After I ran the Eugene Half, one of my friends on FB
commented: “blog post or it didn’t happen.” For her sake, I apologize for the
fact that this isn’t that recap, but
I’ll get to that soon. I suppose, instead, it’s everything else that’s happened
lately and since the last time I bothered writing about my running!
The good news is that for the first time since April 1, I
was cleared to start running again for reals (and not just because I refused
not to run races for which I had registered before the injury). I’m only
supposed to do 2-3 miles at a time, on dirt wherever I can, and take things
easy. I’ve only done one run so far and I felt super sluggish, but my leg felt
perfectly fine. Hurrah! Run #2 will be tonight – I’ll be the first to admit
that I’ve almost been a little scared to run, because I didn’t want to find out
that I wasn’t all better.
The PT has been fantastic. I mean, it hurt, but it gave me a
near-weekly excuse to start my day with Seattle’s best lattes (Vivace, if you
wondered), so I didn’t mind so much. There were plungers involved, which, if
you’ve never experienced that particular joy – hurts a heck of a lot.
ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY USE THE MINI, IT’S ACTUALLY A BEE STING KIT, PLUNGER ON
YOU. It was nice to “feel” my leg healing, by which I mean that I would think
to myself “hmmm, this doesn’t hurt as much as it did last week…WINNING!”
I’ve continued to do a lot of work to strengthen the back of
my legs and hips. I do a lot of ball raises for my hamstrings, monster walks
for my hips and glutes, and one foot/one arm raises with a 10lb. weight for my
lower leg stabilization muscles. I haven’t particularly noticed whether that’s
all made a difference to my running, but I can tell you that the evil ART
machine definitely did get easier with repeated use. AND, a magical thing
happened at skating on Saturday. Before I got hurt, I was having the hardest time with my jumps. I could take
off and do the rotation, but when I landed, I would just collapse. Like,
literally, my leg would give out and I’d end up on the ice. This week, for the
first time since the tendinitis started, I tried jumping and OMG, I CAN LAND
THEM!!! Like, all of them – at least all of the ones that I could ever do
(so…singles only and no axel). It was really exciting and, to think, all I
needed to do was strengthen my hamstrings and backside!
So, I guess the big question is “what’s next?” I’ve got a
goal half marathon for the end of the August that I need to start working
towards, but first, I need to work on building my endurance back up. I’ve made
a schedule and everything, because schedules are key for me – telling myself
that I can run when I feel like it simply doesn’t work. I’ll start with 2-3
miles several times this week, before launching back into an official plan at
the beginning of June. I’ve also got two more halves planned for June – I’m
going back to North Olympic Discovery and I’m pacing the 2:30 group for Rock
‘n’ Roll Seattle. Wow – those two races could not be more different!
If all goes to plan, I’ll have qualified for the Half
Fanatics with 6 halves in 6 months – Princess, Lake Sammamish, Mercer Island,
Eugene, NODM, and RnR Seattle! I swear, it’s a disease. grin
And, THEN, sometime in late September or early October, I
should be moving to New Jersey for a new job!
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