This was the mother-load of half marathons for me (in 2014 of course, since 2017 has another bucket list run waiting). I was going to run in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco! I'm sure you have all heard of this epic run, but just in case, there are about 30,000 women (and some men) who run this and Nike gives out a Tiffany necklace as the finisher medal. Say what? I wanted my Tiffany necklace like no other medal. And of course, I got the necklace! Now, you also probably know that 2015 was the last time Nike did the race in San Francisco. Can you believe it? I got in just in the nick of time! No word yet on 2017. Don't mind my exhausted face in the pic.
Train, train, train. That's what I did. Day in, day out. I was a fanatic. My poor husband was a trooper and supported the crazy schedule. He helped with getting the kids to school and with making dinner if I was out at night. I wonder how he put up with all the healthy food though?
Not going too murch into this subject, but isn't it good for kids to have a role model parent that has a healthy hobby that shows stamina, determination and fitness? I'm sticking to my thoughts on this. I'm sure a phycologist may disagree. That is also assuming my girls think of me as a role model.
I had to be ready for the hills of San Francisco, duh!
Here is what my schedule looked like, and I do NOT recommend this one since it really ended up taking a toll on my body:
Monday-Short run (3-4 miles with 2 hills)
Tuesday-rest
Wednesday-Short run (3-4 miles with 2 hills)
Thursday-Yoga
Friday-Run (6 mile run with 2 hills)
Saturday-rest
Sunday-Long run. This run started at 6 miles and continued, 1 mile more each week. I also incorporated a longer, steeper hill on this run.
I was so excited to train for this run, I started training way too early. So I was prepped and ready about a month before the race. This is a big mistake. Not only did I over-train, I was over-training on hills. I started getting horrible hip pain that was super sore when I pressed near the hip flexor area and couldn't figure out why.
Doing what I always do, I started to research hip pain and running. I wanted to be my own doctor and diagnose myself. NOTE: DO NOT RELY ON THE INTERNET TO GIVE YOU A DIAGNOSIS. Funny, I can say that now, but at the time, I was not going to stop running or see a doctor. I kinda had a sneaky suspicion that a doctor might tell me to back off the running. Seriously, nobody was going to get in the way of my goal.
Anyway, after hours of internet surfing on the subject, I came across a few articles regarding the Psoas muscle. This is where I am going to warn you that I am not a medical professional and always seek medical attention when needed.
Since I read so much about my Psoas, I came to realize that my issue was exactly this. Here is the best article from Runner's World describing the injury:
Runner's World Psoas
This opened up my eyes to that thing called rest, that I was bragging about in a previous post.
This totally didn't deter me either. I kept going. Long story short, I ran the hills of San Francisco, with a Psoas injury. You can see from my stats that I performed a lot worse than I should have. I could have run backwards, but was taking it easy. This also could be that my husband and both kids were in tow and we made a mini-vacation from it. We hit all the ultra fun tourist spots: Alcatraz, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, cable car rides, Union Square, and Golden Gate Park. But I did it:
And I didn't stop there. 5 days later, I received an email that the Temecula Half Marathon was back in town and happening that coming Sunday.
Sooo, of course...I had to conquer those hills. And you all know that since this was the first half that I signed up for back in 2011 and bonked big time, I had to show that half that I was ready and ready to beat the crap out of it. Take a look at this time--and to say that I came in overall at 117 out of 604 runners!! Woot woot!
Stats
Bib 1798 Division 30-39 Female Last Name Richards First Name Julie Age 35 Sex F Division Place 18 Gun 01:57:29 Chip 01:57:13 Pace 00:08:57 Overall 117 Sex Place 47 City Murrieta State CA Country Us Total Runners 604 Gender Total 403 Division Total 168
To my poor Psoas, I took a running break as the "doctor" suggested. I decided the best form of exercise for me at this time was to become a yogi and stretch out while strengthening my muscles. | Bib | 1798 |
| Division | 30-39 Female |
| Last Name | Richards |
| First Name | Julie |
| Age | 35 |
| Sex | F |
| Division Place | 18 |
| Gun | 01:57:29 |
| Chip | 01:57:13 |
| Pace | 00:08:57 |
| Overall | 117 |
| Sex Place | 47 |
| City | Murrieta |
| State | CA |
| Country | Us |
| Total Runners | 604 |
| Gender Total | 403 |
| Division Total | 168 |
No comments:
Post a Comment