This past weekend I was able to venture to the less than stellar states of Iowa and Nebraska to complete a double header, state 32 and 33 for my half marathon quest. Although the recaps are coming it can be boiled down into a very quick synopsis:
My knee gave out both days before mile 2, 1.8 miles on day 1, 1.77 miles on day 2 (yup I checked my watch) For those who are wondering what is going on- I have plica inflammation in the knee. Kim R thought it was PICA when I first told her, and apparently that would mean I eat chalk- so a brief explanation on what it actually is: Quite simply is the inflammation of synovial (plica tissue) in your knee. Symptoms and pain wise, it mimics what a meniscal tear or patellar tendonitis would feel like. Although you can run in terms of not having to worry about any more damage, you have to be able to endure the pain. I'm pretty good with pushing through pain as I did it for 3 months worth of races when I had ITBS in 2011, but unfortunately this pain is much worse, and unlike ITBS, it doesn't go away as soon as I stop running. This pain lingers for a few days and I look quite pathetic trying to go down any stairs (up is fine), as well as attempting to walk without a limp. (its really quite sexy)
Although I am stubborn, I'm also not an idiot. it's one thing for me to push through and go ahead and complete another half marathon on a double header weekend because I know my body can at least get through it, however I've never ran a full marathon before. Yes I've already completed my 20 miler and 21 miler, but running a race is not the same thing as practice runs since I go out at a faster pace. So as much as it pains me to do it, I'm pulling the plug on the Air Force Marathon in two weeks.
My focus has always been on the 50 state quest and I decided to do a marathon just for fun and to say I did one- unfortunately I'm not going to jeopardize future races just so I can have bragging rights to finally completing a marathon (that would be stupid on my part)
The only thing that will make my knee better is rest, and unfortunately its been a month of me minimally running (pretty much my LR on weekend, MAYBE 1 short run during week) and its only gotten worse. I'm hoping that the Air Force Race director will let me drop down my registration to a half (both full and half sold out months ago)- depending on how I feel that day I might go easy and pace my brother at his attempt to break 2 hours. Otherwise it might be a first and I'll just be a race cheerleader for all those that are running.
Eventually I may get a marathon under my belt- next time it will NOT be an early fall one so I can at least have better training temps than this past summer, but for the time being, I have no immediate plans to run one. I'm trying to remind myself that this summer was not a waste because I was still able to learn a lot about pushing myself beyond what I thought I could do and when I'm back 100% I will use that for future races.
It sucked.
My knee gave out both days before mile 2, 1.8 miles on day 1, 1.77 miles on day 2 (yup I checked my watch) For those who are wondering what is going on- I have plica inflammation in the knee. Kim R thought it was PICA when I first told her, and apparently that would mean I eat chalk- so a brief explanation on what it actually is: Quite simply is the inflammation of synovial (plica tissue) in your knee. Symptoms and pain wise, it mimics what a meniscal tear or patellar tendonitis would feel like. Although you can run in terms of not having to worry about any more damage, you have to be able to endure the pain. I'm pretty good with pushing through pain as I did it for 3 months worth of races when I had ITBS in 2011, but unfortunately this pain is much worse, and unlike ITBS, it doesn't go away as soon as I stop running. This pain lingers for a few days and I look quite pathetic trying to go down any stairs (up is fine), as well as attempting to walk without a limp. (its really quite sexy)
Although I am stubborn, I'm also not an idiot. it's one thing for me to push through and go ahead and complete another half marathon on a double header weekend because I know my body can at least get through it, however I've never ran a full marathon before. Yes I've already completed my 20 miler and 21 miler, but running a race is not the same thing as practice runs since I go out at a faster pace. So as much as it pains me to do it, I'm pulling the plug on the Air Force Marathon in two weeks.
My focus has always been on the 50 state quest and I decided to do a marathon just for fun and to say I did one- unfortunately I'm not going to jeopardize future races just so I can have bragging rights to finally completing a marathon (that would be stupid on my part)
The only thing that will make my knee better is rest, and unfortunately its been a month of me minimally running (pretty much my LR on weekend, MAYBE 1 short run during week) and its only gotten worse. I'm hoping that the Air Force Race director will let me drop down my registration to a half (both full and half sold out months ago)- depending on how I feel that day I might go easy and pace my brother at his attempt to break 2 hours. Otherwise it might be a first and I'll just be a race cheerleader for all those that are running.
Eventually I may get a marathon under my belt- next time it will NOT be an early fall one so I can at least have better training temps than this past summer, but for the time being, I have no immediate plans to run one. I'm trying to remind myself that this summer was not a waste because I was still able to learn a lot about pushing myself beyond what I thought I could do and when I'm back 100% I will use that for future races.
Have you ever had to make a tough race decision?
This is actually the first time I said no to a big race that I've been working toward for months- I'm just glad that I did the double header otherwise I would have went into marathon blind and probably would have had my first DNF
