Set Backs Set In

This week did not go quite as I had planned. I ran my normal easy 2-3 mile runs on Monday and Tuesday and lifted weights both days. By Wednesday morning my knee was killing me! So, I popped a couple of Ibuprofen and decided to take Wednesday off from running. Thursday was supposed to be my first long run, but when I woke up Thursday morning I knew it would not be so. My knee still hurt terribly and the long run would have to be put off until next week.

Thursday afternoon I put a call into my orthopod to see what my options were at this point. We had discussed these the week prior to the WBR in June when he gave me my second steroid injection, but I wanted to revisit any ideas he had to keep me training. It looks like in addition to a regular dose of anti-inflammatories for the next five weeks, I have to have an MRI scan and discuss surgical options based on the results of the scan. This was very disheartening news for me.

I have taken two days off from running now and have digested the news. I will continue with my training and will run the half marathon in September, after being assured it was safe and it will just be a matter of tolerating the pain. I may be crawling over the finish line, but, I will finish! I am going to be as gentle as possible on my knee over the next five weeks and then may have to adjust some of my long term goals....but I already have that brewing in my mind! And I am very excited about the new direction this may just end up taking me, but I will save that for another blog. Right now I'm going to push forward and run my first half marathon. I am still extremely excited to continue with my training and see how the race unravels!

I would also like to say thanks to all of you for all of your encouragement! It keeps me pushing towards my goal and it is very much appreciated! I love you all!

Setting My Goals

With this new adventure of racing I have come upon one of my biggest challenges.....setting goals. You see, I have this personality flaw, I tend to not just think big, but think too big sometimes, and that can be detrimental at times. My two major problems with this 1) I tend to push too hard, which resulted in an injury for the WBR in June and 2) I compare myself to others and their accomplishments. Don't misunderstand me, I think it is a wonderful thing to allow the energy and ability of others to help us focus on improving our own abilities, but for me, keeping that focus realistic is challenging.

Over the past few days I have thought long and hard about the intricacies of training for this half marathon. How do I keep myself focused on pushing to better my running abilities and at the same time stay healthy and injury free? My solution? As hard as it may be for me, baby steps. Plain and simple. This is going to be my first half marathon, and longest run to date, and I have to come to terms with the fact that I am not going to be the best/fastest runner there. What I do have to focus on is finding a pace that works for me and running MY race.

To do this I have begun to take my training in a new direction, still keeping it simple, yet challenging. I have started to incorporate weights into my workouts, to help with strengthening, and I have changed my thinking on how I actually run. Before I decided to start racing I would just go for a run. I never had to think about being quick or pacing myself. I just ran. I still have days that I just run, but I have also started to add some speed workouts to my schedule and have plans to add some more hills soon. I also need to start adding longer runs. My typical run has always been between 2 and 4 miles. That distance is not going to get me into half marathon condition! So, next week I will run my first "long" run. (Stay tuned for that recap).

So, now, it is time to reel in my (too) big thinking and stay realistic! And to help with this I found this really great quote. (those who know me know I love a good quote).

I try not to dance better than anyone else. I only try and dance better than myself.

-Mikhail Baryshnikov

Sharing my adventures

Over the past few months I have played with the idea of starting my own blog. Many things have run through my mind as I worked with the idea, my recurring thought was twofold, what will I write about and will anyone really want to read a blog about me? The answer still eludes me, some may read it, some may not, but I determined that point is irrelevant in the writing. So here I am!!

Over the course of my life I have dealt with my share of challenges, as we all have. In the last couple of years I have taken many opportunities to evaluate my own strengths and weaknesses. I have found, and continue to find, strengths I never knew I had and have made peace with my weaknesses, even turned some of those weaknesses into new strengths.

A close friend has shared a very important lesson with me and I make it part of my thoughts every day....."There are many things in this world we cannot do. Trying is not one of them." And with incorporating this thought process into my life I have also reestablished my love for running. Although, throughout my life I have always run, I have never challenged myself to race. This year I ran my first race, the Wasatch Back Relay, a 188-mile relay from Logan to Park City, Utah, run continuously over the course of about 28 hours by a team of 12. And I fell in love with running in a whole new way. Was it my best performance? No. But, I challenged myself to race and race I did, even after being plagued with several setbacks in my training, including pneumonia and a knee injury just weeks before race day. Now, I have set a new goal that I want to share with all of you. This September I will run my first half marathon. I am very excited for this race and can't wait to set my first PR for a half marathon race!

And so to all of you who will read my blog, I invite you to come along for the ride and share my adventures as I set new goals and wake up every day "trying", believing in what I can do and changing my weaknesses to strengths! I hope in doing this I will, in even the smallest way, inspire each of you to do the same. And I give this challenge to you....

Engage others. Inspire all. Believe in you.