The Need For Speed: Pushing myself to the limit

The first few months of this year I was very good about eating healthy, ie. no desert type foods, no fried food, and I had pretty good self control in regards to portions. I went to the gym 3-4 days a week in the mornings before going to work, and then usually 4-5 days a week after work. I was focused and on a routine and it worked.

Then I ran the Valentine's Day Virginia is for Lovers 14K. The race itself went well but every time I tried to run afterwards I had pain in my left foot. I could usually run 3-4 miles and than the pain would start. I know most people are like, than don't run past 3 miles, but I was training for the Shamrock Half Marathon, the same race I got Sean to run with me last year, and the same race that he proposed at the finish. It was our special race weekend and I wanted to run well.

I wasn't getting Sean to run the race with me again, but he did agree to run the 8K option. With about 3 weeks before the race I decided to get the advice from a Sports Orthopeodic and see if he could give me the advice I needed. I really wanted to run, but I really didn't want to injure myself so much that I ended up injured for the wedding, or worse with a broken foot.

The Dr. took some x-rays, found nothing, and then suggested that I get a triple phase bone scan. This would rule out a stress fracture. In the meantime he gave me an Air C ast to wear and suggested that I stop going to my spinning classes, and basically take it easy.

Working out is my stress reliever and so this was difficult for me. Whatever it took though, I was willing to follow orders. I really wanted to run my race, so I listened.

About a week later I went and had my bone scan, and then it was almost another week before I was able to get in to see the doctor. The results were no fracture, I was fine to run although since it was 4 days before my race when I got the verdict, I was told to take it easy, go out run and just have fun.

I was excited. I wasn't going to injure myself from running. I was given some generic explanation that I had some displacement of my Q bone and that I would need physical therapy blah blah blah. I made an appointment for after my Half Marathon and figured they'd teach me some basic stuff that I could keep up on my own.

Flash forward to the weekend of the race. Saturday we drove to Virginia Beach for Sean's 8K.

Sean's ready to race. It's strange for me to be on this side of the fence.

Go Sean!

You're almost there babe!

Sean posing with the cool sand sculpture

Sean shows off his medal and enjoys the free Yuengling beer

Now flash forward to the day of the race. It was a bit chilly but the sun was shinning and it was prime running conditions. I started off slow, taking it easy, not wanting to get half way through my run and be in pain and have no way of getting through the rest of the race. I kept a steady pace, and around 7 or 8 miles I still felt decent, so I picked it up a little and noticed from my garmin that if I kept my pace I could set a personal record. The rest of the race went by fast. It was my first time racing with my Ipod, pretty much illegal to use, but I decided to run with it regardless. The last two miles were when I mentally started to crash, I kept telling myself, anyone can run 2 miles, anyone can run 1 mile, anyone can run 1/2 a mile. This got me through the race, and I ended up breaking my past personal best time by over 3 minutes. This made me excited, especially since I probably had only trained about 10 miles in the last month, definitely not good training, but it worked for me.

I had no pain and my foot felt good. Not sure what was wrong with my foot, but it probably was just telling me to take a break and stop pushing myself.