Thursday, June 19, 2014

Day 318 of 365: Walk, Don't Run

As I've mentioned a time or eight, I strained a tendon in my left leg. This forced me to downgrade to the 5-miler in Boston's Run to Remember (which I was able to complete with only minor pain and a very bruised ego). This has also forced me to stop running, completely -- which has also forced me to put myself out of the running (har har) for the Chicago Marathon.


The Chicago Marathon is this Columbus Day Weekend. Ideally, I would've had 20 miles already under my belt, which would give me the summer to keep it relatively short (aka 10) until the weather calmed down. Even in less than ideal circumstances, I would be started my training right now, getting at least 6 - 8 miles in as a starting point.


As I hinted at briefly that dropping from the Chicago Marathon was a big deal for so many reasons. One being that I have to go back on a pact that my best friend and I made (she'd have the chutzpah to move to Chicago; I'd have the chutzpah to run the marathon there). She's said a million times that the pact itself was enough to do what she knew she needed to do (namely, move out of Boston) and that actually going through with it is unnecessary on my end, but still. I'm a woman of my word. I don't make promises or goals lightly.


The other is the timeline of everything. I also mentioned that my husband and I have been thinking about that whole "raise a family" thing, and the Chicago Marathon was going to be more or less my apex moment before taking a breather from running my body into the ground (literally). We don't want to put things off another year (because, as much as I feel 24, I'm not. I'm toeing in on 28 and I am vehemently against having any kids past the age of 35, which means the metaphorical and biological clock is ticking). So that means the marathon could be on the back burner for a very, very, very long while -- because any female athlete, professional or amateur, will tell you that the physical strain of intense training is enough to send your body into, "Oh fuck that shit," mode when it comes to fertility.


I spent the last month doing absolutely no cardio. I did my yoga, I ran my tai chi classes (which is about to turn into "tai chi class" singular, but that's for another time), but that was it. No running, no Zumba -- shit, no DDR, even (and we all know how much I love my DDR).


I've now added in a few walks during the week. Now that my tendon only acts up when it's raining, I make it a point to walk to the lake near where I live, which is roughly two miles from my house. It is beyond frustrating, going from running to walking, going from crossing that threshold after 18 minutes to crossing that threshold after 30+. But I do love walks for the sake of walks, so as long as I don't try to think about it as exercise, I'm fine.


One of the biggest messages in yoga is accepting your body exactly where it is. And right now I need to walk, not run. I'm eyeing the Boston Half Marathon (which is also on Columbus Day Weekend). Registration is on the 16th of July, which means I have 3 weeks to see if I would be okay to re-train come August. I'm not setting any expectation for myself, and I'm certainly not expecting my tendon to be 100% by July 16th, but I just can't completely let go of not running that October weekend.


But, for now, it's time to just walk. Put one foot in front of the other one and see where I go from here.

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