Introduction

A couple years after getting into long distance running, I decided to try to run a half-marathon or marathon in each state. After crossing off my fifth state, I recounted the race to my sister. As I described the hills, puddles, cows, lightning, thunder, and cornfields, she suggested that I begin a blog about my experiences and races. While it’s hard to imagine the many different races running together, I could see how it might happen. So, I looked back in my mind (and with the help of my t-shirt drawer) am going to document my runs through all 50 states. End of 2015 update: 16 states done!

3/15/2015

Tobacco Road Half Marathon (NC), March 15th, 2015

I was excited to enter the Tobacco Road race series again.  Having run the full marathon twice, I looked forward to trying out the half.  What made the event even better was that my sister and a friend of hers from high school were going to join me for it.  Her friend had run a couple halves but it was my sister’s first half marathon.  Although we weren’t planning to run the race together, I was excited she was tackling the distance (I was thinking about going for a PR and she was not a huge runner squeezing in as much training as she could with a 2 and 4 year old).

Early to mid January my foot started to bother me.  Sometimes when I ran it would hurt, sometimes it wouldn’t.  I would run one night and get so frustrated with the pain that I wanted to go to the doctor the next day.  When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t make my foot hurt if I tried.  The inconsistent pain made me think it couldn’t be too serious, so I figured that I had pulled a muscle and decided to push through it.

The week before the race it was feeling a little worse, but I wasn’t too worried.  Three miles into the race I decided it was a little more serious than a pulled muscle. Six miles into the race I had fallen well off my goal pace and was doing a beautiful job of hobble running. 

The race follows an out and back course and a little while after I turned around I passed my sister going the other way.  She looked great.  I tried to forget about my foot and think about how proud I was of her (and hopefully how happy she was for herself).  For a few minutes my mind wandered to thoughts about how good it feels to finish your first big race and I hoped she was enjoying it. 

Then my foot reminded me it was still there.  Around mile 9 it started throbbing and the pain returned.  An aid station came into view and I decided I was done, I could see my foot swelling against my shoe and unless I could think of a really good distraction for the next few miles running normally was not an option.  As I got closer, the ambulance stationed at the aid station pulled away.  I took that as a sign not to give up (I had also realized my ride left and that getting back on wheels might take longer than running).  So, I kept going.

I had planned on finishing the race then heading back out to catch my sister and run the last mile or 2 with her.  That definitely wasn’t going to happen.  I found my parents and stood with them (on one foot) to watch for my sister and her friend finish.  They both did great, her friend ran a PR and my sister crossed the finish for her first half.

When I took my shoe off I realized how much it had been helping keep my foot from swelling.  My first task Monday morning was to make a doctor’s appointment (for the first time my foot still hurt the next day).  A couple of x-rays later I became the proud owner of a brand new walking boot (my old one was not supportive enough).  Apparently my symptoms earlier in the season were signs of a stress fracture and I had pushed through it for too long (did you know the feeling that a part of your foot is burning can be a symptom of a stress fracture?  I didn’t).

As I am fortunate to have a doctor who understands taking a 6-8 week break from working out would drive me crazy, I was permitted to pedal on the stationary bike at the gym, which I did 5-6 days a week, in my boot.  I attribute the biking, along with increasing my daily intake of calcium for getting my foot healed and out of it’s boot and back to running in under 4 weeks…when I went back for my first checkup I was cleared to lose the boot and slowly get back to running (the muscles in my foot/ankle/calf were pretty weak and needed some time to rebuild).


While I would gladly avoided the pain and time off from running, my story of running a half marathon on a broken foot is usually a pretty big hit.

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