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My life at mile 20

I was pretty sore after my run on Monday.  Actually I had pain shooting down the back of my hip all day Tuesday.  Probably not a good thing.

I went to the PT yesterday all ready for a good word on getting back to running.  My website address, 278toboston.com may need to be changed soon if I can’t move past this problem.  My hip problem actually stems back about 12 years ago.  I had such a bad problem, that I needed a handicap sticker to park my car.  I had to have my kids push me in a wheelchair through Walmart.  Not good.  I still don’t think I’d be this bad off now if I hadn’t run trails a month ago.  I had just run 9 days in a row and chose to run trails with TJ.  I just couldn’t pass up the offer.  I pounded those trails and haven’t been the same since.

Back to my PT appointment.  It never happened.  I got there and as soon as I walked in the door they said that with insurance it would cost me $200.  Okay. I exaggerate.  They said it would cost $187.87.  They were nice and said I didn’t need to pay it right then; I could wait until my next appointment.  I did appreciate that, but I don’t do debt or credit.  If I don’t have the money, I don’t spend the money.  Funny, but if they had called me to tell me the cost a week or so ago, I could have figured something out.  They will call me in a couple of weeks to reschedule.

So I walked out, got into my car and headed home.  I decided to walk my 3 mile route.  It was a nice walk.  My hip hurt through the first half and then felt better.

Where do I go from here.  I don’t know.  I imagine if I just stopped running for a few months or a year I would get back to the place where I could take it up again.  Knowing me though, after a year, I would be laying on the bed and eating my Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and weighing 280 lbs.

So the conundrum.  What should I do?

I guess I’ll keep running and walking and stretching and heating and icing.  Heck, YouTube is cheaper than $187.87 and I can find plenty of good stretches on there.

I guess this will be another chapter in my future book.  Maybe next year during NaNoWriMo.  I think I’ll start out comparing mile 20 of my last marathon to my life at this moment.  Sometimes all you can do is tell yourself to keep putting on foot in front of the other and not look back.

Hmmm. Might be an idea…

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Exciting news – and a good run!

I’m excited. No, not that I had a great run yesterday (although I did)! I am going to be used in a book being written by Runners World. You could just blow me away with a feather (although I would have to lose a few more pounds first). I saw an article saying that Runners World was going to do some articles and write a book about how running changed your life. So I decided to write my thoughts based on the questions they asked. Low and behold, I got a response back saying that some of what I wrote interested them and they want to use it!!

I really don’t know much other information right now, but I will be sure to write about it when I do. 🙂

Now on to my run yesterday… It was a 7 miler and the first 3 went well. I felt pretty good, but I was still sore from running my 5K and my workout on Monday. When I got to mile 4, my brain started to rebel. It was telling me to stop. It was telling me to walk or just give in. Mind you it was only 72 degrees out which is almost like winter in Alabama in July, so this was not heat related. I then decided to try something I have never tried before. I just blanked that thought from my mind. I refused to think about wanting to stop and I kept going. In the past when I would get those thoughts, I run anyway, but my running form would go down hill and it would end up being a difficult run. However, after I blanked that thought from my mind, I felt rejuvenated. My form came back and I suddenly had strength and power again in my legs.

This was an amazing thing for me to experience. I went from my run falling apart to having a really good run. Even my splits tell the story. Mile 1-3 were negative splits. Mile 4 was a much slower mile. Mile 5-7 were back in the same range as mile 2 and 3.

I don’t know if this was a one time event, or if perhaps, I have stumbled onto a key to my upcoming marathon. I am hoping for the second option here. If I can somehow stop the negative thoughts before they take over my run, that could change everything.

So all in all, yesterday was a great day. Hopefully today will be even better!