Woman Down.

I thought I'd write a quick post as I'm sitting here at home waiting for my bath to fill up.  Not an ice bath, as those only come after long runs, and that was certainly not what I had today!

I was so excited to run my scheduled 11 (possibly 12) miles today after having 8 full days off while resting my injured foot.  It was still a bit sore, but a lot better than it was earlier in the week, so I figured I'd give it a go.  I mapped out my route, clipped on my new ipod shuffle (no more gigantic ipod touch on my arm!!), and set out for my run.  I made it all of 1.5 miles before I had to turn back.  Even half a mile into it I knew it wasn't going to go well.  I could tell I was overcompensating, landing more on the outside of my foot in order to try and protect the inside.  I had to walk some before I even finished the first mile.  At that point I still imagined I would make it through the whole run...even if it meant I had to walk most of the way.

About a half mile further, I heard that little voice (mom??) say "Don't do it.  You could get even more hurt and be out for good."  I turned around and started to walk back.  Then I heard another voice (mine) say "You're fine.  Just push through.  Go really slow and walk whenever needed, but don't give up."  I turned around again to try to continue.  I made it 25 feet before the first voice won out and my fear of serious injury became stronger than my will to finish what I started.

I limped the entire walk back to my car, and there were definitely a few times I felt my eyes start to tear up.  Not only did it really hurt, it really scared me to wonder what this means for my training.  I'm OK with skipping some mid-week, shorter runs when needed, especially for injury, but the once-a-week long runs are a whole different story.  Early on in training I know there is still plenty of time to jump back in and pick up where you left off, but as race day gets closer and our training plan calls for mileage my feet have never traveled (a mere 2 weeks from now), I get a little freaked out.  I've got a lot of googling to do tonight to figure out how to kick this healing process into high gear!

In the meantime, I'm trying to come up with some optimistic thoughts about tonight's disaster of a "run":
1) I didn't use my GU gel, which means I don't have to worry about picking up another one before my next run.
2) I didn't get sunburned, which I'm sure I would have after 2 hours under the clear 80-degree sky.
3) My running shoes will last me 10.5 miles longer than they otherwise would have.
4) My new songs on my ipod will still be new.
5) I can now probably get away without washing my hair tomorrow, which in my book, is pretty much the best news ever.

I'm starting to see the light...
-Christie