Hey Guys!
I swear that I will never bitch about weather, conditions, inaccurate timing companies, Garmin malfunctions, fucking wild life or rude cyclists again. Promise!
I've had my fair share of stress fractures and little things here and there that require a comeback. However, none are anywhere near as difficult as trying to comeback after a jacked up spine. It is mind numbing in every imaginable way. So let me name some:
1. Initially, not understanding why I was hobbling.
2. Time off not making any difference. Runner nightmare.
3. Massive cross training doing nothing but killing my hair.
4. The inability to say "I'm going for a run" because after 2 steps I'm back in the car.
5. Not being able to run 1 mile with my running partner who I used to drop in a heartbeat (ok, slight exaggeration)
6. Running a pace that feels horrible in the hopes it gets better but never does.
7. Driving around with a bike rack on my car.
8. Running 8 miles on a Sunday.
That was last month and some of this. Now I have a bazillion spine, pelvic and core strengthening exercises to do daily. They are working though. I don't hobble. I'm slowing getting my comfy pace back down under 7:30. But seriously, it's like I'm out of shape.
I've gone from the boot to running 7 flat in a few weeks. It's not happening as easily this time. I see why though...this injury needs a little more attention. Here is one of my hypotheses as to why my back became crooked seemingly overnight.
Swimming obsessively and breathing on one side. That's gotta be it. I would rotate my torso hundreds of times a swim to get air on one side. Now suddenly I'm lopsided?? Well, I cut that out and learned to bilateral breathe. That is in addition to the Chiro and the rest of my dream team I'm making advances.
Now, I'll get one killer day and then 2 meh days. It's an improvement! I'm being patient as best I can.
Because I like statistics here is my mileage of late:
August weekly totals: 45, 70, 60, 12
September totals: 16, 24, 47 and 56 this week.
I'm still just about at 3000 for the year.
My pace started out around 8 and now is closer to 7:30. Both of which are not my usual and feel weird.
Of course there is bike, swim and endless hours in the gym in there but who cares.
So, I don't like talking about it but clearly Chicago is out of the cards. I have comped entry for Philly late November but even if that were possible it would force me to train back to back marathons with BOSTON 2014! So my common sense says chill now and then ramp it up for a killer Boston and a few half's in-between.
My short term goal is to pace my daughter in the Monster Dash next month. It's 1 mile. It's not Chicago but hey, all in due time. And please don't ask for my Chicago bib. A few people have and I don't feel it's appropriate to give away that seed. And it would bar me from future Chicago's if I was busted.
As Diana Nyad would say Onward!!! I will continue to lace up every morning and get out there. One of these days it will get better. And when it does all hell is going to break loose!!
Thanks for listening to my rant. See you out there!
Laura
