I was thinking last night that I should really update this blog.
Then I realized that I feel a little silly having a running blog that, for the time being, is all about NOT running.
I'll have to come up with some ideas.
In the meantime, April 1 brought some good times - I woke up. I walked through my morning routine - bathroom, coffee pot, checking facebook, shower....and somewhere in there I had an amazing realization. THIS DOES NOT HURT.
For the first time in probably a month, I could walk and it didn't hurt.
The rest of my day was absolutely fabulous. I haven't been so happy in a while. This doesn't mean I can run anytime soon (soon enough for me, anyway), but it does mean that there is an end in sight. I'm not going to hurt forever. I WILL run again and I will do more races and I will run my marathon! Then I proceeded to have a great swim workout. I had some issues with the new mp3 player (got an email on its way to china about that) and it got boring at times, but by the end of it, I pretty much felt like I could stay in the pool forever. I mixed it up with some kickboard stuff, including working my arms by holding the kickboard between my knees. (Yeah, you wanna talk about some slow swimming....eesh!) It felt really good. It wore out every muscle I could imagine.
And I'm making more of an effort to enjoy the things in life that are not running related. That's not to say that every reminder of running doesn't still make me a little pouty and jealous, but for the most part, I'm getting good at distracting myself. I made risotto for dinner for the first time, and it was Hell's Kitchen-worthy (and not in the "It's not good enough, ya donkey!" kinda way.) I'm enjoying sleeping in on Saturdays and hanging out with the husband instead of getting up to go for a long run. (Actually...I miss the running itself but NOT meeting up at 7am to do it!) Right now I'm waiting for some friends to come over right now so we can go watch the Reds go 3-0. Running does not need to be my whole life, and I think I'm going to come out of this injury a whole lot more balanced about it. I'm definitely going to cross-train more, and right now I think more about my first triathlon than my first marathon.
The pain-free walking isn't 100%....after a while the leg goes back to reminding me that everything isn't cool yet, but ANY amount of being able to walk and it doesn't hurt is an improvement. Oh, and the PT got harder. I was almost giddy when they let me on some weight machines. I'm sick, I know!
i'm right there with you...learning to love what life offers
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're seeing some improvement! I had a serious mental break down the other night when I went for 1 run and my IT band decided to make it's presence known for the first time EVER. You would have thought my best friend died by the way I was sobbing and wailing all over the house. My husband came home and literally asked me "Who died?" It's still bothering the living snot out of me, but I'm pushing through. I'm seeing a new doc on Friday to get some extra help. I'll let ya know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteJust did an hour of cross training at the gym and actually LIKED it today!
Hope you're on the road to having a relatively pain-free WEEK. Wouldn't that be AWESOME?!?!?
So glad to hear the healing is progressing. I disagree that your blog is no longer about running. You're dealing with an injury and that's part of running. You're trying to find balance with your training and strategize a way to ease back into running - and that's part of running. They say that running is more a mental game than it is a physical one - which I gotta agree with - and this is the time that you're honing your mental game. It's important.
ReplyDeleteI'm very proud of you. You've had your struggles & I'm sure there are still some to come, but you are finding a way to work through them. You are a super duper strong woman & an inspiration to a lot of people. Did I mention I was proud of you?!!
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