Still on for 10-10-10!

That's right! I got the news this afternoon that I do NOT have a stress fracture, and will indeed still be able to run the 2010 Chicago Marathon!!!! I cannot even put into words how ecstatic and relieved I am right now!

I was literally on the verge of tears while waiting for the doctor to come in. I had definitely prepared for the worst. I had even looked into an upcoming marathon in December, and had brought my training plan with me to go over options with him if it was a stress fracture. The first thing he told me was that my MRI looked great, and there was no stress fracture. At this point I almost cried from relief, but held myself together. I asked him why my hip was still hurting then, and he said I did have some swelling in the joint from inflammation (bursitis). He started telling me what we could do to treat it, and I promptly interrupted him to confirm that I would still indeed be able to run the marathon. :) I then let him continue explaining my treatment which is just a prescription anti-inflammatory and some stretching exercises. If the prescription doesn't work, I can also go back for a cortisone shot, but I opted to try the prescription first because I hate needles... He then said that I could ease back into running this week, and be back on track next week.

This past week has been absolute hell, not knowing what was going on, not being able to run, and most of all facing the possibility that after putting in so much training since the spring, I might not be able to run the Chicago Marathon. At the same time though, I am actually slightly happy that this whole thing happened. First off, I was able to skip a week of running without too much guilt because it was on doctor's orders, and that made my life a bit easier with the start of school and a big wedding over the weekend. More than that though, it made me appreciate my training. I was at a point where I was getting very burnt out on my training, and although I wasn't thinking about quitting, I was getting very crabby about everything and had a very negative attitude. After facing the possibility of having to give everything up though, I am just so thankful that I can still go through with this that I can't wait to get back to my training. There is only a little over 5 weeks until the marathon left, and I only have 2 more training runs left that are longer distances than I've run before. I can do this, and crossing the finish line is going to be so much sweeter now that I have even more appreciation for it. :)

My worst day yet... although it could get worse

When I started marathon training, all of the first time marathoner stuff that I read said that basically if you stuck with your training plan, you would be able to finish the marathon... barring any injuries. Easy enough, right? Well, I've clearly found out that sticking with a training plan isn't always easy, but I've been able to do it. And I've also been pretty much able to escape injuries... until now.

Today sucked. There's no other way to put it. For the past couple of weeks, I've been having some pain in my left hip joint area. It usually would hurt when I started running, and then would seem to feel better after a mile or two. Some runs it didn't bother me at all. Then Saturday it began to hurt more, and I think it's the reason my 16 mile run was so hard. I was running with bad form because I was trying to favor my other leg, which caused my legs to burn out before they should have. Then this morning, I couldn't even finish 2 miles, the pain had gotten so bad. I started to look around on the internet at what it might be, and when I saw that it could be a stress fracture, I knew it was time to call a sports med doc.

As if the day before school starting isn't stressful enough, I was able to squeeze in an appointment that they thankfully had open. Before the doctor even came in, they took x-rays of my hip. The doctor then came in, asked me a bunch of questions about the pain, and had me do some different movements to see if any of it caused pain. None of it did, which he said meant it probably wasn't a hip flexor strain, which was one of the possibilities. The other possibility... a stress fracture. My x-ray was clean, but he said that if it's a fairly new fracture, they don't always show up on x-rays, so I need to have an MRI done. And I'm supposed to not run until my follow up appointment after the MRI. He then added the news that I was dreading. If it is a stress fracture, I'm done running for at least 4 weeks. That pretty much means no Chicago Marathon for me.

Although I know nothing for sure right now, and won't until my follow up appointment on Tuesday, there have been many tears already today. I can't even imagine putting in everything that I have done so far only to have it go to waste. Undoubtedly, I'm not completely giving up running a marathon. If it is a stress fracture, and I can't run Chicago, I'm going to talk to the doctor about when I can start again, at what point in my training I would be able to start at, and look into any possible marathon within driving distance. But I'm waiting to worry about that until I know for sure what is going on. I really had my heart set on running the Chicago Marathon. I've been picturing the finish line there every time I go for a run, and we even drove the course a couple weekends ago. So send me some positive vibes, and let's hope for some good news on Tuesday...

Up and down we go...

I wish this training wasn't such a roller coaster of emotions. Did 16 this morning because the weekend is too packed with activities to fit it in Saturday or Sunday. It was rough and I was not at all happy with how I did. I don't understand how 12 was easy, yet 13 was terrible, and then 15 was a breeze, but 16 was tough. I hope this means good things for 18 in two weeks... That is all.

Miles this week: 25 miles (I plan on posting later this week about my dilemmas with mid-week runs...)
Weeks of training finished: 23 weeks
Total miles of training: 357 miles

Out of a rut and on with the running!

I know I was really excited about finishing 13 miles last week, and about reaching my fund raising goal, but at the same time, my rut was still kind of continuing. Yes, I finished the 13, but I did it in a time that I was not so happy with. Yes, when I started training I said that my only goal was to finish the marathon and I didn't care how long it took me, but last week was a little on the slow side for me.

Then my mid-week runs started. Oh, where do I begin... Tuesday I was planning on getting up early enough to run my 3 miles before a class that I was going to that morning. Except my alarm didn't go off. Awesome. Well, just run it after class, right? Too bad it was a glorious 90 degree and humid day... So I was forced to run the 3 miles on the wretched treadmill. Terrible.

Then there was Wednesday, when I was supposed to run 7 miles. Another 90 degree and humid day. So I got up, but by the time I got out, it was already in the upper 70's and nice and sunny and humid. (Insert side rant: I'm really starting to get annoyed with the people who respond to me complaining about the hot, humid weather by saying, "Just wait until January! You won't be saying that then!" No, really, I don't think you understand how frustrating it is to have to get up before 5am just to be able to run in decent weather, and even then it's humid. I honestly would rather run in cold and snow. Just had to get that out.) So I ran a whole mile on Wednesday and quit. I attributed it to the weather, but in all honesty, my head just wasn't in it. My day continued downhill from there.

By Thursday I was really not happy about this whole training thing. It was controlling everything. It determined when I went to sleep, when I got up, when and what I ate, how much time I had in my day, and most of all, my emotions. In spite of all this, I attempted the 7 miles again and this time finished it. But oh how wonderful it was was to be up before 5am yet again.

You can imagine how absolutely delighted I was to leave the house at 5:30am on a Saturday morning, already 70 degrees and humid, with 15 miles of running ahead of me. Oh, and a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast. Fantastic. Somehow though, along those magical 15 miles, I found myself climbing out of the rut I had been in. The last few miles were hard, but nothing compared to the last few miles of the 13 miler where I was literally exclaiming, "Who the @%*$# thought training for a marathon was a good idea?!" (To which Marc cautiously responded, "You did?") There was no whining this week, no excruciating pain, and to top it off, as I reached the end, I discovered that I had taken a minute off of my per mile average from last week! I was so happy that I was actually smiling on the car ride home, which rarely happens after a long run! :) I'm not sure that I've ever experienced this so-called "runner's high", but I think I came pretty close today.

Miles this week: 26 miles
Weeks of training finished: 22 weeks
Total miles of training: 332 miles

Complete 180 from last week!

Nothing but good news to report this week, but I will keep it short! I successfully completed 13 miles on Saturday, which was a refreshing change from last week. It was tough towards the end, and a little painful, but I made it. My new fuel of choice? Swedish fish. My marathon training book had a list of alternative carb replacements for while you are running, since the carb replacement gels are not my thing. One of the suggestions was Swedish fish, so that's what I did! My stomach had no problem with them, and they seemed to give me an extra boost when I needed it towards the end of my run. I still may experiment with a couple other foods, but at least I know there's one thing that works for me!

The other great news is that I have officially met my fundraising goal for Marathon for the Cure! Yay! It actually happened while I was out running on Saturday morning, so it was a great thing to come back to. Now, I know there are some of you that are just dying to donate money, but haven't gotten around to it yet, and now are saying, "Oh no, does this mean I can't still donate?" :) $750 was just my minimum goal, so I am happily still accepting donations! Just click the link in the upper right corner of this page.

Next up.... 15 miles....

Miles this week: 27 miles
Weeks of training finished: 21 weeks
Total miles of training: 306

I've had better weeks

This past week has definitely not been the best of my training so far. It started with my 12 mile run last weekend, which went well, but ended with some pain in my lower calf. It happened around mile 5 of my run, but wasn't bad enough to make me stop. After my run though, it began to hurt a lot more. Still in some pain on Monday and Tuesday morning, but thinking maybe it just needed to work itself out, I still went for my 3 mile run on Tuesday. Not a good idea. So I went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon, who thought it was probably a strained muscle, and told me I needed to stay off of it for a few days. I was not happy about this because the thought of falling behind on training freaked me out, but I knew I had to do it. I skipped my 6 mile run on Wednesday, and pushed my other 3 mile to Friday. I was feeling back to normal when I ran on Friday, so I felt like I would be able to handle my 13 mile long run on Sunday.

Let's rewind a little bit to last week when I was buying my new shoes. While at the store, the lady who was helping me asked if I was using carb replacement gels on my long runs. She asked this in a way that notified me that I definitely should be. I had read about these when I first started my training, but at that point I was not running far enough to need them. Then I honestly forgot all about them. So, I lied and said, "Oh yes, I am", then headed to Sports Authority to buy some... :) So my 12 mile run last week was the first time I used them. They definitely did seem to help with that burn out towards the end of my run. My stomach was a little upset after that run, but I just attributed it to the long distance.

Back to this past week. I started out my 13 miles feeling good with no pain in my leg anymore. Phew. I had eaten some Clif Shot Bloks before my run, so I was all fueled up. Things first began to go downhill (and not in the good way that makes it easier to run...) when Marc and I couldn't find the point on the trail where we were supposed to turn around. Long story short, we ended up a mile and a half to two miles further down on the trail than we should have been. I was annoyed, but figured I would just take that into account and stop earlier and just walk the rest back to the car. And then the upset stomach started. I tried as best I could to tough it out, but it got to the point where I just couldn't run anymore. At this point I was extremely frustrated. I do NOT like leaving something that I set out to do unfinished. Marc offered to ride back to the car while I walked to the closest trail access point, where he would come pick me up. I begrudgingly agreed. We'll just say there was some definite door slamming as I got in the car. :(

Ok, enough Debbie Downer. Let's look at the bright side of all this:

• I was supposed to run 10 miles on my long run next week (drop back week). I did get in 10 miles this week before I had to stop. So I can just flip flop the two weeks and run 13 miles next week instead.
• I found out well before the marathon that my stomach does not like carb replacement gels, so I now have plenty of time to experiment with something else and see what works.
  
• There are plenty of other things to use besides the gels to fuel during a long run. Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners even suggests things as simple as gummy bears or Twizzlers.
• My husband is awesome enough to listen to my crabbiness while I pouted about not finishing my run.
  

I hope to return next week with a more cheerful report. :)

Miles this week: 16 miles (should have been 25, but who's counting...)
Weeks of training finished: 20 weeks
Total miles of training: 279 miles