BTS, and other things I've learned
It's been a trying couple of months since I last sat and wrote stuff down. But it's also been a couple months of incredible growth.
Lets start where I left off. Day One of training for a half-marathon, also known as Day One of Back Pain. Steroids brought relief for a couple of weeks, but when it returned it was muscle relaxers and Physical Therapy time. And man, physical therapy has been the most amazing torture I have ever done. Twice a week I go in and get my butt kicked with what looks like should be simple workout moves (trust me they aren't) and then I usually get to just lay there for 15 minutes on some heavy duty heat while the e-stim is zapping my back. All the while I get to talk running and racing with my PTA Don. Thankfully the PT Nathan and Don are both runners, so when I first mentioned my race in December, they have been fully on board helping me get strong enough to achieve that goal. And while the first couple of weeks I felt like I was getting behind with training and I have completely dropped an original goal (running 5 minutes, walking 5 minutes the whole half), I know feel like I am back on track and actually in a physically stronger place than if I hadn't been going to physical therapy.
Does all that mean that all of my training walks have been cakewalk? Heck no, have there been ones that I wanted to cry in the middle of? yes. Have there been times where I mentally worked through a list of friends in my head who I thought might be home and willing to come pick me up so I could quit? Yes. Have both of those things happened on a super short slow walk? Yes, becomes sometimes they just suck. But you know what. I kept walking, Crying doesn't affect my legs and none of my friends have been called midrun. Sometimes I just have to dig deeper than others and get it done. No excuses, no magic pill, so as seen on tv gadget to sudden improve my performance, just BIG TOUGH SANDY doing work.
The last several months of pain, have also brought me some amazing friends that I met through the Bitter Runners. I would not be where I am now without those guys, both in the large sense of the gorup, but also the individuals who push me, who invite me out for their crazy long weekend trail runs (I promise, someday I will), who encourage me and who check in on me. Thank you guys, you have no idea how much you have impacted me.
And you wanna know something crazy, I'm already looking past the half. Shamrock 2017 is gonna be a must. Plan is to do the 8K again and totally crush 2016's time. My friend Randi posted an open invite to a relay race in June, and to be honest....I am seriously considering it.
Lets start where I left off. Day One of training for a half-marathon, also known as Day One of Back Pain. Steroids brought relief for a couple of weeks, but when it returned it was muscle relaxers and Physical Therapy time. And man, physical therapy has been the most amazing torture I have ever done. Twice a week I go in and get my butt kicked with what looks like should be simple workout moves (trust me they aren't) and then I usually get to just lay there for 15 minutes on some heavy duty heat while the e-stim is zapping my back. All the while I get to talk running and racing with my PTA Don. Thankfully the PT Nathan and Don are both runners, so when I first mentioned my race in December, they have been fully on board helping me get strong enough to achieve that goal. And while the first couple of weeks I felt like I was getting behind with training and I have completely dropped an original goal (running 5 minutes, walking 5 minutes the whole half), I know feel like I am back on track and actually in a physically stronger place than if I hadn't been going to physical therapy.
Does all that mean that all of my training walks have been cakewalk? Heck no, have there been ones that I wanted to cry in the middle of? yes. Have there been times where I mentally worked through a list of friends in my head who I thought might be home and willing to come pick me up so I could quit? Yes. Have both of those things happened on a super short slow walk? Yes, becomes sometimes they just suck. But you know what. I kept walking, Crying doesn't affect my legs and none of my friends have been called midrun. Sometimes I just have to dig deeper than others and get it done. No excuses, no magic pill, so as seen on tv gadget to sudden improve my performance, just BIG TOUGH SANDY doing work.
The last several months of pain, have also brought me some amazing friends that I met through the Bitter Runners. I would not be where I am now without those guys, both in the large sense of the gorup, but also the individuals who push me, who invite me out for their crazy long weekend trail runs (I promise, someday I will), who encourage me and who check in on me. Thank you guys, you have no idea how much you have impacted me.
And you wanna know something crazy, I'm already looking past the half. Shamrock 2017 is gonna be a must. Plan is to do the 8K again and totally crush 2016's time. My friend Randi posted an open invite to a relay race in June, and to be honest....I am seriously considering it.
Go for it! Dare to be great!
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