Kiawah (half) Marathon (SC), December 12th, 2015

After Chicago, and New York, I was ready for a break.  I ran the half and remembered how much fun they are.  Given the 70+ degree temperature, I was happy not to be running the full and to spend the rest of the day on the beach.  (Want to know more about the race itself...check out December 2014, 2013, and 2012, this one's becoming an annual event :)

New York Marathon (NY), November 1st, 2015

While sitting at home with a broken foot, convincing myself that I would someday run again, I also entered the lottery for the New York Marathon.  I’d heard it took years for most runners to get in, so why not start trying now. 

I had almost forgotten that I entered until I received the confirmation email that I’d gotten in.  I was surprised and a little nervous realizing that it was only 3 weeks after Chicago.  I had a number of friends who had run them that close before, so figured it must be possible.  On the plane home from Chicago, I plotted a 3-week turnaround, one week to recover, one week to tune up, and one week to taper.  Not to mention catch up on work, sleep, get laundry done, and repack.

I couldn’t imagine a race with a greater group of spectators than Chicago, and then I ran New York.  With the exception of bridges (especially the Queensboro, where all you could hear were footsteps around you for a mile and a half), there were fans everywhere.  Just ask my parents…they picked a great race to join me as my support crew! 

I could go on to describe the course, borough by borough, but don’t think I could do it justice.  A number of friends have talked about “maybe” running a marathon, but that it would have to be a special race.  I would definitely (and have) recommend New York.

Chicago Marathon (IL), October 11th, 2015

This one's still under construction...

Around the time I was having troubles with my foot, I decided to take advantage of the guaranteed entry I’d earned into the Chicago Marathon (based on my time from Kiawah last December).  Here are 26 things to describe/celebrate/remember from the race (and trip):

1-no more than 1 mile with no spectators cheering along the course

2-number of slices of deep-dish pizza I ate post race (embarrassingly low, I was tired)

3-Goose Island 312, my beverage choice for the trip

4-number of runners in our group from Raleigh

5-the number of miles it felt like I walked between the finish line and the family meet up letter “U” where I finally got to sit down after meeting up with friends.  It was probably closer to a half of a mile than 5.

6-number of runners and spectators in our group from Raleigh

7-number of tenths of a mile I ran over 26.2 in the race (my watch told me 26.98, I think about one tenth of a mile was watch error)

8-

9- number of games the Cubs played postseason this year (we enjoyed hanging out at a bar in Wrigleyville for one of them)

10-I was in bed by 10 the night before the race

11-

12-

13-

14-

15-Illinois is my 15^th state

16-

17-17,234, the number of women who finished this year’s marathon

18-

19-19x5=95^th floor, location of the Signature Lounge (where we enjoyed views of the city Sunday night, postrace)

20-

21-days until my next marathon (yikes!)

22-length of my longest pre-Chicago training run

23-

24-age when I ran my first marathon

25-age when I ran my first official half-marathon

26-26.2…the number of miles run

Bryce Caynon Half Marathon (UT), July 11th, 2015

Now that I’ve started working on a half or full in all 50 states, running a race has become my motivation for planning a number of trips.  I had never been to Utah but had been told I would like it many times (if the running didn’t give it away, I enjoy spending time outdoors).  Needless to say, when I found the Bryce Canyon half, I was glad to have a reason to head out there.

If I was going to fly all the way out to Utah, I decided I needed to spend more than a weekend there.  With little convincing, I soon had 4 friends traveling with me.  We were looking forward to a 3-day backpacking trek in Bryce Canyon National Park followed by the half marathon before spending a couple days in Zion National Park (including a day hike up the Narrows).  Saying that I’m thankful to have friends willing to join me on these adventures is an understatement.

The 7,000+ feet of climbing and 6,000+ of descent while backpacking was the perfect opportunity to acclimate ourselves to the elevation.  We’re sea level dwellers and were playing at 7-9,000 ft above.  It was also a great last minute strength training session for our legs.

We finished hiking on Friday and were up and as ready to run as we were going to be Saturday morning.  The race started just outside Bryce Canyon National Park and descended about 1800 feet into the town of Cannonville.  If I were to give each race a “most” award, this one would win the “most picturesque” by far (at least at this point in the quest).  Words can’t describe the views of the canyon and surroundings as the sun rose and hundreds of runners descended into the valley.

I won’t deny that my legs were pretty tired by the end of the hiking and running, but it was nothing a 3 mile hike up the Narrows (ankle to waist deep in cool water) couldn’t heal.

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.