My New Year's Present to Myself-One Day Late!

So, June 16th, 2010, 6 months 17 days ago after 3 weeks of agony, I sat in a Doctor's office while he read me the results of my MRI and calmly laid out my fate before me. I was prepared for bad news but not exactly what he was about to tell me. Stress Fracture of the femoral neck, a lot of periosteal edema or something like that???....WHAA-WTH is the femoral neck? In a period of 10 minutes I went from wondering if I could run by the end of the month, to wondering if I could still pull off my fall marathon to wondering if I would ever run again... I turned into an absolute mess, shaking and blubbering and trying to get concrete answers, like EXACT dates and times. I NEED EXACT dates and times PLEASE!!! Yeah-it doesn't really work that way. I finally begged for a realistic expectation of when I would be able to run another marathon. His answer, although very reluctantly given was "Realistically, based on the severity of your injury and what I see here, possibly a year..." ONE YEAR-are you freakin' kidding me!!!!!! "things could go better or worse than planned but realistically, I would tentatively plan for your next marathon race to be in one year!" OMG-just shoot me now....no first let me drain the liquor store of all the Cab on the shelf and then shoot me....Visions of pins in my hip forced me to listen to my Doctor's orders and I began my recovery on crutches completely banned from ALL physical activity until my next visit...

Now, I know there are starving children in this world, homeless, people who don't even HAVE any legs, so many that have it so much worse than me but at this point this was just DEVASTATING to me.

Fast forward. Today, January 2, 2011, 6 months and 17 days later I BQ'ed in a marathon training run! 26.2 miles/3:37:16. I have NO hip pain. It did not bother me ONE second of this run. My left hamstring, tight, and miles 13-16 were really rough for some reason but I finished pretty strong and absolutely giddy!!

I have been planning this for about a month. It was actually supposed to take place yesterday but things weren't working out just right and I was a bit hungover from the 47 glasses of sparkling water I drank on NYE. I knew without a doubt that I would stop if I had any concerns. I'm not in marathon training-it was in no way essential for me to complete this run, other than for my own self confidence. My pace was irrelevant-just running......

This will totally throw a wrench in my training plan for the week but quite frankly, I don't care! I'm taking 2 days off and overhauling my house for crosstraining! I also rewarded myself with my first ever ice bath. Reward is a very strong word. For exactly 90 seconds, everyone in my house thought I was getting raped or murdered in the bathroom.....C'mon, can I just get on the recovery sock bandwagon and avoid the ice bath....

ANYWAY, I was just completely overwhelmed today. Thinking of the many many miles I logged training over the last couple of years. Thinking of my family and how Joe would drive my kids out to my route while I ran and drop one kid off on rollerblades with a backpack of water etc. and then pick her up and drop off another. Thinking of how he would surprise me on long runs sometimes in full winter gear and knock out a loop with me! Thinking of how he joined me for a stretch (bandit) at mile 16 of my first marathon and told me I looked "hot"! Thinking of how my family and extended family made the HUGEST deal about Boston and threw a big party and invited all sorts of people to send us off! Thinking of the sacrifices they've made to let me run and explore this passion. Thinking of all the support and encouragement I've received from this blog. Thinking of all the inspiration I've been provided as a result of having this blog. Thinking about how VERY VERY blessed I am....