The last few months...

Here's an update, since it has been forever since I last wrote anything.

First - the stress fracture that wasn't. That's right, it wasn't. After five weeks on crutches, I finally got in for a MRI. A MRI that came back completely clean. Imagine the frustration! Eventually I rationalized that, had I continued running, I might have wound up with a fracture anyway...but wow, five weeks. During that time off I missed the Nittany Valley Half Marathon, which I've since heard is an excellent race. As sad as I am to have missed it, I think I'm going to mark it off the list for this year, too. No more road races for me. At least, no more long road races.

Second - new job! I don't want to post too much about work on here, but I just have to say that I'm a million times happier now than I was two months ago. The new job started at the beginning of January, and one month into it, I'm sure I made the right decision. This job allows me a great deal more autonomy and I don't have a boss constantly looking over my shoulder. Despite my previous supervisor's attempts to convince me that I would absolutely fail in this type of position, things are going great. I do my work, and if a problem comes up I go to either a study coordinator or the big boss and take care of it. No problem. Sorry, former boss lady, looks like I can survive without you.

Third - Kona girl. For some reason I haven't posted about my darling little girl before this! The horror! Kona is a 9 month old border collie/pointer mix who joined our little family back in July, at a mere 10 weeks of age. She has grown like a weed from approximately 10-15lbs when she joined us to right around 50lbs now. Her socialization has gone really well as we have really made an effort to expose her to people, and now that she is old enough, other dogs at the dog park. We make a trip to the dog park at least 4 times per week allowing her to run and play to her heart's content; and when we get home, she passes out on the couch, all played out. There are so many other things I could say about the girl, but I'll leave it at this for now.

Crutches, MRIs, Icing, and Swimming

For a couple of weeks I've had nagging pain in my shin that I brushed off as shin splints. A little ice and a little extra stretching, and I figured it would pass. It didn't. My last run was on Thursday, November 2nd - 2.8 miles in 27 minutes - actually pretty fast for me. The problem was, with every footfall that pain in my shin was sending shockwaves through my leg and the throbbing continued for about 45 minutes after my run. The next day, I called the doctor and stopped running.

I actually swam that Friday night, alone. There's an intern at work who needs help with her swimming technique, so she and I have been meeting at the pool a couple days a week to practice. Just a little bit of cross-training for me. Something different, and a way to strengthen my shoulders again. Perfect. Now I guess it's my primary form of exercise.

The doctor did a battery of tests on Friday, x-rays and manual tests. Nothing showed up on the x-rays, but that is to be expected as stress fractures normally don't.
Apparently some of her other tests gave her reason to think it probably is a stress fracture, though. Also, she checked out both ankles and determined that I have some extenive ligament damage from all those sprains I've had, and it's likely that when I get back to running I'll have orthotics to correct each one - and the damage is different in each.

Sometime this week I'll be having an MRI to determine whether this is a stress fracture or just a stress reaction. Until we know, I'm on crutches for partial weight bearing. Once we know what's going on, I guess it'll be a boot or an aircast. Until then, I'm crutching, icing, and swimming...

Ten miles today - First since May

Training for my half this time around has been spotty at best. I really lost motivation in the hot, humid North Carolina summer and then had a lot of trouble getting back into the swing of things.

The first real long run of my abbreviated training cycle was supposed to be 9 miles last weekend, but an ankle sprain at the beach kept me off the roads for a few days. Determined to make sure I got in my long run this weekend, I planned things to allow myself a few hours on Sunday. I vaguely remember waking up sometime this morning, realizing it was raining, swearing, and going back to sleep. Hours later I finally made it outside.

This being my first real cold run of the year, I really wasn’t sure what to wear. Add the rain to that and I was worried – so worried that I overdressed. It was 55 degrees out and raining. I wore a pair of Doug’s gore-tex pants, a long-sleeved wicking shirt, and a vest. About two miles in the pants were starting to stick to my sweaty legs and my sleeves had been yanked up.

Overall the run was pretty uneventful. I didn’t see anything exciting, didn’t solve the world’s problems, and didn’t even see anything funny. On a cold, rainy day, there just isn’t that much to see. It did occur to me with about a mile left that maybe 10 miles is a little far to go without water, as my hamstrings and calves started cramping up. The thing is I had endurolyte capsules with me – but no water! Oh well, lesson learned…even when it’s cold, it’s best to have water for that distance.

Oh! There is one thing. I wore Doug’s Garmin even though I had mapped out the route before leaving. The Garmin says I ran 385.2 miles in 1:36:08 – apparently I’m the World’s Fastest Woman….

Thanks for reading.

It's been a while

Most of the summer I haven't had much to say on here. I haven't really been running, and I haven't really be motivated to even think much about running. Nevertheless I have committed myself to another half marathon. On December 3rd, I will run the Nittany Valley Half. And hopefully I won't finish last.

Until then, though, I have one minor hurdle to get over. Ok, many hurdles, but one immediately. Friday night, shortly after arriving at the beach house rented for the week by my Aunt and Grandmother, I twisted my ankle walking down the stairs to move my car. I hadn't changed out of my work clothes, was still wearing my heels, and thought I had reached the last step when in fact, I had not. My right ankle is definitely sprained, but not too badly. I missed Saturday's 4-miler and today's 9-miler, but hope to get that 9 in tomorrow after work.

I'll try to check in more often...