Happy New Year!
My one word for 2015 was ACCEPTANCE..
Little did I know I would be facing the challenge of accepting as much as I did.
Imagine yourself at a party where everyone around you was having the time of the life-breaking records, hitting their personal bests, hiking mountains that you want to be hiking, having the dance of their lives.. I felt like I spent most of 2015 sitting on the side waiting for my turn to dance.
Don’t get me wrong, I had some great experiences but the year definitely did not go as planned (as far as running is concerned) and I did my best to accept where I was at and what I was able to do.
I did finish 3rd women in the Granite State Snow shoe series, not bad for my first full year racing on snow shoes. I also finished first woman at the Joe English Challenge and second woman at the Wapack 21.5 miler. Then came Cayuga. My “A- Race” for the year. I had a great weekend and was joined by two amazing women in “Gorges” Ithaca NY. They both finished the race, I did not. My first DNF ever. Acceptance. My IT band had other plans for me this race. I pushed to mile 31 and called it. I spent a month and a half working with my PT and attempted to run the Bear Brook half marathon which the decision to *only* run the half involved “acceptance”. I love the marathon but I was unsure what my IT would do I opted for the half. It was a crazy fun morning volunteering at registration and then it was onto the trail. I made it about 5 miles before I had to start walking and I walked from 7 miles on. Very humbling. Acceptance. I finished, I did not finish strong but I finished. I had to sit out another favorite-Escarpment Trial race. I did get to volunteer and had a great day hanging out and cheering on the runners. I did a lot of volunteering and cheering this year. Acceptance. Somehow in the middle of all this I did establish Mountain Goat status for a second time and I am looking forward to running up the Mt. Washington auto road for a second time in 2016. I also crossed a couple more mountains off my 4,000 footer list.
After Cayuga my new “A-race” was supposed to be Dublin Marathon. I had wanted to PR and possibly qualify for Boston but with the lingering IT issue that was finally “fixed” after a couple rounds of dry needling (fun stuff) I only had about two months of training. I have an awesome coach but two months just wasn’t quite enough to prepare my body however we did give it our best effort. Dublin marathon was a mixed bag of emotions. The first half was awesome. The second half? The second half I died a slow painful death. Of course I pre-paid for a picture package and I looked a mess in most of them! The running highlight of that trip was the brief run that I was able to take along the Cliffs of Moher. Beautiful! My IT pain came back during Dublin but it was manageable afterward. I took a little time off to recover then once I started back up again-BAM! Posterior Tibial Tendinitis. REALLY? Ugh. Acceptance…accept that which I cannot control. Three weeks of nothing-no strength training, no bike, just stretch. That seemed to do the trick but this tibial thing will most likely be with me for the rest of my life. So its time for me to start trying to manage it. I ran 10 miles last weekend and stayed pain-free, phew! So posterior tib on my left foot and pre-dislocation syndrome of the second metatarsal of my right foot as well as the lingering IT pain on my right side. Acceptance. Moving on.
I do have plans for 2016 but I have already scaled them back a little. Since I don’t know what this posterior tib issue is going to amount to I am hesitant to register for *too* many big races. I have already signed up for a 50 miler in Michigan in August (I did this before I knew about the posterior tib). Yesterday just signed up for Bear Brook trail marathon before the price increase. I am no longer planning to run Hyannis marathon which means there will not be a BQ attempt for me again this year. I made the decision to focus on becoming a stronger runner rather than cram for a marathon in February. Cayuga is my “A race”. Everything else is for fun.
It is going to be hard for me to not run the complete the full winter race series (Winter Wild and Granite State Snowshoe) but I believe that if I focus on getting stronger and race a little less, I just might have a better chance at being injury free this year.
I believe in DO WORK/get results. I believe I will lose the weight that I gained while sitting on the side waiting for my turn to dance. The weight that is bringing me down mentally as well as physically. I need to change my eating habits and become fit again. I believe I can do it but it might take some baby steps to work back up to this DO WORK life style.
I believe that everything happens for a reason and I am stronger because of challenges I faced with my running in 2015. I believe that this is the year that I finally become a stronger runner (mentally and physically). I believe and have always believed I can do anything I set my mind to.
I believe that with a little positive attitude and hard work great things can happen to anybody. This belief is why I continue to share my stories, to hopefully inspire others to believe in themselves and want to do great things.
