Three months...for three months I couldn't run. I felt like I was in prison. I didn't know it at the time but I had a torn soleus calf muscle and some other weird strain I'd never hear of. 

I gave my doctors holy hell and my physical therapist too. I whined like a baby to anyone who'd listen to my woes.

I'd show up for physical therapy and they'd ask me "How do you feel?", and I'd reply with "I just tried to run and it hurt so bad I had to stop". Good god if you only heard their scolding "YOU DID WHAT?, YOU KNOW YOU ARENT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT,WHAT IN GODS NAME ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH YOU?"  Week after week I kept trying.

I was pathetic!

I even went as far as locating an anti gravity treadmill to try and run on it and get the much needed release running gave me. It didn't work..Ugh that was a very long drive.

I'm a very determined girl...and i am using the word "very" in a awfully big way.

One day while hunting for seaglass on a local beach I started walking fast and then tried to do a very slow exaggerated run form just to see if it would hurt like all the other surfaces I'd run on.  I couldn't believe I was finally running. I cried like a big baby and shouted out as loud as I could.."I CAN RUN AGAIN! I CAN RUN AGAIN!" Well I got as far as a quarter of a mile before the pain set in. But I didn't care, I "felt" the run in me and it felt amazing! And of all the surfaces to run on, the one I liked least helped me the most!

So later that night I walked back into my physical therapists office and said "Okay, I'll listen now" I told them I just needed to know that someday I will run again. They responded with a "Sentence" of two long weeks of no running, no physical activities period.  And that's a story I'll share another day... :)

The words my physical therapist said to me once make me smile every time I remember them...

"You know...you runners are a really strange breed, a breed like no other". Yep that's me, that's us :)

Suffering from a very angry strained soleus calf muscle and achilles tendonitis. Haven't been able to run for 6 weeks, and Physical Therapist said I'll be lucky if I can in 6 more..but not to count on it. This one's a "doosey"...

So I told him..how am I going to run 100 miles if I can't even run 1?  Let's just say...I spent the rest of my session educating him on ultra marathons, my running goals and convincing him I'm not crazy..LOL

Anyways...he jumped on my band wagon and did some research and found a treadmill that might help me and I wanted to know if any of my Running with Eric buddies have ever used this... there isn't one close by so I'd have to travel about 45 minutes or so to get to one...and that is if the senior rehabilitation center will let me even use it..

www.alterg.com

It's called an AlterG treadmill...(Anti Gravity Treadmill)

Any feedback is greatlly appreciated...

Super excited, my shoes have finally arrived. Perfect timing. It's coming up on the end of my work day and I'm ready for my run!

I also ordered the Verde Go Running Drink mix and the strength training level one program.

Check out these bad boys!!!

Sunday May 6, 2012 is a day I'll never forget. But the story around this day and its success started 4 days prior. At work some coworkers and I were having a team lunch. I was excitedly telling my co-workers about the 5k I ran the weekend before and how I placed 4th in my age group even though I was sick as a dog and had to stop 3 times to cough up a lung. Feeling "high" from that day I decided I was going to run another 5k with a friend of mine this upcoming weekend feeling confident I could maybe actually place since I was feeling better.

My friend Mike brought up the topic about me submitting an entry to Eric's who wants to run "The Cool Impossible" and wanted to know how I was doing in my preparations to run the 100 miles. Mike himself ran the Western States 100 a few years back.

I said to him, well I've been running a lot more (signing up for 5ks and 10ks), made the switch to minimalist shoes and started eating better. So right out in front of everyone he says to me, so why are you running another 5k? If your goal is 100 miles than you better start running longer distances and forget about these little 5k's.

His comments stayed with me.
I left that lunch somewhat defeated but knowing he was right. Later that night I searched on line for any local races and found out it was our Long Island Marathon weekend and on Sunday May 6 they were going to have 3 races. 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon.

The Half Marathon had my name all over it. I was riding on the fact that I had run 11 miles two weeks ago, so maybe I could pull this off?? The race was in four days.

That brings me too yesterday. My goodness what an experience!! I showed up, ran my race and learned a lot along the way (I can write a huge blog just on this alone). But here's my favorite part...

Mile 11.5 my head started telling me I ran far enough and that I could stop now just take a rest, let the legs stop moving for a few moments and that I'd feel better if I did. I slowed a little allowing myself to be "in the moment" (i literally chanted be in the Moment) and recognized the trick my mind was playing on me. I took stock of how my body felt and realized there's "gas" still left in the tank, I'm not giving up.

By mile 12.5 my body was aching all over. I had to work through that last mile I just ran and now was faced with .6 miles to go.

So many people started to stop and walk. I wanted to so badly it seemed like it would feel so good even if it were just for a brief moment. Then I reminded myself, of my race strategy. I knew adrenaline would take me through the first 5 miles of this race and that the last 8 I’d have to work at it. I worked through 7.5 of those remaining 8 miles already and I'd be darned if I were going to give up now. So what did I do??

I closed my eyes literally and ran with them closed for about 10 seconds, took a few deep breaths, relaxed, tilted myself forward to let gravity help bring me in and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I started chanting, "one foot in front of the other".

I looked up and saw the finish line a few hundred yards away. People were sluggishly drifting in. That’s what I bet I looked like for the past half mile! But it seemed all wrong to me...my gut was telling me something was wrong.

I asked myself two questions right then and there...am I "present"? Meaning am I in the moment, laser focused on what I'm doing? And am I living my truth? Meaning the three words I use to define myself...enthusiastic, bold and present. Just by asking myself those questions I immediately became refocused on what my goal was and made darn sure I looked enthusiastic and bold as I took off and sprinted the last few hundred yards of this half marathon. I was finishing this race, the way I started it....bold and enthusiastic and indeed I did. :)

13.1 miles down another 86.9 to go!!