with Jen and Rachel. Jen is a 2:55 marathoner. Rachel is 13 years younger than me and beat the pants off of me at XC Nationals. I am a soon-to-be 40 year old 3:19 marathoner. You can see why this was maybe a hair brained plan. Nonetheless, 6:25 pace suited both of their race plans well also and I was delighted at the prospect of running at least part of the race with teammates. 

A few things about this race before we get into the mile-by-mile recap: the weather was perfect - high 50's, little wind. The course was almost completely flat save for 2 very small bridges and a few rollers in the residential neighborhood. And the race support is AMAZING. The water stops are all manned by alumni clubs of local universities and they compete for the title of "best water stop". They were probably the best organized and most consistently enthusiastic aid stations I have ever run by! I really have nothing bad to say about the race organization and the course. If anyone reading is looking for a fab half or full in the spring, I would absolutely recommend this one.

Okay, back to the running. Once we got underway I was surprised by how good 6:25-ish pace felt. It certainly wasn't as easy as I would liked it to have been but from the get go the pace felt decidedly manageable. We went through mile 1 in 6:23. Early in the second mile we passed the only 2 other women in front of us and the 3 of us merrily picked up the lead women's bike and charged ahead together. Mile 2 was a little quick, in 6:12, but I got a bit worked up about getting over the bridge so I know I rushed a little. We settled down in mile 3, hitting it in 6:25. (That said, this was the mile when my watch began beeping early. It beeped early for the remainder of the race and came in at 13.23 miles. I am sure we didn't run the tangents perfectly but it was interesting that the gap between my garmin's account of the course and the course markers happened mostly in one completely straight mile.)

Mile 4 came up in 6:22, still right on pace and feeling good. Jen, Rachel and I were still running in a nice pack and I was enormously happy to have them there. I took my first Clif Shot gel (espresso, as usual) at mile 4.5. Mile 5, unfortunately, felt really hard and was a 6:18 split. I theorized that the problem was that energy was going to my belly to digest the gel and told myself that I would feel better in the next mile. For whatever reason, mile 6 did feel better. We hit the split in 6:20 and I marveled at the fact that we passed the 10k mark about 30 seconds faster than I had raced a 10k in last fall. This was a huge boost of confidence. We crossed the halfway point feeling good as mile 7 came in at 6:22. 

Unfortunately, the race was about to get a LOT harder for me. We entered the residential neighborhood in Wilmington and our pace started to pick up a bit. Before I knew it we were dropping miles that were much closer to my lactate threshold pace then my half marathon pace and that difference took its toll very quickly. My respiration picked up significantly as we went through miles 8, 9 and 10 in 6:15, 6:13 and 6:15. Rachel decided to make a go of it and scooted off at mile 8. Despite her cold and stomach flu she was running strong and I knew that she was aiming for a sub-1:24 so I was completely okay with letting her go. Jen began to chase her down at about mile 9.  While I truly wish I could have gone with her I also felt at that point that I was absolutely at the edge of my capabilities. (Of course, in retrospect I am beating myself up for not having run faster or tougher, but that is another story.) 

I tried to take a second gel at mile 9 and, for the first time in my racing career I was unable to choke it down. Looking back I realized that I was working incredibly hard but at the time I was just annoyed. I held onto it for a while in hopes that I would be able to nurse it down over time but then realized that all I was managing to do was get poop-colored gel all over my singlet and the back of my leg. With that I chucked it in a trash can and actually stopped for a split second in mile 11 to wipe the gel off my leg so that it didn't look like I had had an, um, accident. In the moment it seemed like a totally reasonable thing to do but as soon as I stopped I realized how silly I was and I just got my hustle right back on. Ridiculous, but funny in retrospect. Maybe the lesson here is that I should stick to vanilla gels later in the race. (I did also consider stopping to find out what the heck was causing pain under my big toe but fortunately I had the good sense not to stop, sit down, take off my shoe and examine what turned out to just be a blister mid-race. Guess I still had a little clarity in the final miles.)

Although I was starting to hurt, a lot, I was able to celebrate the fact that I went through the 10 mile mark in a time that smashed my old 10 mile PR by almost a minute and a half. The boost of excitement that brought was pretty brief though and I quickly returned to swinging between the feeling of "I am exhausted, I want to stop, I can't do this" and hearing Carrie Tollefson yell "Get After It!" in my ear over and over again. Regardless of how much I wanted to walk (which was a LOT) I succumbed to CTolle's signature phrase and just kept gettin' after it. Mile 11 was a pretty abysmal 6:26 and there were a few jogging-ish slow downs in miles 12 and 13 (both 6:22's) but, much to my delight I never walked. Not once. This, my friends, is a first in my half marathon racing history! As my energy flagged and I watched Jen and Rachel race off ahead of me I just kept reminding myself that the best thing I could do was keep running hard because then I would get the pain over with sooner. So on I trudged. Finally in the last mile I started to calculate where I was time-wise. When I realized that I could run the last mile at slower than 7:00 pace and still run a PR I felt enormously relieved and my energy picked up. This obviously didn't translate into a faster split but I sure felt better about myself.

If I didn't have proof, I
wouldn't believe it myself!

Finally, finally I turned the final corner and the finish line came into view. I had stopped looking at my watch at some point during the final mile and I just mustered the best possibly kick I could. The clock was over to the side of the finish line so I couldn't even see it until the moment I crossed the line...when it read 1:23:35. WHAT?!?! A 1 minute 54 second PR?!?! Honestly, even now, I don't know what to say. I was just in absolute shock.  At the beginning of the year I boldly (and foolishly, I thought) had stated that I wanted to run 1:23 for the half. I frankly didn't think it was possible, and I sure as heck didn't think there was any way I was going to do it this early in the year and yet there it was. In big, light up numbers on the race clock. Maybe I will just take the rest of the year off!

Podium sweep!
Rachel (1st), Jen (2nd), me (3rd)

When all the dust settled, Rachel had won (with a PR) with Jen hot on her heels (also in PR-time), both about a minute ahead of me. I am in awe of them that they were able to put a minute on me in those final few miles; as I slowed down they both sped up significantly. We were so giddy to have all PR'd and  swept the podium that the pain of the race disappeared almost immediately into my mental rearview mirror. And I am just indescribably grateful to have been able to run with, and then chase, such amazing, talented women. I knew even when I was out on the course that there was simply NO WAY I would have run the pace I maintained without them and I believe that even more strongly as I reflect on the race. I gathered so much strength from being in our group and I know that I have them to thank for my massive PR.

5 of the 6 speedy BCTC/Oiselle
women...missing 2nd place
finisher Jen!

Shortly after we finished our fantastic teammates came rolling in...first Ellen with Caren right behind her, both also in HUGE PR's. Very shortly thereafter Kim showed up, rounding out our perfect team PR streak. Somewhat improbably our entire group all had stellar days. We spent the next 1 and 1/2 hours celebrating our races with a big old dance party (and free beers, cookies and coca-cola) as we waited for the awards. Then we finally got down to the business of cleaning up, heading to the beach and eating. 

Post-race dance party!

BCTC bull horns...and beer. All the makings
of a good post-race celebration!

At the end of the day we all headed home happy and satisfied. Each and every one of us ran our absolute best, mostly for ourselves but also because we were part of a wonderful group and we all wanted to do our best for the group. Okay, also (as we all admitted) because we didn't want to be the one person who had a cruddy day. Two sides of the same coin as far as I am concerned. As Ellen and I drove home we remarked (multiple times) how motivating it was to spend the weekend with, and race with, such a strong, funny, positive group of women. I know that for many people running is a singular pursuit, but today was a wonderful example of why I love training with, traveling with and especially, when I am lucky enough, racing with a team. Whether we ran in a pack or covered the race distance without having a team member in sight we were still a part of a larger group and that team bond pulled us all along to the finish line just a little bit faster.

A confession

I ran a half marathon in a tutu. And a tiara. I, who may or may not have been known to have scoffed at folks who run in costume in the past, happily and willingly donned a tutu....a homemade tutu nonetheless...and a sparkly foam tiara and trotted around Disney World 2 weekends ago for well over 13.1 miles. And guess what? I LOVED it. Of course, if you were anywhere even NEAR Facebook that weekend you already know all about this, but for the few of you to whom this may be news, there you have it.

Carter and me in 1991
at our senior dance

Of course, here is the caveat. I didn't love running in the tutu and the tiara because they are awesome to run in. (In truth, the tiara was a non-event...I couldn't even feel it on my head. But the tutu was kind of a pain to run in. Those things are NOT built for speed!) But I loved running in them because it meant running alongside this chick ---------------------------->>>
my friend of almost 25 years, Carter. Carter and I were roommates when we were juniors in high school and have remained friends despite all of the miles that have separated us over the years and the vast differences in our daily lives. While I am now a running stay at home mom she is now a running OB/Gyn and mom of two. Her ability to balance all of that while keeping a fantastic sense of humor makes her one of my heroes. When my family and moved to N.C. a year and a half ago, we moved to this town and this state specifically because she was here...because I knew that (despite all the miles and years) by moving close to her my husband, son and I would have family to help us settle into a new life. In summary, Carter is a world-class friend and a totally inspiring woman. So when she decided that she wanted to celebrate her 40th birthday by running her first half marathon at Disney I was instantly 100% on board. Just watching her get ready for this race has been phenomenal...when I moved here Carter's standard run was 4 miles at about a 10:00 pace, but over the past 6 months her long runs have creeped up from 6 miles to 12.5 miles at sub-9:00 pace and her weekly mileage has doubled. She worked HARD and by the time the weekend rolled around she was totally ready to rock the half marathon distance.

This is the part of the blog where I will inundate you with photos and a little race recap of my first-ever "girls weekend". There is some serious running in here (skip to the 5k for that) some long humid sauna-like running (refer to the half marathon portion) and just some silliness (see ALL the photos). Here is how it all went down:

Tutu at RDU.
All the cool kids
are wearing them...

6:00 p.m. Friday: we headed down to Orlando. Ellen's tutu was a little too awesome for her suitcase so she treated all the travelers at RDU to a little tutu-preview.

Once we arrived in hot, humid Orlando, where the forecast was predicting 90% humidity and record highs all weekend (uh-oh) we immediately went to bed. Super thrilling, I know, but Ellen and I had BIG PLANS for Saturday. Unfortunately, while Ellen went right off to sleep I opted for the "stay up almost all night coughing and losing your voice" option. Sigh.

Pre-5k. Notice that it is PITCH
BLACK out there?!?!

3:40 a.m. Saturday: the alarm went off. By choice! Ellen and I got up and donned our Oiselle singlets, my LUNA tattoos and warm up shirt and our racing flats and headed off to the Happiest Place On Earth. While it was clearly still night outside of the park, as soon as we arrived at the race start it was freakishly daytime-like thanks to all the flood lights and the music. Lots of music. The Funky Chicken, YMCA, and the Harlem Shake, family style. (?!?!) We picked up our bib numbers and proceeded to run many, many loops of a parking lot as a warm up, eat my obligatory pre-race Clif Double Espresso gel and drink a lot of water in a futile attempt to replace all the sweat we had lost during the warm up.

6:30 a.m. Saturday: Starting gun of the Disney Family 5k. With this comes my only complaint of the whole weekend. If you refer to the registration information for this event it is listed as a 5k. There are results of other 5k's that are run in the RunDisney series. This 5k cost $60 and 8,000 people registered. Given all that info it stands to reason that this will be a race, right? Evidently it was wrong to make such an assumption. A couple of weeks before the race RunDisney sent out final instructions that included casual mention of the fact that this would be a "fun run with no official results and no awards". Huh?!?! I mean, I am all for the fun runs of the world, but I would have loved to have known that this race I had paid $60 for and was getting up in the middle of the night for wasn't a race! I have to admit, I got a little mad for about 5 minutes when I first read this info. But then I decided that I would still run it, at race pace, and use it as a mental toughness exercise and a time trial.

When the gun went off it instantly became clear that there were plenty of other people in the (seeded by pace even though this wasn't a race) corral who were determined to race this thing. Two girls got out in front of me and were running at what felt like a dead sprint. It was pretty clear to me that I wasn't going to be keeping up with that so I just tried to run my own pace. By settling into a manageable pace I was actually able to pick them both off by the 3/4 mile mark. And then I was alone. In the dark. Running around Epcot. It was SO WEIRD. The music was playing and there were flood lights and a few employees getting the park ready who would cheer a bit as I streaked by but otherwise I was just running along solo. I went through the mile in 5:50, feeling the effort and the humidity a bit, but my legs were still turning over well. Because of the humid conditions and my cold my effort level was definitely greater than it was during the hilly 5k I ran a few weeks ago (and that is saying A LOT) but thanks to the training I have been doing I was able to keep cruising along at the high effort. At about 1.5 miles in I briefly lost my focus and started getting lost in how hard I was was working, how tired I was, etc. Fortunately I got my act together pretty quickly and went through mile 2 in 5:48. First time I have ever been faster in the second mile of a 5k in my life! The third mile was, unfortunately, by far the hardest. Obviously I was getting tired, but then...I went off course. Ugh. There was a small area where the course just wasn't clearly marked and I followed the guy who was way out in front of me the wrong way. I figured it out pretty quickly, but I lost about :30 total with that mishap. Even without that little scenic detour behind the bathrooms this mile had the most twists and turns which didn't help my pace. I came through that mile (per my watch) in 5:58. Slower, but still under 6:00! Even though I was frustrated, a little tunnel-vision-y and just plain tired I ran my last .23 miles (not .12, but .23 thanks to my getting lost) in 1:05...good enough for an 18:50 finish time and first woman overall in the non-competitive fun run :) While it is definitely frustrating to run that hard and then have an inaccurate time due to getting lost, I was thrilled that when I converted my time to remove that extra distance I came out with an 18:10, which would be a new road PR by 5 seconds for me! I will spare you any race photos from this event because I frankly look like I am either about to keel over or have just received the shock of my life (thanks to the camera flashes because it was dark out!) in each and every one of them. 

Oiselle super-fan Joyce!
There was LOTS of Oiselle
and LUNA love in Orlando!

Ellen and me, post-5k.
Finally, the sun came up!

Once Ellen finished her tempo run (which garnered her a fifth place finish because her tempo pace is now totally speedy), she scraped me up off the pavement where I was waiting for her and we set off for our cool down. The cool down was interrupted by a delightful conversation with two New Balance employees, a Oislle fan encounter (hi Joyce!) and, of course, a few photo ops. By 7:30 a.m. we had been up for almost 4 hours, run 7.5 miles & were totally ready for a nap.

Lunchtime, Saturday: Time for the half marathon expo, which was punctuated by multiple visits to the fab ladies at the LUNA booth (I was able to replenish my stash of temporary tattoos) the purchase of light up shoelaces for Carter and the retrieval of my "elite" bib, which I found wildly entertaining for some reason.

Carter and me, all grown
 up and race ready!

The rest of the day was spent napping, relaxing by the pool, drinking lots and lots of electrolytes and eating. All massive luxuries for the 3 moms and 1 non-mom who works 7 days a week. It was bliss. I mean, I really missed my husband and son desperately. No wait, it was bliss AND I missed my husband and son.

cookies soften the blow
of a 3 a.m. wake up

3:00 a.m. Sunday morning and a new "wake up early" PR for all of us. Once again, I had decided to cough instead of sleep so I am not sure I actually had any waking up to do. Once we were all up we celebrated Ellen's 32nd birthday with the gift I had been busting at the seams to give her....personalized iced sugar cookies! These may be her most fave cookies in the world so it certainly started the day off right. Once again we set off for the Happiest Place On Earth, this time with 23,000 of our closest friends, in the middle of the freaking night. 

with the 32nd b-day girl
pre-race!

Once we ditched our race day bag and walked the 20 minutes to the starting corral area I decided to do a little warm up. The only area to run was a .10 mile stretch so I just ran down and back for 2 miles. By the time I was done I was drenched in sweat - at 5:00 a.m. it was 66 degrees and 90% humidity. With conditions like that I knew that it was going to be a long morning. Once I hopped back into the corral I quickly discovered that my "elite" bib meant that I was considered qualified to answer lots of questions on topics ranging from "how do I improve my half marathon time so I can get into the "A" corral" to "how do I turn on my heart rate monitor and GPS". Bemused as I was I was also extremely flattered at this perceived expertise and I was happy to help where I could.

5:45 a.m. The gun for our wave goes off. Confetti...sorry, fairy dust...shoots into the sky and fireworks rocket off. And finally so did we! Holy cow was it ever crowded out there though. As soon as we got going I realized that Carter and her college roommate Colleen were MUCH faster than the other women in our corral and so we commenced project "pass 3,000 other competitors. Nicely." There was a LOT of weaving (like .3 extra miles worth of it!). For the next two-plus hours we ran through a LOT of Disney parking lots, right down Main Street U.S.A., THROUGH the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom (which was actually incredibly cool and exciting), past just about every Disney character ever created, around the giant golf ball at Epcot and even past the site of my running off course incident of the day before. While I can't say that it was ultimately the most scenic race course I have ever run on there were some pretty exciting and entertaining moments. There was also a lot of humidity and unfortunately the combination of the humidity and all the weaving around people definitely took their toll on our overall pace. Despite all of that Carter pushed hard throughout the entire race and had a great attitude, even during the rough latter miles. And ultimately, 2 hours, 7 minutes, 35 seconds, 13.41 miles, 3 bathroom stops (thanks humidity), 4 discarded tutu sightings, a 4 Clif gel net gain and way too many men in bad princess outfits later Carter, Colleen and I crossed the finish line smiling and happy and Carter became a half-marathoner. I am immensely proud of her and incredibly grateful that I got to experience this whole journey to race day with her. I may have even shed a few tears. (Okay, I totally did.)

8:00 a.m. Best part of the day begins...cue the ridiculous, fun photo shoots. I am just going to let the photos do the talking here folks. But seriously, what's not to love? When you are wearing a tutu and a tiara you kind of need to live it up, right?

Usain Bolt. Well, sort of...

the MoBot

Ryan Lochte, eat your heart out!

10:00 a.m. We sit down to breakfast. We have been up for 7 hours, have run between 13.1 and 18.5 miles each, have been to Starbucks and some of us have even taken showers. We feel ridiculously productive and also pretty darn entitled to a few extra pieces of bacon. The rest of the day was spent eating, resting, walking around, eating. And eating. Which made it just about a perfect day in my book. 

So, to answer the question that I am sure is on everyone's mind at this point, would I wear a tutu and a tiara for 13.1 (13.41) miles again? While I can't say that I think it would be a suitable speed kit, if Carter asked me to I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Maybe you'll see us all at the decidedly less humid Tinkerbell Half in California next year...

Monkey off my back

If you have read the other posts on this blog, you will already know that I spent the majority of 2011 injured. If you haven't read the other posts on this blog, here is a brief recap: I spent the majority of 2011 injured. I strained my peroneal muscles on the outside of my right shin, caused my poor fibula to have to do a job it isn't designed to do and got myself into a nasty cycle of bone swelling and recovery. Finally, thanks to the mad skills of my 2 favorite sports chiropractors (Dr. Leo Kormanik in Cleveland and Dr. Jason Pirigyi in Durham) I made it off the disabled list and back into running. 

Just about the time I began running again I decided to go and get my USATF coaching certification. My husband kept asking me why I wanted to take the weekend class and get certified and I honestly didn't have a good answer for him. And while I did learn a lot, became more confident in the knowledge I already had and passed the exam with flying colors, the best part of the weekend was that I met my current coach. Andrew Allden is a totally experienced, seasoned coach and he agreed to take me on and get me ready to race as a masters runner. He has worked me like crazy these past few months! In fact, I ran 293 miles in January alone. For a girl who couldn't run much at all last year that was a pretty amazing feat. He has also pushed my speed to new levels. In the past 2 and 1/2 months my lactate threshold pace has dropped from 6:40 to 6:15. This transformation alone is enough to convince me that hiring a coach was the best thing I could have done this year as I can guarantee you that I would have never, ever pushed myself this hard (my LT pace would most certainly still be a comfy 6:40). While the work has been daunting at times it has also been immensely fun and rewarding to put in the work and see the improvement.

Of course, with this kind of training comes....racing. Two weekends ago I looked at my schedule for the upcoming week and I saw that Andrew had put a 5k on my log for the following Sunday. Cue the heartburn. Seriously folks, I was a wreck the whole week! Every single time I tried to think about the race my heart rate went up. It was ridiculous. But I knew I had to do it, both as a barometer of my fitness and to get the racing monkey off my back. 

Part of my no-fail
pre-race meal

After a week of track work, a hard tempo run and a long run on Friday with my good friend Carter (who is prepping for her first half marathon next weekend!) it was finally time to race. I can't say that I really tapered at all, although I ran an easy 12.5 miles Friday and an easy 4 miles Saturday. On Sunday morning I got up and headed out for a 3 and 1/2 mile shakeout run. The race wasn't until 2 p.m. so I knew I had to structure the day a little differently than a regular race day. Post-run I had a big baked sweet potato, a latte and I did a LOT of laundry. At noon I downed my favorite flavor of LUNA bar (lemon zest!) and packed up. 

I am very, very lucky to have a husband, son and friend who are willing to give up the better part of a Sunday afternoon to come to a race with me, so fortunately I didn't have to go to the race solo. Instead I had the awesome cheering section of D and my son Z and Carter came along to race as well. Just having them there took my anxiety down by a big notch. As we all piled into the car I began to feel a little more calm. Once we hit the road there was no going back, so the anxiety abated even a little more.

With Carter, my high
school roommate,
friend of 25 years and
a fab runner in her own
right!

And then, as we approached the race course, we drove up a BIG hill. Uh oh. I knew the course had been changed and was "on top of Dix Hill" but I really didn't know how big of a hill we were talking about. The answer was big. And the top of the hill was NOT big enough to accommodate a whole 5k on its crest. This was not going to be a flat race. During our warm up Carter and I got a nice idea of just how hilly the course was, but amazingly, instead of the hills making me more nervous they actually made me feel significantly more calm. There was NO way this was going to be a fast race so I just threw all of my attachment to pace and time out the window.

With the course preview done it was finally time to start. Just before I jumped into the start area my husband reminded me of my race plan (relax at the start, focus between 2k and 4k) and also reminded me that I tend to thrive on the uphills. Those reminders proved to be immensely helpful to me over the course of the race. I then quickly sucked down a double espresso clif shot for good measure, found my Oiselle teammate Allison, lined up and before I knew it we were off. 

Mile one: the start was downhill...for about 100 meters. We then turned, leveled off briefly and started a 1/2 mile or so uphill. As soon as the road pitched up the one girl ahead of me put on the brakes and I was alone in front of the women. This was a little daunting mentally but I just tried to relax and keep my effort in check. We finally crested the top, turned and started downhill. I thought about pushing all the downhills but very quickly realized that the prudent thing to do was to use them to recover unless I was in a situation in which I NEEDED to push. I hit the mile in 5:50 and felt surprisingly good.

Mile two: We continued downhill and then quickly headed back uphill, steeper this time. I passed a whole pack of men, which was entertaining. A woman cheered "first woman...er, first girl!" and I chuckled at the thought that she thought I was a generation younger than I am. This mile featured a lovely 50 meter out and back with a hairpin turn around a cone. Evidently this was necessary to allow the race to have the start and finish line at the same place. I think I would have voted to have just pushed the start line back 100 meters, the finish line forward 100 meters or some combo of the two. Running down a hill, slowing dramatically to go a round a cone and then having to accelerate back up the same hill is just not a recipe for speed. Mile 2 was still 5:53 however, so that is okay.

Mile three: Oh. My. Gosh. This mile started midway between the bottom of the hill and the top of the hill (where the finish line was) The first .2 or so was a steep downhill all the way to the bottom. Then we headed back up. And up, and up. At mile 2.5 we hit a ridiculously steep section then the course mercifully transitioned into a much gentler grade. I knew that I wouldn't get caught at this point so I did relax a little bit but I just kept pushing and willed myself not to walk. I was ultimately successful on both fronts and despite feeling like I was going to die I did manage to pass a few guys who were clearly suffering even worse. I finally hit the 3 mile mark in 6:05.

With the finish line in sight my legs felt like rubber but I mustered a kick (5:14 pace) and crossed the line in 18:34. I was totally spent but I had, for the first time in my 5k running history, really parsed out my energy well over the course. I hadn't looked at my watch since mile 1 and I was THRILLED with the time. I have been working my tail off lately, but I know from past experience that sometimes good training doesn't necessarily yield good race results. Not to say that I won't screw up a 5k in the future, but on this day it worked out for me and I
am grateful for that. I was also pleased that after the first 1/2 mile I was not passed by a single person and I managed to pass a ton of guys (I was 16th overall I think). For someone who tends to start fast and then struggle this was a big accomplishment. And really, more than anything, I was just so happy to be running injury-free and to have the "getting back to racing" monkey off my back! I can't wait for the next one this coming weekend (and it will be flat!!!). 

Carter with her age
group award!

Nice 1-2 finish for
Oiselle team NC! 

An added bonus...my Oiselle teammate Allison finished second and my friend Carter WON the women's 40-44 division. I have watched Carter develop as a runner this year and watching her discover her name at the top of her age group was probably the best part of my entire day.

So there you have it, the "first race back" check box has been checked. Of course, it isn't all puppies and roses in my running world: in the week since the race I have been reminded of how fickle the sport of running can be as I managed to both get sick and re-aggravate my temperamental popliteus muscle (for the 99.9% of you who don't have a clue what this muscle is, it is a small and obscure muscle behind the knee that can becomes appallingly tender when I overpronate, run in the rain and wiggle my foot in my wet shoe, etc.). But challenges like that are as much a part of running as having a great race and after a year off of running. Thankfully the illness is behind me, and with a little crackerjack active release work hopefully the sore muscle will be a thing of the past before this weekend's racing begins!

(P.S. Lest you worry that I
am taking my running too seriously,
my next race report will be
featuring this accessory...)

Jumping on the year in review bandwagon

Before I begin my review of my year in training, racing and pacing, I would like to put out my main goal for 2013: I am going to invent an app that allows me to blog by thought. See, I write a TON of great blog posts in my brain, while falling asleep, driving my son to school, running on the treadmill...everywhere but sitting at my computer. So my main goal for the new year is to figure out how to get those untyped blog posts directly from my brain to the blogesphere. Genius, right?

Now that that is taken care of, I will proceed to my top 5 moments of 2012.

1. Overcoming the injury of the century. Actually, I overcame my injury again, and again, and again. Let's face it...in running terms this has been a rough year. Any year that involved multiple stints in the boot of shame and traveling with said boot and a bone stimulator in tow to races and vacations "just in case" is a little rough. But as the year closes out and I tally up my whopping 1513 running miles (that is 4.14 miles per day for you math-y folks) I am actually enormously happy with my training year (and really optimistic about next year). Despite innumerable internal pity parties I never once let my injury get the best of me and I trained my arse off throughout the whole debacle. I discovered that I can still swim almost as fast as I could when I did Ironman Canada in 2001, I made new friends while I aquajogged for hours on end, I rediscovered my abdominal muscles and my glute medius and I made the acquaintance of a couple of fantastic and talented chiropractors. Most importantly (and certainly most cliche-y) I discovered I am much, much tougher than I had ever imagined. Had you told me previously that I would spend this long injured and STILL stay in shape I would have laughed at you. But I did it! I sincerely hope I never have a layoff like this again but if I do I am totally ready for it. (Although I do need a new swimsuit...mine is a teeny bit see through after all that swimming and aqua jogging!)

Thank goodness for Dr. Kormanik's Alter-G!

with this as my number, I
KNEW it was going to be
a great day!

BCTC team representing
in CA!

2. The Napa Valley Marathon. When I left California in August of 2011 some of my wonderful teammates and I decided that we would meet up at Napa in 2012 to run together. The promise of this got me through some lonely early months in Durham and ultimately became the base of my running partnership with my fantastic Bull City/Oiselle teammate and running bff Ellen. As my injury dragged I changed my race plans from "break 3:10" to "pace Ellen to a BQ". Unbeknownst to me that change ended up laying the groundwork for the most fun marathon I have ever run. Despite the fact that I toed the line really, truly not knowing if I would be able to finish I also showed up completely relaxed and devoid of the internal pressure that we runners tend to tote along with us to marathons. During the week surrounding the race I got to stay with and visit my wonderful friend Jenny, I saw all my old teammates from FoMo, including our fantastic tangent-running pacer Ralph, our amazing cheerleader Tara and, of course, my CA running bff Andy and I was privileged to run side-by-side with Ellen as she scored a whopping 11 minute PR and a ticket to Boston. It was, undeniably, the perfect running vacation.

celebrating Ellen's BQ!

3. Becoming a LUNA sponsored athlete. In mid-April I got a text from my best friend Carrie saying something along the lines of: "There is a new LUNA sponsored athlete program. They are looking for women who finish in the top 10 of their age group and are interesting. You ought to apply to it...here is the contact person's info." It is no secret that I am enamored with the LUNA brand...as a lifelong athlete and huge advocate for women's participation in sport I have always loved LUNA's mission and there is absolutely NOTHING to not love about their products. But be sponsored? Me? I figured it was a huge long shot! Honestly, I don't know that there is anything particularly interesting about me...I am a stay at home mom and 21st century housewife, I run, I get injured, I cross train, I train with my friends, I pace some of my friends, I race. But with the encouragement of my husband I put together a running resume and threw my (running) hat into the ring for consideration. Months passed. Okay, a month. But it felt like eons. One morning during a 5:30 a.m. run with my friend Carter I said "I don't think I am going to get it." The very next day I got an email...and then a call...and much to my delight and surprise I am now beginning my second year as a LUNA athlete. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of the LUNA community and I am really excited to represent them as I race (injury-free) this coming year! The sponsorship was a huge jolt of confidence when I needed it most and it has inspired me to become more involved in my running community by beginning to coach Girls On The Run, laying the groundwork to establish a GOTR chapter at my son's school, pursuing my USATF Level 1 coaching certification and setting up a mom's running group, also at my son's school. I am SO grateful for LUNA's continued faith in me and I can't wait to meet all the other amazing athletes at Summit this spring!

arm warmers with thumb
holes? Thanks Oiselle!

4. Becoming a Oiselle Ambassador. While standing on the starting line at Napa I saw my FoMo teammate Christy Slye, who happens to be the VP of sales for an amazing women's running apparel company called Oiselle. This brief encounter set into motion a chain of events that included me practically breaking the bank to procure an entire new running wardrobe of gorgeous clothes that actually fit my xxs frame, learning how to tweet (who knew I could say anything in 140 characters?!?!) and getting 75 new amazing women as teammates when I was chosen to be an ambassador for the Oiselle. For those of you who haven't heard of Oiselle...please stop reading my wordy blog right now and go over to their website: www.oiselle.com There you will find some of the most flattering women's running apparel ever created. Founded on the premise that it has to be possible to make a more flattering short than the here-unnamed ubiquitous running short (you know the one...every third woman at the gym is wearing them!), Oiselle has done a phenomenal job at creating both technical running apparel and casual running-related clothes that are flattering, comfortable and truly designed for runners. And the women who run the company are just as awesome as the clothes they make.

We made a little time to hang
out with Kara Goucher in NYC

5. The whole NYC Marathon experience. I know, I know...this is on many folks list of worst moments in 2012. But I thought it was fantastic! A little bit surprising and sometimes stressful, but fantastic nonetheless. Yes, it was disappointing. Yes, the whole situation is riddled with controversy. Yes, I am 100% tired of hearing people complain about it. And yes, at the end of the day it was a good reminder to all of us runners that our desire to run 26.2 miles on a certain day in a certain place is trivial. But all of the ridiculously negative and hurtful Facebook comments skewering runners, all the uncertainty, all the disappointment of having a race cancelled just days before race day was worth the moment on Ellen's face when we arrived at Central Park on race morning to find thousands and thousands of runners...running. Together. And having a wonderful time doing it. I know that the race cancellation had been much more stressful for Ellen and it just made me inordinately happy that this amazing display of humanity was able to trump all that stress and disappointment. In addition to that, we had the best. roommates. ever. Christy, Rosaura and Cynthia were relaxed and positive and just all-around fun to spend time with. And then there were the Oiselle get-togethers! I can't imagine a better group to commiserate with after a major marathon gets cancelled. And running in Central Park on a cold November morning with a bevy of Oiselle teammates was undoubtedly one of my favorite runs of the year. As much as I wish that I could turn time backwards and make it so Sandy had never occurred, had not destroyed so many homes and taken so many peoples' lives, I am enormously grateful for the experience I ended up having this November in New York. 

This says it all. Thanks
Christy!

So there you have it. 2012 is in the books. With all the time I spent NOT running I easily could call it the worst year in my 20 years in the sport. But thanks to the support of my amazing running family - Ellen, Andy, Carter, my Bull City teammates, my new coach, LUNA, Oiselle, and many others - I can actually say that this has been one of my most satisfying, fulfilling years on record.

On a non-running related note, I want to go on the record and say that, without a doubt, the one thing I am the most grateful for in 2012 is that Carrie, my dearest friend of over 35 years, (sprklnld.blogspot.com) is finishing the year brain tumor-free. That alone trumps all the running, racing, pacing, and sponsorships as the hands down best thing about 2012. Enough said.

***************************

Since I am a notoriously lazy blogger I am just going to go ahead and put out a few things I am looking forward to in 2013. If I don't do it now it may not make it into "print" until May :) So without further ado...

1. Disney Princess Half Marathon. My dearest friend from high school, Carter, decided that the best way to celebrate turning 40 is to don a tutu and tiara and run her first half marathon. I am so excited to pace her and run alongside her during this great adventure! And what's not to love about a race that encourages women to tackle this distance? Orlando, here I come!

2. LUNA Summit. Spending a weekend with all the amazing LUNA Chix and LUNA sponsored athletes in one place AND getting to see Carrie...I wish I could just fast-forward to April! 

3. Boston! My 5th time on the starting line here...every single one has been an adventure. I have made it to mile 22 and then taken a luxury ambulance ride to the hospital for a 5 day stay, I have run it on NO  training whatsoever and had a great race, I have run it with my wonderful friend Stacy in memory of our dear Patrick Caurant in the aftermath of a nor'easter. I can't wait to see what the adventure is this time! One thing I know for sure...it will be fun! Any marathon in which I am pacing my friend and Oiselle teammate Ellen is bound to be entertaining and delightful.

4. Turning 40. I cannot wait to turn 40! Sorry, I know most of you are totally sick of hearing me say it, but it is true! In just under 6 months I don't have to race all the young ladies any more and I cannot wait. I understand that turning 40 is kind of stressful for a lot of people but I am just plain ecstatic. Thank you running!

5. Who knows? If I learned anything this past year, it is that running, like the rest of life, is surprising and unpredictable. I can honestly say that I can't wait to see what happens next.

So there you have it. Five highlights from 2012 and five things I am looking forward to in the New Year. Thanks for reading along, and Happy New Year!

Summer round up

If I seem to have fallen into a black hole for the past month and a half, I apologize. I was on my annual pilgrimage to Cleveland to visit my parents with my son. This trip is a chance for my son to have in-depth, quality time with his grandparents and my chance to give back to my parents just a small, small amount of the boundless support and help they have given me over my 39 years. This summer, among other things, I helped clean out and organized their storage lockers, helped buy my mom a car to replace her aged station wagon, took my niece shopping (for 12 hours over 2 days! I had no idea it could take that long to shop!) to complete a much needed update of her closet and get her ready to leave for college, grocery shopped, cooked some nights...it was a busy month!

Of course, that wasn't ALL that happened while I was in Cleveland. To give you an idea of some of the running-related excitement that occurred over the course of the month here are a few photos that sum up the trip pretty well:

First, this happened:

Look! No boot!

After four weeks in the boot and six weeks off of running I was declared free of bone swelling and allowed to enjoy bending both my ankles normally, wearing flip flops and all the other perks that come with burying the air cast boot in the deepest reaches of the back of my car. I cannot begin to tell you how happy this made me.

Of course, this didn't mean that I could just leap back into my regular running ways. As much as I wanted to just run out the door of the ortho clinic and keep running for 8 miles, I really respect the injury recovery process and I wanted to do my very best to rehab this injury responsibly. Fortunately, I was able to do this:

Thanks to my truly phenomenal chiropractor Leo Kormanik at Ohio Sports Chiropractic in the Cleveland suburb of Northfield I was able to run on the Alter-G twice a week for the duration of my trip. (He was also willing to humor me by taking photos and videos of me on the treadmill!) In addition to letting me use his extremely cool toy he treated me at every visit with active release technique, graston technique, stim and cold laser...4 complementary therapies that helped to undo some of the soft tissue damage that had led to my injury and to speed the healing process. 

For any of you who are curious, the Alter-G is FUN. Really, really fun. Well, as fun as wearing neoprene shorts and being zipped into a giant bubble can be. I am, admittedly, still a bit unclear as to how it all works but essentially the neoprene shorts zip into the grey and clear "bubble" which inflates and reduces the body weight with which you are running on the treadmill. This allowed me to run while not stressing my still-healing bone nearly as much as if I were running at full body weight. I even ran a 5k PR on the Alter-G! Well, at 84% of my body weight. This means that if I could just keep all my functional muscle mass, my bones, my organs and a healthy level of body fat but could weigh 84 pounds I could easily run a 17:59 5k. Sooo, that probably ins't going to happen. But it sure was fun to see that time on the display! 

Anyway, enough enthusing about the Alter-G and Dr. Kormanik. (Did I mention that he ran a 2:18 at the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon? And is spectacularly nice and wickedly good at his job? Okay, now enough enthusing...) 

Lest you think I spent my whole time helping my folks and hanging out with Dr. Leo, there was one important non-running event that happened while I was in Cleveland. When I went to Cleveland I looked like this:

Lots of long, blonde, curly hair. I had been growing it out for a while and I have always really loved it when it was long! But one day I did this:

Frankly, it was the easiest decision I have made in a very, very long time. See, my incredible, hilarious, brave childhood best friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few months ago. Carrie and I have known one another since we were 3 and 4 years old, which is by now a very, very long time. We share so many childhood memories and frankly, because I lost a fair bit of my memory when I was in my early twenties she actually holds a lot of my memories for me. As kids she was the calm, peaceful foil to my spastic, energetic self and I always aspired to be more like her. She is also a wickedly funny, strong, fantastic adult friend and our friendship truly is one of the greatest joys of my life. Understandably, I was really, really upset that a brain tumor had the gall to lurk around in her brain giving her headaches and vision loss! Fortunately, almost the entire tumor was successfully removed during her surgery. Unfortunately, a small part couldn't be removed and required radiation. In anticipation of the radiation Carrie decided it would be prudent to cut her hair short in case of hair loss. At first I offered to cut ALL of my hair off and send it to her for a wig but that turned out to be a bit unreasonable so in lieu of that I just went ahead and cut it all off so that she didn't have to chop her hair off solo. Better still, Carrie's awesome sister and 2 of her good friends in Seattle also cut their hair short! She has a superb support system, which is a testament to what an amazing person she is. In case you are wondering, she looks absolutely gorgeous with her short hair and her radiation is going very well...she is more than halfway done and is tolerating it immensely well. The little sliver of tumor, hopefully, is not faring as well :) 

Before I get us all sentimental, let me circle this all back around to running! Carrie also happens to be a superb triathlete and a longtime member of the Seattle LunaChix team. She has trained through as much of her brain tumor experience as possible and has even raced 3 times since her surgery. She is a total badass. Furthermore, she introduced me to the fantastic LUNA sponsored athlete program so now we get to be on the same team! I am incredibly proud to be a LUNA teammate with her. If you want to read more about her amazing journey you can zip on over to her blog at sprklnld.blogspot.com

In the spirit of Carrie's tenacity I decided to run a little test race at the end of my time in Cleveland. I was really excited to run a race in my LUNA gear! I found a nice low-key 5k my last weekend there and dragged my dad out of bed early with the promise of a post-race frappucino. Based on the estimated junction of my Alter-G PR and the way my legs were feeling (a.k.a. tired and slow) I was crossing my fingers for a sub-20 minute result. The extent of my race strategy was to not look at my watch, run comfortably hard and not walk. (My dad, wise guy that he is, was just hoping to have fun and beat the other 70-plus year old dudes.) After an early morning warm up run, a toasted nuts and cranberry LUNA bar and a half a bottle of cold water to beat the humidity I toed the line. 3.1 miles later this had happened:

Holy cow!

I was THRILLED. It is kind of amazing...less than 18 months ago I was running in the 18:20's and itching to run faster, but on that day I was over the moon with a 19:14. It may not be super fast, but it is a beginning! I know that the road back from my injury is going to be long (that is a whole other post!) but it was so exhilarating to have checked the first come back off the list.

In case you are wondering, my dad totally earned his mocha frappucino...he not only beat all the guys over 70, he beat all the guys over 60! I am so proud to be his daughter! 

And there you have it. A month-plus in Cleveland. I came home exhausted but feeling really, really fortunate that I get to go spend that extensive time with my folks again this year. I am now back home in North Carolina soaking up the humidity and counting down the days until my son starts first grade and I am able to run a 50 mile week again. Next week I will have a more running-centric blog update. See you then!

**One other note: the fine folks in Cleveland were super pro-LUNA...it seemed like every time I went to the gym or Starbucks or the local Whole Foods people were asking about my LUNA jacket and tee shirts. I managed to come up with a concise explanation of the sponsorship program and it was universally met with an enthusiastic response to LUNA's support of regular women. A number of people didn't know much about LUNA products so I shared a bunch of my bars with baristas and gym members...hopefully I made a bunch of new LUNA lovers out of them :)

"You know you're living life to the fullest when the universe is simultaneously flipping you off and giving you the thumbs up."

Lauren Fleshman posted the quote above on May 29th on Facebook and man alive, it pretty much sums up the story of my running right now. The day after I got the amazing call from LUNA that I had been chosen for their new LUNA sponsored athletes program I went in for an MRI of my right fibula...site of an injury I sustained last fall when I twisted my ankle. Although the injury had been pesky, in the last 8 months I was able to run my second-fastest 8k time of my life, pace my amazing friend Ellen to a marathon PR and dash up Laurel Hill as the second fastest woman in the Tar Heel 10 and 4 mile races. And I had just put in almost 3 months of extremely solid training...training that really confirmed that I had stayed fit during the original injury layoff and that told me I was nearly ready to race again. I was feeling AWESOME. I went for a trail run the weekend before the call from Luna and, unfortunately, rolled that same ankle 4 times. "No biggie", I thought; but a few days later it was tender to the touch so (at the advice of my podiatrist) I scheduled an MRI. Never once did I think I was going to get a call from LUNA and never did I think that within 6 hours of getting the MRI I would be in a boot - for a month! My doctors could only tell me "Huh. I don't know what is wrong" and "You can either run through it...or be in the boot." Such a low for me right after one of the biggest highs of my running life. Yep, I can relate to Lauren Fleshman's quote.

This is how my legs normally look

and...this is the view right now.

But there is another quote that is important in this story: "Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle the setbacks." This one hails from the source of many inspirational quotes - the bag that my Lululemon shorts came in - and it quite thoroughly describes my attitude when it comes to dealing with injury. I am fortunate that (contrary to the belief of my running friends in Durham) I very rarely get injured. That said, I do seem to have ridiculously bad timing with the injuries I do get. A femoral neck stress fracture 12 weeks before my first marathon in 1997. A broken metatarsal 7 and 1/2 weeks before the New York City Marathon in 2008. Deal breakers, right? Well, not so much. I ran 3:24 at L.A. and 3:37 at New York. "How?!?!?!" you may ask? Well, to put it simply, I owned my setbacks instead of letting them own me. Easy, right? Okay, okay, it really isn't that easy. My husband, son, training partners, friends and parents will all tell you that I do plenty of complaining when I am injured. I get frustrated and demoralized at times. And I will tell you that "owning the setbacks" is time-consuming, logisitically a pain in the rear and generally boring. Really, really boring. It involves wearing the boot (or being on crutches or whatever ridiculous treatment is prescribed), spending quality time with the elliptical machine at the gym, driving to the pool, swimming or aquajogging for HOURS, driving home from the pool, doing strength work, using my bone stimulator, doing rehab, taking supplements and being patient. None of which is remotely close to being as much fun as running. But....it is all the most direct route back to running injury free, back to being able to do what makes me so happy, back to achieving the goal I had set out long before injury derailed me. With that in mind I have approached my injuries with the same routine each time: 1. get mad, first at the injury and then at myself for getting injured. 2. have a pity party (this step may get repeated a number of times during the course of the injury). 3. come up with a plan to get me from the date of injury to the date of my goal and get the okay from my doctor to forge ahead with that plan. 4. put my head down and execute said plan.

That little 4 step plan has looked different with each injury, but every time, in its simple way it has served me well. When I fractured my femoral neck in 1997 my recovery included 8 weeks on crutches with daily 90 minute swims with a pull-buoy between my legs to keep me from kicking. Those swims were mind-numbing. All I thought about was the number between 1 and 10 that I was currently counting for a given lap. I would do up to 200 laps each day, so there was a lot of counting from 1 to 10! But those swims kept my aerobic capacity up and my core and back strong. Four weeks before the marathon I got off the crutches...and kept swimming. Two weeks before the race I went for a slow and tentative 1 mile run. The day before the marathon I rounded out my 20 miles total of training with a 5 mile run. And on race morning I toed the line with NO clue of what it felt like to run longer than 13 miles and no idea if I would finish. Three hours, twenty four minutes and three seconds later I finished feeling exhilerated. I was so proud of myself for having run a marathon! But I was, perhaps, even more proud that I had gotten myself there, fully healed. I had succeeded at completely defying logic and I LOVED that.

When I fractured my foot less than 2 months before New York I was MAD. I had been irresponsible with my orthotics and a change in gait had led to the break. But when my doctor told me I was facing 6 weeks in the boot I immediately started developing a plan that just might get me to the finish line. This time I was able to use both my legs...but still in the pool. So for 6 weeks I translated every single one of my runs into time and aquajogged them. Speed workout in the pool? Check. Tempo run in the pool? Yup. Two hours and 45 minutes of "long run" to replace my 22 miler in the pool?  I got it done (thanks entirely to my amazing training partner Stacy who came and sat on the pool deck and entertained me!). And once again I toed the line of the NYC marathon with a bunch of uncertainty and ended up finishing with an intact foot and an amazing sense of accomplishment for having just gotten there.

Now, don't think that I run ALL my marathons off of an injury. Not even close! But I will tell you that as far as marathons I have run on my own (not pacing friends) I am far and away most proud of those two marathons. I didn't let the situation get the best of me either time and both times I succeeded. The times weren't blazing...the New York City time was at least 20 minutes slower than I would have liked. But I was there. Whole. With a smile on my face. I put everything into the preparation and I came out 100% successful.

A little stim to help the tendons

And so here I am again. This injury has not taken nearly as neat and tidy a course as those previous ones. It has dragged on, gone away, come back. But, and I don't mean to be trite, life is complicated. I have had a lot of other stuff take priority over my orthopedic medical care in the past few months, and consequently I didn't get very good medical care for this injury. I never had a concrete plan for recovery and rehab and I paid the price with the reinjury. Consequently this injury has been, by far, the most frustrating one I have ever dealt with. I have not only been frustrated by its presence but stressed out at the thought of disappointing LUNA, who has put faith in me to represent their awesome brand. And while I do both sport the LUNA logo on my training shirts at the gym and on the way to and from the pool daily and continue to consume copious quantities of LUNA bars before my twice daily workouts, I am not quite sure this is what they had in mind when they signed up a road runner. But after I sat with all of my concerns and frustrations for a few days I went back to that second quote above and decided that what was really important wasn't that I had gotten injured (all athletes do at some point) but how I handled the situation. So I picked myself up, dusted myself off and got to work. I am now almost 4 weeks through wearing this silly boot and I have an appointment with an amazing ortho in 5 days. In the last month I have logged into my training journal hours and hours (and hours and hours) of diligent cross training. I have aquajogged (this time thankfully with the intrepid companionship of my dear friends Edie and Alice). I have rediscovered swimming. I have caught up on HGTV while toiling away on the elliptical. I have continued to remain dedicated to the goal I made back in November to use this injury as an opportunity to dramatically strengthen my core and hips.

But...it has been hard. I have, at times, felt demoralized and a little despondent. Aside from the time I spent pregnant with my son I have never spent this much time unable to train at 100%. Last Monday I found myself thinking about that layoff and I was pretty frustrated. But then...2 things happened later that day. First, I realized that in the 18 months after my son was born and I got back to training I ran a red-hot streak of HUGE PR's. Hmmmm, that isn't a bad consequence of some downtime. And second, I watched Lauren Fleshman dust off her game face after 8 months of injury-induced swimming and elliptical use and toe the line at the Olympic Trials. When she proceeded to run her way into the Finals of the 5,000 meters on guts, raw talent, cross-training fitness and a ton of heart I KNEW I was going to be okay. Lauren didn't win her race, she didn't end up making the Olympic Team...but by some very important standards she was the most successful woman in the race. She personified courage, resolve, blatant enthusiasm and love for her sport and pretty amazing fitness for a girl who has barely been running for months on end.

I realized that day that while it may not be pretty for a while and I may need to practice my patience more than I would like, I am going to be back. And maybe even better than I was before.

One last quote, from legendary basketball coach John Wooden: "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." I never thought this would be how things would be turning out for me this year but, at the end of the day, I have no complaints. 

photo courtesy of my 6 year old just after I
got the boot fitted. Still smiling!