11 days have already passed since Surf City — I can’t believe it! Time really flies, and before you know it, it will be my dreadful birthday, then Christmas – geez! Since my last race, I haven’t done much of anything physically; my knee still hurts and I’ve been very busy with so many other things including work, friends and of course preparing for LA Marathon (will post about this later). While I am actually enjoying my time off from running, I have sort of become a Worry Wart. That worries me (see, I told you) more than anything because once I get these negative thoughts in my head, it is so hard to get them out. I know my training and race performance will suffer simply because I might push myself physically harder to avoid feeling any sort of loss and also because I will start to doubt myself and what I am doing. It’s getting pretty exhausting, continually talking myself out of all this negativity BUT I am doing it!
Archive for February, 2010
Time: 3:16:16 (PR)
Overall: 81 out of 2353
Women: 5 out of 963
F 30-34: 1 out of 137
Click Here for Garmin stats
Click Here for Elevation Map
Another month. Another marathon.
I am happy to have this race behind me because as you know, one of the obvious challenges of running one marathon per month is the amount of rest I get in between races – hardly any. This race however, was 42 days away from my next race, LA Marathon (LAM) which will be the longest break I’ll have all year. The timing couldn’t be better (duh, rest is always needed) since LAM is one of my two A Events, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am experiencing some sort of pain around my right knee (IT maybe?). I will definitely utilize this rest to focus on getting healthy.
We had a rainy week leading up to the race and I was relieved to find that it wasn’t going to rain on race day. Rain on race day is disastrous for me since I have plantar fasciitis and tape my feet – I worry that wet feet equals ripped skin and a lot of pain. I also don’t want my hair and make-up to get all messed up, go ahead roll your eyes, but remember Brightroom does post race pictures publicly… It was raining quite heavily when I arrived to the expo on Saturday to pick up my bib – raining enough to flood the floors from the leaky tented/tarped makeshift roofs. It was nearly impossible to keep my feet dry so I got in and out as fast as I could.
I just finished an easy four mile run after taking a few days off. My right knee is nagging me since Carlsbad — nothing painful, just annoying and out of place. It felt really good to get out there and clear my mind and I didn’t feel any discomfort until the last half mile of the run. I will continue to ice, stretch and just take it easy for my race on Sunday. Keep reminding myself it’s a B Event, and I just need to be ready for LA.
Why I run.
I don’t like when people ask me why I run. Actually, I don’t like when people ask me why I run when they say it with a look of disgust on their face. Couple that with, “I wish I was as skinny as you,” and I officially lose all interest in that person.
Running has always been something that I did. Why? I never wanted to ask myself that question. I just did it and I do it. And if ever there has been something steady and constant in my life, I would say it’s running. Why question something that has always been my shoulder to cry on?
I hesitated posting about this because it’s such a sensitive subject for me. And maybe I shouldn’t be so agitated when I am asked that question, but I know, deep down, it has been my cover for deep-rooted issues and pain and I’d rather avoid that… Well, tonight, not really doing much of anything except catching up on all my magazine subscriptions, I came across the “The Father Lode,” an article in this month’s issue of Runner’s World. I read it once and I cried. I read it again and cried. And then I read it again and decided I would open up a little. Of course my story is different, but I can relate to it on so many levels and so I will slowly share (part of) my story with you.
