A Setback

I've been putting off writing this for a long, long time, but I've finally come to terms with some bad news -- I'm injured, AGAIN, and I'm not running the Chicago Marathon this year.

Back at the end of August, after my awesome 18 mile training run, I developed a sharp, pinching pain in my right hip when I ran.  But of course being me, I tried to push through it.  I kept running until my stride was so screwed up that an easy five miler had my right hamstring and calf complaining pretty loudly.  By that point I was limping just trying to walk around, and after a pitiful attempt at Yasso 800s the next day I was finally ready to admit I was injured.  So I took a full week off, which meant sitting out my first planned 20 miler.  It was a tough call, but I was optimistic that a week of rest would do the trick and that I could still get in a 20 miler before Chicago (I originally had two in the schedule).

After a week off, I was walking much, much better.  But as soon as I tested things out with an easy three miler, the pain was back.  I still tried a semi-long run, which went ok, but a month out from a big marathon being able to complete 12 miles with only moderate pain isn't exactly reason to celebrate.  I decided to do what I could to get through the NH Reach the Beach Relay and then make the call on Chicago after that.

The Reach the Beach Relay was a blast, as always, but the running part wasn't really working for me.  My legs were just under 4, 7, and 4 miles, and each one was a struggle.  My hip (and now IT band) was only moderately painful (until I had to run a quarter mile to the finish on sand ... ) but my legs felt weak and after so much time off I just wasn't on my game.  And I could tell that even without too much pain, my gait was still way off.

Photo by one of my amazing teammates, Hannah

Which brings us to last week.  I finally made an appointment to see the doctor and asked a friend to watch me try to run on a treadmill.  The conversation in the gym went something like this:

Me: Will you watch me run?  Am I favoring one leg?
Him:  Ummm, yes
Me:  Are you sure?
Him: Yes.  You are.  You're not bending your right leg enough
[I make a concerted effort to bend my right leg]
Him: That's a little better ...
Me: !@#$

The trip to the doctor was even worse.  I explained what hurt and that ibuprofen helped, they poked around a little to rule out major tears and fractures and such, and then told me that I was not going to be running a marathon in two weeks.  And that I need to go to physical therapy and not do anything fun like run or go for a long bike ride.  When I pressed for an actual diagnosis, the doc told me there's a lot of inflammation in my hip, and possibly some bursitis, which is making things rub together that shouldn't rub together.  Which is causing pain and screwing up my gait.  Which after 26 miles will probably result in some damage to the parts of my legs that currently work ok.  I'd kind of figured most of that out on my own, but sometimes it helps to hear someone with a medical degree state the obvious.

So.  No Chicago Marathon for me this fall.  I'm really bummed, but I'm trying to think about the big picture look at it as a minor setback.  There will be other races, even other marathons, and they will go much better if I give my body a break instead of pushing through this marathon on an injury like I did with the last two.

But I do have a plan (which is good, because otherwise I would probably be face down in a melty pint of Ben and Jerry's right now).

Part 1 of the plan is to take a week or two to rest, focus on getting the rest of my life back on track after so much time training and agonizing over the marathon decision (I'm looking at you, dissertation), and hang out with this adorable little guy:

I'm sorry, human, did you want to sleep here?

Part 2 of the plan is to get my butt in gear again and prove to myself that I can still be an endurance athlete even if I take this fall and next spring off from marathoning.  The doctor said that swimming should be ok, and that I can start cycling when that doesn't cause discomfort in my hip.  So I signed up for my first adult swim class!  It's geared toward people thinking about their first triathlon, so you can probably guess where this is all going :)  I'm also going to really commit to physical therapy this time instead of just using it as a temporary patch to get through my next race.  And if all goes well this fall/winter, next spring/summer will be the time when I focus on getting faster in the half marathon, complete my first half Ironman, and start training for next year's Chicago Marathon.

Thanks so much for all of your support during training, and to everyone who donated to my Race to Stop MS campaign.  Chicago Marathon, I'll see you in 2013.