Redemption.

Everyone has something, or a few things, they're passionate about.  It may be career, taking care of others, creating, etc.  While my true, or at least first, passion lies in travel, it's not something I can throw myself into on a regular basis.  My next passion falls upon running.  To be overly dramatic, last year was devastating when I lost running.  Running is close to my heart, and it's an activity that just makes me feel so alive.  To lose something that I love so much was extremely hard.  I'm not sure that non-runners can quite understand this loss. Imagine a hobby you devote quite a bit of time to (ie. reading, photography, video games, etc.) and then imagine that hobby being taken away completely.  Again, I realize this sounds dramatic, but quite honestly these are my true feelings.  Finally running started to come back to me.   After many tears, a couple of un-run races, plenty of money, and ongoing physical therapy, my leg allowed me the ability to run another half marathon.

I chose a half because the 13.1 distance is my happy distance.  It's not too short, but just long enough for me to really push myself, surpassing boundaries I think can't be won.  I trained for twelve weeks for the Rock N Roll Raleigh half marathon.  I constantly worried my leg (which has still never felt completely back to normal since my stress fracture) would not allow me to run long distances again.  Even though I'm only soon-to-be 29, my body often feels as though it wants to rebel against me.  I feel every twitch, twinge, and soreness.  This made the process of training and racing more emotional for me.  Initially I hoped for a PR, but with injury pains lingering, I settled for my goal to be simply to finish the race.

  

This race felt like more than just a big fuck you to a past injury.  It was at home.  I feel in love with running in Raleigh.  I truly fell in love with this sport in my town.  My favorite weekend includes an early morning run on the greenway with a view of the Raleigh skyline.  Running has made me who I am today.  It has made more confident and proud woman.  This race felt so close to my heart being in Raleigh.  This is my city.  My running city.  It was a redemption race.  The was the day after my mom's birthday.  It was the race I worked so hard for.  Rock N' Roll Raleigh would make or break me.

In the days before the race, my leg was feeling a little "off" but it wasn't an injured typed of feeling.  I left home feeling so grateful for this chance.  The opportunity to run a half healthy, in my city, with D at the finish line was what I had been working towards.  It was a gorgeous day.  The temps were in the 50s for the start of the race, and the sun was shining.  Regardless of my nerves and anxiety, I felt ready.

The sun was beaming down on me.  The hills were plentiful and intense.  My mantra was to make the hills my bitch, and I did.  I ran up every damn one of them and did not walk.  I was hot.  I was exhausted.  My knee started hurting around mile 5.  At mile 10, I didn't even want to think about running another 5k, yet something kept me going.  My love for running?  My will to succeed and achieve?  The fact that I would never forgive myself for giving up?  All of it.  I never gave up.  I may have walked two times, but I ran with all my heart for the last 1.1 miles.  I achieved something that I worked so desperately hard for.  I accomplished something I've been waiting over a year to come to fruition.  I pushed myself.  When I wanted to give up, I pushed even harder.  This race reminded me why love running.  I am able to prove to myself that this is me: a strong woman who doesn't give up on what she sets her mind to.

  

I had D to meet me at the finish line, which makes a race a million times better.  I'm so grateful I had him there to give me a big hug and congratulate me.  It never would have been the same without him there.  We spent the morning enjoying brunch, bloodys, and beer.  What made this crazy, hard, perfect, race even better?

An unintentional PR (oh, and no post-race chafing!)!  My official time was 2:36:36, and I couldn't be more proud of myself.  My original PR was on an almost completely flat course in the Outer Banks.  This record was achieved post-injury, with a sore knee, and run in the heat and over a million hills.  Rock N Roll was the redemption race I needed.  I'm almost scared to even think about running another half because it will never be like this one…almost.

What's your next race?

post-injury half marathon prep.

I was injured for almost a year.  You could probably say over a year if you included the time it took me to really become comfortable with running again.  I missed two half marathons and other shorter distance races. It has been an extremely depressing, long, and difficult process to overcome.  Back in October, I worked up enough courage and felt good enough to sign up for a turkey trot (which I've wanted to race in since we moved here almost four years ago), and then I was sidelined with another injury and couldn't race.  As a runner, I think it's pretty safe to say that being injured is the worst feeling ever.  After the failed turkey trot, I headed to a specialist and was referred to a new physical therapist.  The PT has given me more confidence and worked wonders on my leg.  After some pain-free runs, I felt ready to tackle the half marathon again.

I couldn't find a local or destination race that worked with my schedule, so I went for the inaugural Rock 'N' Roll Raleigh half marathon on April 13.  I think the atmosphere of the race will be great, and I'm really looking forward to running an entire 13 miles through the city that I now call home.

After so much time spent injured, I'm extra anal about doing everything possible I can to not be injured again.  This is what the first couple months of my training looks like:


I don't like to be a stickler with my training because life happens and shit.  Sometimes it's better to see D who has been traveling for a week than get in cross training.  That said, I thrive by following some sort of schedule.  I loosely base my week on this schedule, but amend things as needed.  I switch things around a good bit too.  For instance, if I know my long run will be Sunday instead of Saturday then I will run 3 miles Friday and go to a yoga class on Thursday.

I've come to terms with the fact that the previously injured leg is always going to bother me more than my "healthy" leg will.  After some dull aches and twinges from my bad leg, I'm also incorporating PT exercises consistently into my training on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I have pretty strict guidelines that I follow in hopes of resisting future injury.  In case you missed it, I contributed to The Eighty Twenty and discussed my five tips for being balanced with running and avoiding injury.  In addition to those five things, I'm also maintaining physical therapy sessions every three weeks (since that's all I can afford).  I'm still scared to death of re-injury and missing another half marathon.  I'm going to continue to maintain balance and stay positive.
Are you training for any races? Have you been injured?  How did you recover?