Favorite 5k

This Saturday Mr. Shoe and I will be running one of my favorite 5ks. The race has undergone a couple of name changes. It started as Run Against Drugs but is now known as Run 2 Save Our Youth. This will be the 6th year that I participate in this race. This is the race that really got me into running.

Race shirts from 2009-2013

In 2009 my best friend asked me to run this 5k with her. She had run it the year before and I am so glad that she asked me to join her. I look forward to this race and spending the day with her every year! To be honest I think I actually walked it the first two years, but the last few years I have been running it and steadily improving my time. In 2012 I got 3rd in my age group. It was the first time that I had ever received an age group award. In 2013 I was the top female finisher.

Overall award and an age group award!

This road race is a down and back course with a couple very small rolling hills and a few twisty turns. It would be a perfect course if there was some shade! The first time I tried to actually run this course I completely died about 2 miles into the race. I was so disappointed after I had trained so hard. I just got to the point where I could not breathe. Later I realized that I am highly allergic to the trees lining the course. My pre-race routine now includes allergy medicine.

Has anyone had to cope with having to take it easy during a race? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that my times won't be competitive this year. I know no one else is going to care, but I just feel embarrassed that my time will probably be 10 minutes slower than my last 5k. Hopefully I can just forget about the clock and focus on having fun with my best friend.

Injury Update

I had my MRI on Wednesday and the nurse called me with the results on Thursday. Good news first: no stress fracture! Hooray! The bad news: I'm not allowed to start running yet.

The MRI showed a benign bone lesion and some swelling in my foot/ankle. The swelling is not noticeable to me, but I am still trying to take of it with regular icing. The nurse described the bone lesion as being damage to the bone, but not a stress fracture. It was recommended that I take another 10-14 days off from running and then start to slowly ease back into training. Since the bone is damaged, if I push it too much before it fully heals, I risk fracturing it.

I am doing my best to be patient, but I am really anxious to start running again. Right now I have been cleared to start walking as much as I want provided there is no pain. I tested my foot out with a nice walk that day and discovered that I was good for about a mile before getting just a tiny bit of pain.

To be honest, realizing I could only manage to walk a mile made me want to cry. How could I resume training in a couple weeks if I couldn't even walk? Mr. Shoe quickly reminded me that in a week I had went from being able to walk about 5 feet without pain to being able to walk a mile, which is a huge improvement! I was able to walk 1.5 miles today without any pain.

While I am healing I am trying to focus on taking care of myself as much as possible. I revamped my diet to include more whole foods and fewer processed foods. At my doctor's recommendation I have upped my calcium intake. She thought that my low calcium intake (I'm lactose intolerant) might be behind my injury. I have been adding in more strength training for my core and upper body (an area I tend to ignore in favor of more running). I have also been doing these IT band exercises, since I have had IT band pain in the past. Hopefully this will get me through this injury and back into running feeling strong.

Mr. Shoe and I (and some friends) are signed up for a 5k race on June 14th. This will be exactly 10 days after my MRI, so I will technically be allowed to start running again. I am still unsure if I will attempt to run it (at a very easy pace) or if I will be walking. I need to see how this next week goes before I make any decisions.

Newsworthy!

Remember how surprised I was a few weeks ago when I found out that I was the female overall winner at Shanty 2 Short's? Well, I was equally surprised when I found out that it was mentioned in the newspaper the following week!

Straight from the front page of the sports section of The Antrim Review (May 15, 2014)!

I might not be visible in the picture, but I was mentioned in the text of the article as being the top female finisher. This is why I love small town races! Not only am I fast enough to snag a medal, but it is also considered to be a newsworthy event!

On a less happy note, the doctor thinks my left foot pain is a stress fracture. I am still crossing my fingers that it isn't a major injury. I should find out for certain on Wednesday.