Getting ansy!

Took some time off last week while traveling the roads of a few southern states. My mindset going in to the trip was to just relax and not worry about getting a workout in- a mental break of sorts. I have found in the past that after taking a week "off" any bothersome pain is nearly gone when I come back. I didn't take the whole week off, as I did a 6 mile hike in NC and ran away from annoying bumblebees on a disk golf course in VA. Both days there was some pain afterwards but the next day it was minimal. Since then, my achilles on the bum foot has been tight and the bottom of the heel still hurts somewhat.

I then "ran" for 10 minutes on Sunday and Monday to test it out. It was the most comfortable that I've felt running since becoming injured. I could probably start running now but in the long run it may not be a good idea as I started this injury adventure with similar pain. It's as if it's healing by reverting back to its original state- pre PF pain. Each week feels better and better, I just wish it would go away, or go back to normal, already. The hike and the little 10 minute jogs provided me with a sneak peak of what is to come once this is all said and done. Until then, I will continue to milk the rec's pool and maybe elliptical until my membership expires on May, 10th.

Lessons Learned

It's been nearly one year since I added running back into my daily routine and made it a priority in my life. I started off with a few 1.5 mile jogs around my old neighborhood, worked my way up to including weekend long runs, integrated some tempo work, raced my first half marathon, started a marathon buildup that reached a 40 mile week, got injured, and currently cross training like never before. What an interesting ride it has been. While I will not be able to run the Cleveland Marathon this year, I will be running alongside my roommate, Emily Archer, as she runs her very first 5k. It was hard to succumb to my injury and pull out of the marathon but doing so has proved to be the biggest lesson I have learned-- PATIENCE.

• Once I decided that running was important enough to me that I would make training a daily occurrence and that certain life decisions would be based upon running goals, I realized that there is no need to rush training. A proper marathon buildup (especially for a beginner like me) will take longer than 3 months. In the next year, I plan to slowly focus on building up mileage, speed, and intensity, not run any marathons anytime soon, only run a race if the timing is right (i.e. don't register for a race 3 months in advance, rather register for low key races a few weeks out), and find a balance between training and life.

Other lessons:

• Being injured is not the end of the world, in fact it can be fun. I think I've made more strides and improvement in cross training than I have running. Never did I think I could muster up enough motivation to aqua jog for an hour, swim a mile, and be able to use the elliptical hands-free (ellipti-running) without falling off! Once I am ready to start running again, I feel that while I may not be ready to go fast at first, I will feel fresh, in shape, and stronger.
• When old "fast" paces start to feel easy, it means the work is paying off. When it feels hard, it means that work needs to be done. When I was starting to train hard, 7:30s felt quite easy. I had never been at such a level and that was encouraging for future training. It helped me to learn how to read my body.
• You don't have to be anal to be a runner. Being too anal will cause stress, anxiety, and OCDs to develop, like I can't run at night or I can't run after eating ice cream or I can't run without my iPOD or I can't run in Dickie's. Not being anal enough can also have a negative effect on training as well so the idea is to find a good balance. I'm still trying to figure out my ideal balance.
• STRETCH, STRETCH, AND MORE STRETCH-- especially my calves.
• A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as letsrun.com
• EveryBODY is different- different responses to training, hours of sleep, training goals, outlooks on life, handling stress, the list goes on and on. What helps is learning about these differences, trying some out, and being open to suggestions.

With that all said, good luck to those who are running any of the races at the Cleveland Marathon, whether it's the full, the half, the 10k, or the 5k. I know there are quite a few of you out there! In the meantime, I am looking forward to the day (and I feel like it will be very soon) that I can join you all back on the pavement. And when that happens, I will feel like a new person.