My Active Adventures

Well, it’s now been 44 days since my last run, the Wickedly Fast Half Marathon that I dropped out of with a stress fracture.   I still don’t get to run just yet, but more details on that in a bit.   For now, I want to sum up what’s been going on since my last post.   I obviously haven’t posted much since my injury, and that is simply because there has been little to say.   I’ve been very disappointed in myself.   I used my injury as an excuse to slack off.   Why not?   I couldn’t do any cardio, I could only do upper body weight training, I wasn’t moving.   I’ve learned something over my year and a half + of working out and eating healthy; if you get used to sitting still it is hard to get moving, if you get used to moving it is even harder to sit still.   With my stress fracture I couldn’t do any cardio, so I was running low on motivation and on energy.   The less I moved the worse I felt; the worse I felt, the worse I ate.   So, to...

March 6, 2011; 7:01 AM Pacific Time; Calistoga, California. There I was, cold, wet, waiting for the start of my first, and so far only, marathon. I knew as the race started that by the end a lot of things would change for me. 4 hours 36 minutes and 19 seconds later I ran across the finish line at Vintage High School in Napa. I knew my life had changed. I knew things would never be the same for me again. I had a new level of confidence. I had set my mind to running a marathon and I’d done it. I’d only been running for less than a year and a half, yet I had accomplished something so many runners work toward for decades. I knew I would look at big goals differently. It has now been 73 days since March 6 th and the full extent of that change has come more into focus the further I get from the marathon. When I was standing I the start line in Calistoga I thought I could accomplish anything I put my heart into. Now, a month and a half later, I no longer believe that. I KNOW I can accomplish...

I haven’t written any this week because there really hasn’t been much to say. The week was pretty uneventful, but that definitely changed yesterday!! First of all, here’s an update on my foot. I’m still a week away from being allowed to bike and 2 weeks from my next ortho appointment, so at least another 2 weeks with no running. I’ve had no pain, no discomfort, and no stiffness in my foot at all this week. I’m hoping that’s a good sign and the doctor will let me get back to working out after my next appointment. That leads right into my next update. I know I need to not overdue things when I come back; I need to basically start from scratch. So I’m taking the opportunity to start from scratch as a barefoot runner. I will use my Vibrams on a limited basis, but I plan to primarily go barefoot. I’m excited about trying something new. So I came up with a tentative plan. I say tentative because it really only applies if the doc lets me start running after my next appointment. Like I said, I...

My first appointment with my orthopedic specialist yesterday was a bittersweet moment for me. I’ve been throwing myself quite a pity party since the Wickedly Fast Half Marathon failure and the subsequent doctor’s visits, x-rays, MRI’s and complete and total lack of running. I’m still by no means happy about the fast that I’ve not run in almost 3 weeks and I have a minimum of 3 weeks left until I can run. That just sucks, period. There’s no attitude change that will make that suck any less. However, I can change how I’m dealing with it. My blog posts have been very few since this happened. Honestly, I’ve been avoiding it as much as I can because I didn’t want to even think about running while I can’t actually get out and do it myself. I’ve been eating terribly, hardly working out at all and just basically being a giant pain in everyone’s butt. I’m changing all of that now. I need to start looking at this as an opportunity and a lesson learned. No more pity party for me. I know that I ...

I had my first appointment with my orthopedic foot specialist, Dr. Patel, today. I went to him because my mother-in-law worked with him. She was a nurse at the orthopedic center he practices at, she recommended him and has confidence in him, so I do as well. She retired from there at the beginning of this year, so she joined me for my appointment. She enjoyed seeing all of her old coworkers, and I was happy to have someone there that actually understands this stuff. I’m guessing he’s right about my age, is confident, outgoing and friendly. I feel good that the treatment he will provide will be very helpful for my long term health. He looked at the x-ray and MRI with me showing me what it meant. Very interesting, I definitely learned a lot. He asked me to give him the whole story on what led up to the injury. I explained basically everything that has happened with my running starting with my first marathon in March up to switching to the Vibrams and eventually the injury and dropping ...