After two years in a row of running the Dallas marathon, my running friends and I decided to sign up for the Chicago marathon. With the race being in October that meant we started training in the heat of summer. (YUCK!) This race sells out in a few hours so on race day I committed to get us all in because I was at my desk and Kim and Marla were traveling. The stress of what if one of us gets a bib and not the others was big! I got myself entered and then the website kept timing out. Several hours went by and I had to keep refreshing my screen and starting over every every time it would time out (a few co-workers who were afraid of me having a melt down were also-doing the same thing.....shhhh don't tell our boss:))! After all was said and done, we were all in...12 of us going to Chicago!
After that we continued our training, booked flights and hotels for the trip and ran our rears off along the way. The Saturday before labor day we ran 20 miles. I hurt the entire way. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry...its been a few months but I may have cried...can't remember for sure! I kept going because it was Marla's first 20 mile run and I didn't want to be a quitter. That next week I was limping and hurting and I swam laps at the gym instead of running all week thinking my legs just needed a break.
The following Saturday was supposed to a 15 mile run. I was limping before we even started and I turned back in tears after 13 miles. I knew something was wrong. I suffered all weekend barely being able to put weight on my leg before I finally went to the doctor the following week.
My primary doctor happens to be a runner and said "want me to just give you a steroid shot and you can get back out there?" After all last year he gave me steroids to make it through the Dallas marathon with bronchitis and then I got the flu a couple weeks after the race, I said NO (HELL NO!) ...I don't think so! As tempting as it was, I knew it was a bad idea and after having seen a friend go through a similar injury that ended up needing surgery I chose the sit out option. I went for an MRI the following week which showed a severe stress fracture in the Femoral neck of the hip bone.
When my doctor called me at the office to tell me the MRI results I wept, literally! He said, "go get crutches now!" No weight on the leg until you see a specialist. He said If you keep walking on it, the bone will shatter and you will need a hip replacement! At age 35?! Wow!
Insert crutches!
Insert the biggest pain in the rear ever! I can honestly say that I am eternally humbled and grateful for the gift of being able to walk. (Don't get me wrong I would kill to run another marathon!) Having a young child, a very active lifestyle and a crazy blond lab puppy are NOT conducive to crutches!
The Chicago marathon came and went. I cried almost every day. I chose to skip the trip because I was still on crutches and emotionally I could not face 50,000 runners! When I kept getting texts and emails from American about missing my flight I cried some more! I trained for this race and everyone else was going to run MY race!
After the race came I went, I tried to focus on the next steps for recovery. The doctor told me in mid December he would clear me to start physical therapy. He said DON'T even think about running until mid year 2014. Slowly in the days following the race I cried less. I kept swimming and I started doing hot yoga.
Finally the doctor cleared me for physical therapy. They PT said you will run again but in the meantime keep doing the yoga and swimming. Had I not gotten hurt I would have never spent time doing yoga and I can honestly say I love it! It makes me feel better about myself, it improves my flexibility and it's a hotter then hell workout!
Just last week I got cleared to ride a bike, spin class, etc. Reese was SOOOOO excited to see Mommy on her bike! I'm praising God that I can not only walk but ride a bike without pain!
I am thankful for the experience of having a few 26.2's under my belt and maybe someday there will be another...
No comments:
Post a Comment