Just like old times....

During my high school years I was ALWAYS injurred. Whether is was sprained ankles, stiches, burisitis.... most of my memories of the cross country season are from the side lines. I distinctly remember my coaches words at our senior year awards, "Stacy has suffered from various injuries and ailments, but she has still been a valuable part of this team." It was my trademark in a very sad way.

The first few years of college I switched to "working out" more so than traditional running. Maybe my body just needed a break, because when I began to train for things again, I seemed to be "injury free". It is true that running is probably the worst physical activity for your body and I am remembering that again now.


As it looks now, I am going to be opting out of this race on Sunday. I have been having trouble with my foot (and my back, but that is more just achy than injury). I am pretty sure I have a stress fracture in my foot. At one point I thought it was a broken toe, but I think it is problem with my foot in general. For the past month, I haven't been able to make it past 6 miles without developing intense pain in my foot. It then lingers for the next few days. So I am thinking 1) I am not very well trained for this race and 2) Doesn't seem like a good idea to possibly aggravate this injury to the point where I couldn't run/walk for weeks as opposed to days.

I am kind of bummed about this, because it looked like a really fun race! There is also a part of me that feels relieved too. A lot of about this particular race, and the training for it, felt more like a hassle and something I "had" to do. That is not why I run, I run because I love to run and it is a source of stress relief as well. Also, I have to admit part of the thrill of the 1/2 marathon and the marathon I ran before was that I was facing a new challenge and seeing how far I could push myself. Perhaps I have crossed these extremely long runs off my mental check list? Probably not forever, but right now I am not sure I have he mental capacity needed for such intensity :)

Anyway, I may show up and see how much I can run. However, for me I also know that there would be a strong chance that I would not stop and push myself further than I should. I have a tendency to get a little obsessive when I start something- I don't like leaving things unfinished!

I have enjoyed all the motivational song suggestions! Please feel free to keep passing them on, they have made my more recent runs much more rejuvenating.