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| Photo from the Section 7AA meet in 1995. I tore my right hamstring in the middle of a race at the Conference meet, just two weeks or so before this photo from Sections. I thought I was done for the season. I rehabbed with only pool training between Conference and Sections, and then the athletic trainer rigged up that wrap that's on my leg with therapy bands and ace bandages. It worked. Not only could I race, but I qualified for the state meet! |
I muscled through the half marathon with an aching hamstring. It was unpleasant, and we had to run pretty slowly, but we made it. And, honestly, the next day I felt fine. I babied it for about a week and wasn't too worried about it. Whew, I thought...dodged a bullet there. Well, not so fast. A couple weeks after Grandma's I was running an evening trail run at Hartley with a friend, and tripped over a root. It wasn't a massive trip. I didn't fall. But I felt my left hamstring tweak again. I tried to keep going, but eventually we had to walk it in. This one felt much worse than what happened at Grandma's. I was sidelined again.
Throughout this time, I've been more or less attending my interval and strength training classes at the gym and doing one session each week with my personal trainer. And I've been running short little 3 and 4 mile runs. And the leg has been okay. Not perfect. But also didn't seem to be getting worse. I had a 1/2 mile trail marathon over in Solon Springs, WI (just about 45 minutes from home) on the calendar last Sunday, and I decided to go give it a try. I went in with the plan to just take it slow, hike all of the hills, and just cover the distance. And, for the first 4.5 miles, it went very well. I barely felt the hamstring. I felt my lack of fitness more than anything, but my body felt fine. Until mile 4.5 when I encountered another root. It was the exact same stumble I had at Hartley. Right foot gets caught on a root, left hamstring "snaps" (for lack of a better word) as I try to catch my balance. This one was bad. I immediately knew I'd screwed up by attempting this race. But with a 50K on the calendar in mid-November, I was running out of time to get my training in. I felt like I just had to give it a try.
It was a long walk from mile 4.5 to the turnaround at the 6.5 mile mark where, mercifully, I was able to get a ride back to the finish. I had a lot of thoughts and feelings on that walk. Pain, anger, frustration, resignation, acceptance, and, eventually, I was ready to reevaluate and reexamine my goal.
To celebrate my 40th birthday, I had a goal to do something epic and physically challenging. I chose a 50K trail race with over 6000 feet of elevation gain. (That's as much elevation gain as I had in the 50 mile race I did for my 35th birthday!) To make it more fun, I've invited 5 friends to join me in San Francisco to make it a fun, long weekend. We are all participating in some sort of running event as part of the North Face Endurance Challenge. It's a pretty cool event - I learned about it when I volunteered at their event in upstate New York back when I lived out East. The events have everything from 5K to 50 mile races - something for everyone. I was looking forward to a major physical and endurance challenge and a fun weekend. I am considering my options now. Given my injury, and the limited time I'll have to train, I will likely need to change to the half marathon. There's a silver lining to that, as 3 of my 5 friends that are coming are planning to do that race, with the other two doing the 5K.
So, my goal is still to continue getting into better shape than I was yesterday, and a year ago. Will I be "fit" come November? Probably not in the way that I hoped or envisioned. But all I can do is keep plugging away, and doing the best that I can with the time, resources, and body I have. This journey does not end on November 21...I know that, of course. And, as always, it's gotta be about the journey, as opposed to any sort of finite endpoint. Still, I like goals. I am a planner and I firmly believe in making plans that force me to challenge myself, get me out of my comfort zone, and most of all be the most authentic and honest version of myself that I can be. That's still my goal. New plan, new path, same ultimate goal.
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| Portion of the incredible and beautiful North Country trail, where my left hamstring met its latest demise last weekend. I took this while walking, rather peacefully, and making my way to the half way point so that I could hitch a ride back to the starting line. |
