Since then, I've run 2 more half marathons (Nashville Country Music 1/2, and Birmingham Mercedes 1/2) and a full marathon! (Huntsville Rocket City Marathon).
Disclaimer: This is going to be long because I haven't actually written my marathon story out yet....sorry :)
What they say is true: "If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."
My story: The marathon was both the best and worst experience of my life. I trained for a solid 4 months, doing my long runs on Monday mornings (class didn't start until 11 so it was perfect) with my boyfriend at the time. He came into my life at the opportune time because there was no way I was going to do 15+ miles all by my lonesome out on the streets of Birmingham. No thank you. So after my last exam of the semester, we head up to Huntsvegas and try to get some sleep. I was so incredibly excited/anxious. Boy was only running the first 10 with me, (he hadn't been training as long as I had for it) so I was glad to have some support for almost 1/2 of it. Mom and dad promised to be at mile 16 for moral support along with some granola bars for energy. Weather was reported to hover around 35 for the entire morning and about a 40% chance of rain. Lovely. So I took no iPod or phone because I didn't want them to get ruined...mistake. True to word, it was absolutely freezing. The sky had a depressing sheet of gray clouds for the entirety of the race, but no rain! Minor almost-roll-of-the-ankle at mile 2, no biggie right? WRONG. Very wrong. Everything was going very smoothly until mile 15. By that time boy had already left to go wait at the 22 mile marker and run the last 4.2 with me. I had to stop to use the portapotty. As soon as I tried to start running again, immense pain on the inner side of the arch on my left foot. I could hardly put any pressure on it without wanting to scream. Something was bad wrong. After walking for a little bit and deciding that there was NO way I was going to quit after all the training and being more than halfway through, I trudged on. Plus, mom and dad were supposed to meet me at the next mile, so at least I had something to look forward to. I found that the only part of my foot that didn't hurt to land on was my big toe...so for the next 11.2 miles, that's where I landed (you can imagine how that bad boy looked after). Well mile 16 came, and no sign of parents. I was devastated. That meant I wouldn't be seeing anyone for the next 6 miles. And 6 miles to where you can barely run meant it was going to be a loooong 6 miles. And it was. It quickly became the biggest mind game of my life. There were policemen at each mile ready to take injured runners or runners who couldn't finish back to the start line. I never wanted that to be me. I couldn't stand the thought of a big fat DNF by my name, even though my time was going to be anything but stellar. I had forgotten a friend had told me he would make a sign for me, and around mile 18 a big 'GO ASHLEY!' was blown up in bright pink. He said I was looking good, which was a total lie because I was very much doing some kind of grandpa shuffle. Finally, somehow I miraculously make it to mile 22 and see boy. I don't know what I would have done without him. I told him about my stupid foot and he gave me all the moral support I needed. He stayed and made sure I finished those last 4.2 miles, doing everything he could to make me laugh and get my mind off of the pain. Mom and dad ended up finding us at mile 24. Mom was about to have an absolute fit once she saw my sad attempt to run, trying to get me to quit while shoving granola down my throat. I was so mad at them, thinking they had forgotten all about our deal to meet at mile 16. But, that's after I had hurt myself. They said they waited and waited and assumed I had been faster than they anticipated and moved on to try and find me. I told them that I was going to finish this &*#!%*# of a race, and they could meet me and boy at the finish. I finished. 4:55. The worst part was after crossing the finish line, because we still had to walk back to the car. Miserable miserable miserable. I just ran a marathon with maybe a fractured foot, I did NOT want to move for the next week. I ate 2 whole bagels and a banana with an embarrassing amount of peanut butter and chocolate milk when I got home, and slept for about 5 hours. Champion in my mind. 26.2 I finished you!
ITBS: ..........The pain persisted in my foot for the next 3 weeks....that's 21 days. A long 21 days of dragging my foot around like Quasimodo. It made me depressed. Went to the doctor who couldn't find anything wrong with it. Cool. I wanted to snatch his PhD off the wall. WTF was hurting so much then. I'll never know. I blame it on my almost-rolled-ankle at mile 2. SO, about a month later, I was able to put enough pressure on my foot to walk around comfortably and attempt to run. But because I had been putting all my weight on my right leg due to dragging my left around and not wanting to put pressure on it.....instant enflamed unbearable pain on the lateral side of my right knee. I could walk upstairs, but could not walk downstairs to save my life. Pain that would leave me in tears. I would get stuck on the flipping stairs at school, turn around, and have to take the elevator from floor 2 to 1 and piss off everyone already on it. "Omg....someone is taking it down one floor...." "YEAH THAT'S ME, I'M SORRY. My knee feels like its about to explode." Was my response. Left that girl open mouthed. Ha. Self diagnosed ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome). Syndrome from hell. Every step you take you can feel that sucker tighten up and pinch. So I didn't run for about another month. Not fun. Missed out on the Mercedes 1/2 Marathon. Depressed. Got better by April. Decided to run the Country Music 1/2 with boy. Finished, but with crappy crappy time because I was afraid of overdoing it. Syndrome came back in July after I bought new running shoes. I overpronate, and the people at the running store told me I should wear the most extreme stability/motion control shoes they offer. Sounded good to me. NO. ITBS back in full force after a week. Extremely irritated, I began researching online and librarying scientific journals (I was getting desperate) to figure out what in the world I could do. Came across numerous articles about barefoot running and minimalist running. It was like stumbling across the holy grail. I picked up a pair of Vibrams....gloves for feet. They are absolutely amazing. No pain whatsoever. I feel like I'm running on air. Unfortunately, because I'm an extremely impatient person I didn't feel like taking the time to transition into them the right way. Instead, I switched back to normal running shoes once my ITBS felt better. It was fine until I started running in the double digits again. I ran the Mercedes 1/2 this past weekend. It was glorious. I've missed running distances like that. I beat my time by 5 whole minutes....finished in 1:50 (8:28 min/mile) which is really good for me!!! It kills me though, because my IT band started screaming at mile 9, so I had to cut back for the last 4 miles and not overdo it. The IT band has been back this past week....not nearly as bad as last year, but I had a hard time walking down stairs again. I'm determined to get rid of this mess once and for all. I'm switching over to Vibrams completely. It's probably going to stink being patient, but it'll be SO worth it. I'm excited :) Goodbye pain!!!!
2 comments:
quasimodo...........baahhahahahaha even though those glove shoes are HIDEOUS, i am in full support since I need a running bff. so, sadly i support the stupid shoes.
Thank you :)
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