Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Advantages to NOT Running. Really!

Today I am turning my pity party around and trying to come up with the top ten advantages to not running:
  1. Not as many clothes to wash or water bottles to clean
  2. Quality time spent with the TV and the dog (damn he licks himself a lot)
  3. Don't have to charge iPod or Garmin
  4. Hands are not sticky from all of those GUs
  5. More time to ruminate about what happens if I can't go to San Antonio in November
  6. Head start on Christmas shopping
  7. My car doesn't smell like ass
  8. Don't have to consume all those pesky extra calories I get to eat when I run
  9. Pants are clean with no skid marks or worse yet, solids
  10. No chance of getting injured - and one more -
  11. Plenty of time study the Boston Marathon course and convince myself that Boston sucks in the springtime and who needs that marathon anyway.

This is what I know: x-ray was negative for a fracture, but doc said that is usually the case with stress fractures. MRI is Thursday. Still cannot bear weight on the foot, but it is no worse and might be slightly better.

The results are in from the half:

1:58; 19/174 in age group (40-44); 96/893 female finishers. Could have been worse.

B.O.B. is so right when she compares not being able to run to ending a relationship. We runners are a strange breed. You can't pay most people enough to make them work out twice a week, but tell a runner he/she can't run and it's depression, tears, pity parties and sheer desperation.

So do you all do this, or is it just me? When you get injured, do you blame yourself? "If I just hadn't run that much or that fast. If I had just stopped when it hurt. If I had just...." The hard part about this running thing is when you feel yourself getting stronger, better, faster, you want to keep that momentum going. You up your miles. You increase your intensity. You feel strong. You feel insurmountable. Then you crash. But at least your pants are clean.

19 comments:

  1. LOVE THE LIST! LOL!
    Glad to hear that the x-ray is clear and will keep my fingers crossed for the MRI. I think sometimes just hearing positive things like that make you heal that much faster.
    And no, you are not alone. I became a bit depressed this year when I was twice sidelined with two injuries. Granted they were only about a month or so each, but I beat myself up over it. Stay positive, lady! :)

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  2. of course you're going to blame yourself, who else? I know exactly how and when I injured myself last year, all I was trying to do was sprint. But I blamed my body and not my spirit.

    Really hope it's not a stress fracture, good luck with the MRI.

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  3. Wait what happened? I need to go back and read your race report!

    I went through MONTHS of this when I was pregnant with my second, after the DR cut me off from running. I was a miserable b*tch. We are a strange breed...

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  4. Oh no. It still hurts! The MRI will show the cause. I hope it's not a stress fracture.

    I actually have not been blaming myself for getting hurt, but maybe I should be. I am blaming it on bad luck!

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  5. Then you crash. But at least your pants are clean.

    I love your outlook. It sucks to be injured, no way around it. We chase those endorphins for a reason, & to suddenly have these free hours in the day is ... well ... bewildering.

    Good luck with the MRI.

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  6. Great list!

    Funny how we always blame ourselves, no matter what happens. It's either I did too much or I did not enough.

    Good luck with the MRI.

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  7. Hopefully nothing is wrong. I went through the same thing w/ x-rays, MRI's, etc and everything was fine.

    Yep, I'll be in San Antonio come November 15th, even if I have to do the damn thing on crutches. Maybe they will feel sorry for us and go ahead and qualify us for Boston.

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  8. Great time. Sorry about the injury. You're list made me laugh :)

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  9. My fingers are still crossed and good job on the race! Those are great stats woman! Especially considering the odds!

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  10. Funny post. Sorry about your foot. I had a stress fracture in my hip about 8 years ago. It took a year to completely heal! Good luck with the MRI!

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  11. When I was injured, my doctor said it was totally normal for runners to be depressed and lost. I've seen it so many times in my friends. Hang in there though, hopefully all will be just fine!

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  12. uggg well good luck with the MRI! my hubs has a stress fracture right now and i know its not fun :( i hope it comes back negative and you can start running again soon!!

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  13. yeah my x-rays for both my stress fx's came back fine, they don't show up on x-rays. bummer! and OMG, YES i wallow and cry and how the heck are you getting around? i've been on crutches for 3.5 weeks because it still hurts to put weight on my foot! and all good points about being injured, don't forget about the fact that it's also an excuse to not have to clean, cook or do laundry because you'd be up on your feet too long ;)

    here's to speedy healing. and also, i totally blamed myself and beat myself for my stress fx's, if i just wouldn't have done this or that... i think it's natural. although i'm handling it all far better this time around than i did last year... last year i was an effing mess for SIX WHOLE WEEKS... it was ugly.

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  14. There is something to be said for clean pants! Hope you find out more and get healed from this pesky injury soon.

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  15. hahaha loving the list....that is a good job you did with the half... hope you heal up fast beth

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  16. ugh being hurt is NO FUN! stress fractures= LAME! I hope it comes back negative! in the mean time i hope you dont go too crazy!

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  17. My favorite was #7.

    Whenever I get hurt, I review my logs and go, "Duh." It's usually pretty obvious in retrospect, but when you're in the middle of it, it's tough to see where you did something less brilliant than you should've.

    BTW - whenever I miss Boston (3 times and counting) I also tell myself it's expensive ($$$), which is what others have told me. :)

    M

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  18. Great post, and not just because I got a shout out. LOL! It's so true. I am hoping your foot heals quickly. I obviously know how it is to have your marthon dream deferred.

    I am glad you have clean pants and I too have felt the joy of not washing 700 pairs of running shorts.

    Be healthy! You'll be back in action soon. (Shoot we both will be!!!)

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