My Rocky Road to 2016 Boston
I wish my Rocky Road was some kind of fancy ice cream sundae. Unfortunately, it's not. Instead it's the story of my last 5 months post-NYC marathon & pre-Boston. Not as much running as I would have liked. A lot more of this....
Fleet Feet Boston 365 Program
In December of 2015, Angela from Fleet Feet contacted me to coach the Fleet Feet Boston 365 Program. Not knowing when or where this injury of mine would take me, I decided to take on this new position. From the start of the program, the whole Fleet Feet crew has become an awesome running family to me. I really do feel lucky to have met such a fun, motivated, and talented group of runners. If you’ve never been to a Fleet Feet, they’re extremely knowledgeable and a great running resource. Check them out!
Injuries
Oh where do I begin?! This has been the longest stretch of time that I’ve dealt with a running injury. The last time I had to deal with any kind of running injury like this was when I was in college and had a double stress fracture (in my tibia and fibula). The only difference between now and then is that I have been able to run but it hasn’t been a smooth road of training. The tricky part with the Boston Marathon is that you sign up the year before (in September) and hope to be healthy and ready to run by April. I’ve had to sit out two times already due to injuries (2013 and 2015) and I did not want to miss this race again. I was determined to find the solution to the initial diagnosis I received in November, after the NYC marathon - tendinitis in my upper hamstring.
Physical Therapy (Thank Dr. Matt Stevens at Pure Physio!): Learned a lot of great exercises to improve my running efficiency and strengthen areas that were weak.
Massages (Soothe Massage — Elissa Kelly is awesome!): These monthly trips always ‘hurt so good.’ Elissa is very good at working out every knot in my body. Thank you!
Chiropractor (Ohio Sports Chiropractic — Thank you Dr. Leo Kormanick II, you are a miracle worker!): Dr. Leo was able to quickly figure out why I was getting this reoccurring hamstring tendinitis after the first visit. He performed some magic on my injured leg (and body) over the past few months and has provided me with several home exercise programs to keep myself healthy while running. I wish I could see him once a week to work out all of my kinks. He is also a wealth of knowledge when it comes to running and training!
Running plans for 2016-2017: Boston Marathon: Finish healthy. As I head into my 5th Boston Marathon and have a qualifying time for 2017 Boston Marathon (from NYC marathon), my only goal will be to finish. I can be very stubborn when it comes to pain and often push through more than I probably should. Hopefully during this marathon, I can just stay mentally strong, be smart and not injure anything else. After Boston, I’m going to take 2-3 weeks off of running and focus on swimming and other easy cross training activities to let my body totally heal. If it takes longer than 2-3 weeks, that is fine too (hopefully not more than 1-2 months!). I have no other races on the calendar as of now but if all goes well, I am going to try for a fast half this fall (Indy or Columbus). I have never actually raced a half and want to try and beat my PR (1:23 — ran this during my marathon training cycle as a training run). After some solid summer/fall training, I hope to be on track for a fast marathon at Boston in 2017. I am still going for my big dream of obtaining an Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) for the 2020 marathon trials but right now I just need to be patient and listen to my body. I want to continue to run marathons for a long time and don’t want to do something I regret at Boston that may hurt these future dreams.
Lessons learned
Cherish the small victories with running (from being able to run 5 minutes without any pain to running a full 17 mile long run)
Remember where I came from and how far I’ve gone (40 minute 5k as a freshman in high school to a marathon PR of 2:53 in 2014)
Blessed to have an amazing support team (family, friends, and co-workers) and an awesome coach (my husband!!)
There is so much more to life than just running (my patients at MetroHealth are daily reminders that life is precious and you don’t know when life will change forever)
Have fun with running. After a year of many big PRs, I started to become ‘too’ focused on the bigger goals and began to lose focus on why I even started running. After dealing with this injury for about 6 months, my patience has been tested, but I have persevered. Brett helped remind me that I was at my best when I focus on having fun first, and PRs second.
Being mentally strong hasn’t been easy the past few months. Trying to run and train for a marathon that I am passionate about while dealing with obnoxious pains has been hard. I have thought about how easy it would be to just stop training, but in the end I know that is not what I really want to do. I love running and competing and through each of these blocks of training, I have learned something new about myself. This is only a minor setback and it is time to just enjoy the art of the marathon.
I am a bundle of nerves at this point since I don’t know what the outcome will be on Monday (4/18) but regardless of what happens, the journey to this point has been unforgettable. I truly appreciate everyone’s support and encouragement over the past few months (and years)! I hope Monday is an enjoyable and memorable marathon for all the runners and spectators.
