Crystal's Half
The weekend after our crazy bike trip I felt antsy and decided to go out for a run. When I reached the turn around point to go 4 miles I felt pretty good and kept going, and ended up running a total of 6 miles that day. The next weekend I felt antsy yet again and went for another run and ran 7 miles. I guess the bike ride did more good then I thought, it broke down some mental and physical distance barriers. After those two runs I thought, "Hey, I've already ran half the distance for a half marathon, I might as well officially train for one". Running those longer distances felt like a sort of therapy which I desperately needed at that point as I had been suffering from a mild case of the blues for several months. I knew that if I wasn't proactive it could get worse.
Rob was fully supportive and even paid my entrance fee from his allowance. I know, I have an awesome husband. My in-laws bought me a running watch for my birthday and so I was set. I had a constant trainer with me, pushing me to be better and more consistent.
I love running. I'll throw on my headset and listen to books including: Gifted Hands, The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson, How Will You Measure Your Life, by Clayton M. Christensen, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, conference talks, and a couple other books.
Besides the books I love some of the quiet times when I don't listen to anything but nature, my own thoughts, and my feet crunching a trail or hitting pavement. The fresh air, sun warming my cheeks and the additional energy I develop all contributing to a dispersal of the the cloud I had been under.
Because of the bike ride I knew I could complete the distance requirement (13 doesn't sound so bad after a 75 mile bike ride) so I decided to train for a time goal and during the training ended up hitting most my exercise goals. 3 weeks before the race I ran 11 miles. Then two weeks and two days before the race I went on a short (4 mile) bike ride pulling the kids in a trailer behind me. I felt some discomfort behind my knees which was a surprise, but I didn't think too much about it. The next day I started my longest run (13 miles) and felt great, but at mile 10.25 my right knee starting hurting so much that I had to stop running completely. The rest of the mileage (a total of 13.6) was completed with stops and starts of walking interspersed with short bouts of running. As I walked, occasionally jogged, and limed home I had the sinking feeling that this injury felt serious enough that I might not run the actual race in two weeks.
For the next week and 4 days (who's counting?) I stopped running completely and rested my knee. The Wednesday before the race I tried going for a run with a new pair of shoes (maybe my old shoes were worn out???) but after half a mile the pain flared up when I started going down a hill so I turned around and limped home. After diagnosing me with patellofemoral syndrome, a doctor offered me a cortisone shot, but both he and I knew that if I tried running the half marathon it would do more damage and would take me longer to recover.
So, I picked up my official race shirt and bag on Friday. I have to admit (as you can tell from this post) that I felt disappointed. The morning of the race I slept in a bit (until 7:30), got up and started making breakfast with my adorable daughter as my little helper. Until the clock said it was 9 o'clock I kept glancing at the time and imagined where I would be on the course if I was meeting my time goal. After it turned 9 o'clock I thought, "Oh well, it's over" and went on with the rest of the day as usual.
I don't know if I ever care to enter a half marathon race again. After all, running outside is free and I now know I can accomplish my goals. The only reason I can think of I might is maybe a post baby body goal (no, I am not pregant!)
Looking back on this experience the physical, mental and emotional gains were more then worth the entrance fee and time it took to train. The recovery process is teaching me additional strengthening skills (so I can prevent injury in the future) and patience. I am grateful for all the support my wonderful husband gave me. Thanks dude :).
Run 13.6 miles? Done.
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| The official shirt. Yup, I feel I've earned it. |
Okay, enough about me. Rob also reached a goal of his, biking 50 miles within 3 hours. He didn't bring enough food so he "bonked" (didn't have enough glycogen and carbohydrates) and had to take a break 3 miles from the end. But he did it, hooray for him!
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| Looking at the End of the Trail store |
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| Looking back at the trail |
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