No More Drama!

Ok....with apologies to Miss Mary J. Blige.........but that's the way I feel right now!

This has truly been the winter of my discontent..........a year ago, I was focused and determined, with the Boston Marathon looming just a few weeks ahead.  Following a winter nearly devoid of snow, my training was rolling right along.  I was healthy....and excited to complete the journey ahead of me.  The joint focus of getting my mileage in AND raising the required amount of money for my charity....well, that's how this blog got started in the first place!  Needless to say, that ridiculously hot April morning was the adventure of a lifetime, and I still get choked up when I remember the feeling of making that final turn off of Hereford Street onto Boylston Street and seeing that famous finishing straight spread out before me.

Now it's a year later and it seems as if none of that ever happened.

First off,  this has been an epically (is that even a word?  I don't know...nor care!  LOL) crappy winter.....snow storm after snow storm......yuck!  Last winter....well, last winter WASN'T.....only one measurable snow storm, and that was very early on.  I'm a warm weather creature, so it allowed me to easily train for Boston without having to resort to the dreadmill.

A year ago, I was soooooooooo focused.  My training was going great, and I had the secondary focus of raising all the necessary funds for my charity.  Those concurrent efforts led directly to this blog, also giving me A LOT of source material to use for posting.  This winter, I'm injured, off my training program for my upcoming marathon, and finding it REALLY difficult to write.  Blech!

I went to my podiatrist last Monday......he's a runner himself, so he understands that "just don't run on it anymore" is NOT AN OPTION for how to deal with my heel pain.  After examining my foot, he determined it to be a touch of bursitis.  He taped up my foot with a couple of pads in different areas and told me I could get right back to running again, but I couldn't get the tape wet until I came back to see him in a week (which is now tomorrow afternoon).  That meant that I couldn't realistically shower all week.......how fun was it to take a bath, all while keeping that foot out of the tub?  It SUCKED!!!!   But I managed.  I still didn't really run all week....longest run was 6 miles this afternoon.......but I was able to run without pain, so perhaps it's getting better.  I am definitely looking forward to going to see him again to work up a treatment plan for the future, as I know he's going to help me address the underlying issues that caused the injury in the first place.

That said, I've got my next marathon coming up on May 26th.  Is it realistic for me to even consider the possibility of shooting for another PR when I've lost the last 3 weeks of training?  There's no doubt that I can finish another marathon......I know what it takes to get there, but I don't want to just finish.....so maybe this is a blessing in disguise?   Maybe I'll hit the starting line undertrained and fresh, relaxed, and with NO REAL EXPECTATIONS.

Ok.......now I feel better!  LOL

I'm going to go to bed hopeful tonight......hopeful that I'll be able to get back on track with my training, get my shit together over the next 2 months, and have another great marathon experience.

At the very least, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some more to blog about over the next few weeks.....starting tomorrow afternoon!

Rock on, readers......the Diesel will be back out there chasing his dreams......slowly......but steadily!

See you all out there down the road.......

A tough, but necessary decision = heartbreak

After some very difficult soul searching, I reached a very tough decision this afternoon.  The pain I've been feeling in my right heel for several weeks hasn't gone away....if anything, it's gotten worse.  I've tried resting it.....taking several days off when my marathon training schedule has me running.  I've been using ice......stretching.....doing everything I can think of..........hoping it would get better.

But it hasn't.....

I'm supposed to run the New Bedford Half Marathon this coming Sunday morning, but I'm not going to be toeing the line.  In the interest of trying to make it to the line in Burlington, VT for the Keybank Vermont City Marathon over Memorial Day weekend, I'm going to skip New Bedford and completely shut down my running.  As soon as possible, I'm going to go to a podiatrist and have the medical profession take a look at whatever is going on with my right heel. 

I'm not going to lie.......this decision is breaking my heart.  It's not so much the DNS that bothers me, although the only other time I had a DNS was when I was late leaving the house for a race last summer, and this is clearly a physically-related DNS.  What bothers me so much is that I had to admit that I'm injured and need some medical attention.  Not so much that it implies weakness, but just that it wasn't something I felt I could just "tough out" and work through without potentially causing more serious injury.

And as long as I'm being honest, I might as well admit that I haven't been blogging about my running because 2013 hasn't been a lot of fun yet.  My running has been suffering due to this injury, and it's left me a bit dispirited.   I find it very difficult to blog when I just don't have anything positive or inspirational to say.

My hope is that the podiatrist will be able to quickly determine the problem and have a solution that will get me back out on the road very soon.  Naturally, the flip side of that is what I'm most afraid of.....that he'll come back and tell me that it's a more serious problem that will drastically curtail my running.  After talking it over with my wife, she helped me to realize and admit that knowing is better than not knowing, even if it's bad news.  Either way, I'll be able to move forward and get this thing dealt with.

Life has a funny way of jumbling your plans......and I'm now facing a roadblock.  I'm hopeful that it's only temporary, and that I'll be back out there soon enough.   If it isn't, I'll still move forward.  I may be slowed down, but you can't stop The Diesel.......and I've got an appointment with marathon #4!!!