I ran!!!!!!

Look at all those photos of hanging out like lumps, just sitting-- just depressing lounging. Animals sitting, pets lounging, no motion. I got sick of all my sitting in a lump of non-running bla.
So, I decided to start running again! Physical therapy be damned!

Those last two photos are from a Halloween party this year, around the time I started all this sitting-- I dressed like Athena and brought a very sturdy, long, wooden sword to use as a crutch and spent much of the night sitting and still in pain. Of course, I didn't feel very warrior goddess like, more like Mark, dressed as the infant.

I have come a ways since then and I'm so happy! My Rotterman is so happy! The world feels right again! A few days ago I decided not to even try the half marathon, especially after a particularly hard day of pool running. I thought, if my hip and thigh hurt "running" in the pool with no weight at all on my leg, what the heck am I thinking trying to train for a month and week away half marathon?

Well, I decided to let stubborn rule and made the final decision that I would do this race. I had even emailed my Team in Training contact to tell her I had to bow out. She assured me that I could put the funds I raised toward a future event and was understanding. I thought and I thought and thought how darned unhealthy and just bla in general I have been not running for nearly two months and I just can't stand my non-running self anymore. So here's what I emailed Sarah back again yesterday:


"thanks for touching base. My leg is feeling better, I have been off the crutches and I will leave here soon to go water run.

I've decided I'm going to particpate in this event. Even if that means I have to walk the whole way, I'm going to do it. My main goal was to raise money for victims of blood cancer-- you may not know, but I started w/ TNT because of a student I am very close to who at just 16, despite being very athletic, very healthy, and very spiritual, came down with non-hodgkins lymphoma, which went on to invade her ovaries. This young woman had been on the newspaper I teach/advise for three years and I when I wen to see her for the first time in the hospital, she told me she would not let them remove her ovaries so she could have kids. That meant many rounds of very aggressive chemo. Yet, every time I visited her she beamed and asked all about me, the newspaper students, and my training w/ TNT. She so selfless. I got her a TNT bracelet and she told me on the phone after Bayshore that she never took the bracelet off.
Anyway, she is back in newspaper this year (her treatment was last year) and looks just beautiful. She still has the TNT bracelet and asks me about my training.

In short, I finally realized that if she can be stubborn and let her will get her through this, so can I. I might have to slow walk the darned thing, but I will do it. Yeah, it won't be as glorious as running it, but I have future races. Right now, I still have Austyn in class. She willl graduate this year and after that I'll start running more for my own glory.

so, in short, yes. I'm sticking with this event and I hope to start a little bit of training this week.

I would love to get a training schedule from a coach for starting back after an injury. I have from tom until about Jan. 3 to taper-- that means just 4 weeks to get up to my longest run. I'd like a new schedule--keeping in mind that I have to start really, really, really slow not to hurt myself or make the stress fracture worse.

Thanks again,

Laura
oh. ps, can I drop off my checks directly to the office since it's less than two weeks to deadline?
Thanks"


-----Original Message-----
From: Cowlbeck, Sarah (MI)
To: lauraredm@aol.com
Sent: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 9:41 am
Subject: Status Update

Laura,

I wanted to touch base with you and find out if you had made a decision regarding staying with the winter season or transferring to another. I hope that you are healing up well. I feel so bad that you are going through this!

Sarah

Sarah R. Cowlbeck
Campaign Manager
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Team In Training

So, after officially deciding to do the race, I decided I had to see if I could run it. I haven't been able to get anything from the coach, so here's what I did:
I went to my calander and wrote out my own schedule
This week: Tuesday: 1.5, wed. and yoga 2, thursday 3, Friday bike, Saturday 5, Sunday 2and yoga
Next week. Tuesday: 2, wed. 3 and yoga, thursday 4, Friday elyptical, Saturday 6
Sunday 3 and yoga
Week after: Tuesday: 3, wed. 3 and yoga, thursday 5, Friday: just yoga, Saturday 8
Week after: Tuesday 4, wed. 4 and yoga, thursday 6, Friday: swim, Saturday 10
Week after: Tuesday 4, wed. 4 and yoga, thursday 6, Friday: rest. Saturday 8
Week of race: sunday 3, Tuesday 4, Wed. 2, thursday 2, rest Friday and Saturday
Race: Sunday.

So, I basically tried to go as slow and easy as I could w/ varying days and workouts and some cross training to get up to at least a 10 mile long run before the half.

Here's the stats from Tuesay:
distance: 1.87!!!!! Yeah!! I went over my 1.5
stops: 2 because Robbie's collar came off and I realized i was running much lighter and when I saw collar in my hand and no dog attached I had to go back and get it on him--otherwise, just as I was getting to my house, I realized I just felt warmed up and could have kept running another few miles
Lungs: feel awesome-- hardly out of breath
Hip flexor and thigh: another story. It was mild pain-- more like a pull or ache, esp. in my hip flexor. I made sure to warm up before the run by running/marching in place in my kitchen as my I-pod recharged. Then I did some yoga stretches. Then, when I got back I did a bunch more yoga on my driveway (it was dark out) while my dog tried to sit on me while I was in pigeon. I swear I love that dog but he has no sense of boundaries. I streched my calves good on a nearby powerline pole, I also did downdogs for my calves and thigs as well as lunges and triangle. Pigeon seemed to stretch out and help the most. Oh and I also tried running on as much lawn, park grass, etc as I could for softer landing! I made sure to have my headlamp on to see where the possible leaf covered pitfalls might be.

I went inside and spent at least a half hour icing my thigh and hip flexor. And, I am walking fine today. My hips a bit sore but not too bad!
I feel like I'm just starting to live again.