• the road back

How can I not stay inspired with friends like this? (Wendy & Tanya coming in after their winery countryside run)

…is sweet. It’s also slow and short. I’m happy to report that I’m back out there running ever-so-cautiously, slowly, shortly and carefully. It’s a wonderful feeling that I’m treasuring.Since my right foot started falling apart in May and then having to quit running in June, I’ve been living the other side of running. The injured side. It’s the humbling side, as you probably know. The focus goes from how far, how fast, when can I go, who goes with, where to play and where to race to how do I fix this so I can get back on the other side. The mental issues sometimes equal or surpass the physical ones.

• The first couple weeks of no running I got sort of depressed. I felt like a hamster that lost her beloved wheel. Lots of energy, but no where to expend it.

• I actually got dumber for a while. I made silly mistakes all day long and couldn’t smarten up no matter how hard I tried. Things like leaving my coffee on the top of my car. Heading to the library to return books that sat in the living room. We all do that once in a while. But many times a day made me worry about my own safety.

• I couldn’t figure out how to get high (snarf, chuckle). Biking didn’t do it, pilates sure didn’t do it. I thought swimming might do it, but the closest I could get was staying in the hot tub too long.

• I wondered how I was going to continue working in a running-oriented business and NOT be running. I thought it would bum me out. Surprisingly, it didn’t. Being around other runners, being the event director for LCHAY‘s 5k and planning our Fall Winery Run & Brunch was a great way to be immersed in running, to feel supported and have people listen to me whine once in a while. It was almost like running sans the ice bath.

• My relationship with running changed. Of course, they say that you don’t know a good thing till it’s gone. Dammit, that’s so true. Running has such ups and downs. Being injured can bring you to that down place because it’s like losing a friend for a while. When they move back into town, however, the upside is awesome. You don’t take them for granted. You listen more. You thank them more. You’re happy, even if they can only stay a short time.

Welcome back, friend.

If you’ve been injured, what did you learn about yourself or your relationship to running?

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• 10 things i’m not gonna to do

My workcenter today includes a pasta pot full of ice water.

We all have goals. It’s good to write them down. Folks say that if you write down your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them. In the spirit of Calvin & Hobbes’ opposite day I decided to write down my goals in a sort of opposite way. Here’s 10 things I’m NOT going to do.

1. I’m not going to mop that kitchen floor (again!) this week.
2. I’m not going to eat quite as much peanut butter as I did yesterday. (Maybe)
3. I’m not going to do laundry today to avoid catching up on business accounting (mostly because I did that yesterday and there is no more laundry to do).
4. I’m not going to worry about what my kids eat at their after-school movie tonight (I overdosed them on asparagus soup yesterday, so their good on the veggie scene.)
5. I’m not going to let 3:00 o’clock roll by without doing my Netflix-streamed pilates. (Even if the accounting is not done.)
6. I’m not going to get sucked into anyone’s photo album on Facebook. (No matter how cute so-and-so’s kids are or how witty the captions.)
7. I’m not going to worry about this post being perfect. (Thinking leads to over-thinking.)
8. I’m not going to get worked up about packing too much for our trip to Portland this weekend. (I’m a recovering over-packer)
9. I’m not going to skimp on keeping my foot in the ice bucket today to help my achilles cuz that really works. (Thanks, Debbie!)
10. I’m not going to ignore the fact that I’m sad not to be running the Forest Park 50K this weekend. (See #9)

Yeah, the 50K.

In case you missed it, I sort of sabotaged my training and have been working on recovering from multiple leg and foot injuries in the last 6 weeks. For some, ahem, lame reason, I decided to test cardinal training rule number 5 (or maybe it’s number 1); listen to your body! I pushed myself too far.

However, I’m happy to say that the calf is better, the hammy is great and the achilles is on the mend. The right foot is well, not quite right, but it will be. Ice ice, baby.

But I’m sad nonetheless. Not crushed, but sad. And I’m going to let myself be sad. As I said in my previous post about getting injured, I’ve finally been running long enough to “get it” that this is not the end. A DNS (did not start) or a DNF (did not finish) is not the end of the world and not the end of my running. In that way, I feel like I’ve graduated to a high level of runner. I remember running the Avenue of the Giants Marathon (my 3rd) with horrific IT issues that started at mile 10. I will never run in horrendously-hobbling pain for another 16 miles just to finish. Not listening to my body this winter was not an “enlightened, grown-up runner” thing to do, of course, so I’ll keep working on that one.

My sad space is not the only space I’m in today though. I’m also in a grateful space because of the people around me who have supported me in my training, walked on eggshells to ask how recovery was going, offered dead-on advice,  cross-trained with me and whispered to me discretely that my frozen corn was showing out from underneath my icing sock. To all of you…thank you so much.

So, it’s off to Portland tomorrow anyway. The racing weekend has morphed into 3 days with the family, staying at a fun hotel with a visit to OMSI. Deb, my dear friend with whom I was going to crash the night before the race, is going to meet me at 6:30am Saturday for a few miles before she hits her Dragon Boat training. I’ll tell ya what I’m NOT going to do…I’m not going to miss that for the world!

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• a dork on two wheels

This isn't me, but you get the idea. You just wanna help her, don't ya?

I have Bike Dork Syndrome. I don’t know why really, but I just can’t seem to feel comfortable in bikeland. I suppose I don’t ride enough and usually save my semi-serious efforts for when I’m injured and have to cross-train, like the last two weeks. In case you’re not sure if you’re a dork on a bike, check out my list of blunders. If you can claim more than 3 of these as situations you find yourself in, you too might be suffering from BDS.

• You notice people look sorry for you, then you realize it’s cuz you’re wearing your helmet really crooked.  That’s me.
• You wheel your bike out of the garage and give yourself a big, bloody scrape from the pedal. That’s me.
• You squeeze and squeeze your bike tires before you hop on cuz you think they need air, over-inflate them, then almost kill yourself trying to check them mid-ride. That’s me.
• You’re cranking a hard workout while your shopping basket is clanking away on your handlebars. That’s me.
• You take at least 5 minutes locking up your bike because half the time you just lock it to itself and not the rack. That’s me.
• You adjust your seat a little lower to better reach the curb in hopes of avoiding the hop-stop-hop-stop dance into traffic while pushing the walk signal. That’s me.
• You shift in the wrong direction and make it much harder to go up hills, but pretend you wanted it to be impossible and convince yourself it’s a better workout that way. That’s me.

This last two weeks of biking, hiking, yoga and core work has really motivated me to do two things…

1. Learn how to be frickin comfortable on a bike, or at least look like it. I should take lessons from my kids. They are naturals at everything. Or maybe I just need a Hello Kitty bike bell. hmmm.
2. Cross-train more. Everyone who is anyone in the runner-sphere knows it’s a good idea, but this runner momma, short on time, keeps slipping into her comfort zone of running and running and running. Which is probably why I got injured in the first place.

You only get that dorky newbie feeling when you’re new at something. Getting more comfortable with it will make it more enjoyable. I know this because I have talked to many people who have tried running and say they don’t like it. They then tell me all the newbie uncomfortable stuff about it that makes them feel dorky and hate it. Are you good on a bike? Let’s grab coffee and help each other out!

Keeping my pledge to do more cross-training will be hard. What do you do to make sure you’re fit all over? And how do you squeeze cross-training into a crazy schedule?

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