Expo Friday Mega security getting in the DC Armory. Crowded, loud and hot. Selection was good but not great. Needed more drinks! Thing 2 was enamored with the Flying Pig Marathon medal. Touring Saturday Toured the White House (holy wow) Flopped down on a double decker tour bus and saw the sights with as little [Read More]
5 Coping Strategies for Inadequate Race Training
My over-dramatization of the impending Marine Corps Marathon is on the downswing. It’s been almost 24 hours now since the last (hopefully final, but no guarantee) crying jag. I went to one final spin class yesterday and our previously demeaning instructor seems to have gotten the memo and was much more encouraging–she went so far [Read More]
Exorcising Marathon Demons
I thought I was handling this whole pre-marathon injury fiasco fairly well until I found myself in tears in the middle of a spin class the other day. I think it’s part of the process of letting go. Of grieving the loss of the marathon I might have run had things been different. Ok so [Read More]
Runfession
What do you do when you have an injury that just won’t quit? Last fall I took a DNS at not one but two fall marathons. Fast forward to this year: My strained tensor fascia seemed to be healing up nicely: 9/16: I celebrated a pain-free 16 mile long run 9/22: I ran a slow but [Read More]
Against Doctor’s Orders: I Ran!
Friday’s Chiro appt. did not go as I’d hoped. He retested my lateral hip strength for a third time and used that W word I despise: WEAK. He advised me to stay in the pool and double up on my exercises. Instead of 3 sets of 10 of each move now I need to do [Read More]
Tensor Fascia Latae Strain
Tensor Fascia Latae Strain Bad News: I am injured. Again. There I said it. Part of me hoped that if I didn’t acknowledge it publicly, it would vanish on it’s own, as quickly as it came. It came on at mile 16 of last weekend’s long run. Hip pain on the right (my ‘good’ hip). [Read More]
5 Things I Learned About Injury the Hard Way
What is the worst injury you’ve ever sustained? 2007: ITBS. This happened 2 weeks post Chicago Marathon (my first). Extreme heat threw a real kink in the day and I was out for revenge. I ramped up mileage again with plans to run RnR Las Vegas 6 weeks later. In retrospect there were warning twinges at [Read More]
Whole Lotta Clenching Going On
I’m in the midst of week 3 of physical therapy for my ornery hip. The diagnosis, in case you missed it:Weak right sideWeak glutesOverburdened left side, complete with bruised hamstring compliments of the yoga incidentTight left hip that sits higher than the right thanks to said tightness and all of the above What PT is [Read More]
Thoughts from Injured Reserve
There’s a mind-clearing technique for meditation where you imagine setting any thoughts that pop into your head on a leaf and let it float away from you. While I am not nearly as adept at meditation as I would like to be, I often use that leaf-in-the-water technique as a way of releasing negativity, worries [Read More]
Weekly Rewind: Injured Reserve
google images This week I just let everything rest. I jumped to no conclusions, made no judgements or plans pertaining to running and my current plight–if I can even call it that. The Chicago Bears, namely Jay Cutler, now there is plight. My coaching gig made it easy to shift the focus from me onto [Read More]