You may have noticed it’s been a wee bit quiet around these parts lately. I can’t (and won’t) blame it on the holiday season, or my recent trip to California to visit family. Frankly, I have been uninspired to write, probably due to the fact that this past month I have been in limbo.
On the eve of what would be my best run of the year (the JFK 50 miler on 23 Nov) I tripped (on my foam roller of all things!) and landed right. on. my. screw. What screw, you might ask? Oh…this one:
(That’s a little souvenir from a 2002 injury.)
I’ll spare you the boring details, but if I had any idea how badly I would be paying for that fall over the following weeks, I would not have run 50 miles the next day. (To be fair, had I woken up in pain the morning of the race, I would not have run. Chalk it up to adrenaline, but the wheels didn’t start to fall off until about mile 30)
I spent the next 2 days in agony (the 8 hour drive the day after the race didn’t help) It hurt to walk. It hurt to stand, sit, lay down…it just plain hurt. My knee was swollen and bruised, and my mind was going through all the Worst Possible Scenarios. I thought I has fractured the bone where the screw was. To say I was panicking is an understatement (as a few of my friends discovered as I called them bawling my eyes out) I thought I had gone and done it…I had irreparably damaged my knee and I would never run again. I am usually not such a Debbie Downer, but when it comes to my knee, my past and my running, I am a little sensitive about it.
On doctors orders, enter the month of…nothing. No running. No spinning. No lifting. I was ordered to completely REST until my referral a month later with an orthopedic specialist. I did manage to pass the time watching all four seasons of the Tudors (Because really, Jonathan Rhys Meyers makes everything better)
A month post injury I was able to get in with an amazing specialist (things can run a little slower on base). We agreed on a treatment plan, he gave me an injection and out the door I went, with the knowledge that if the shot didn’t do what it was supposed to – make the pain go away and decrease the inflammation – surgery was the next step to rule out damage to what meniscus I have left. Turns out the injury gods were in my favor, as it was only a nasty case of bursitis brought on from the impact and subsequent effusion in the knee (made sooooo much worse by, I don’t know…going for a long run the day after I fell)
5 weeks post fall/race, and I am JUST starting to feel like myself. I have spent the last month taking care of my body; once I was cleared from the doctor for some movement, I started right in with what I could do: some strength work to re-strengthen my weak areas to help stave off future injury, and spending a lot of time walking and spinning on my indoor bike. I have just been so thankful to be able to move again without fear of further injury. My eating is (mostly) cleaned up, and I have been discovering the joys of my new food dehydrator.
So forgive me for being absent…the one thing I can always count on to deal with stress in my life was the one thing I was unable to do. But, sometimes time away is a good thing. It makes you reevaluate where you are and where you are headed. This break allowed my perspective to be refocused. My passion to be re-ignited. For my training, my running, my business and myself. I am so excited about what 2014 brings. I have several projects in the works, the ability to restart my training with a clean slate, some amazing races to look forward to, and fantastic clients to work with.
I am also going back to my original business name, and the one I feel sums up me and my attitude (both personally and professionally): Tenacious Training.
Ready to join me for a fantastic year? Ready to work hard and get results? Let’s make it happen!