Marathon Week (WW # 23)

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap! 


This linkup is hosted by yours truly and my good friend Tricia @ MissSippiPiddlin.  The purpose is to connect with and support other active women.  We want to hear about your adventures. You can summarize your whole week or just a small portion of it.  It's up to you!  Race recaps are also encouraged!   {See complete rules}

 

Speaking of Tricia, look at the delightful gift she surprised me with.  We can now have our weekday morning virtual coffee dates while sipping out of our Weekly Wrap mugs.   Thank you, Tricia!

By the time this posts, I will have completed my first marathon -- hopefully upright and with my foot not scattered in pieces along Main Street, USA.   For those of you who've followed me for a while, you know I was supposed to run the Chicago Marathon in early October but developed a stress fracture in my foot just 2 weeks prior.  You graciously listened to me whine for a few weeks (make that months!) poured out an amazing amount of support, and followed as I went through some tedious alternative training to stay marathon ready.  {Pool running anyone?}

Monday I opted for my second alcohol injection to hopefully kill the nerves in my foot neuroma (the aftermath of the original injury).  Let me say...OUCH for those of you that have never had one.  My doc couldn't believe I didn't make a sound.  I prefer to suffer in silence, ma'am. 

My new Garmin 225 arrived Tuesday and I spent a few days trying to memorize the functions.  It is different from my old Garmin 110 which died after recording 666 activities.  When it kicked the bucket, the light was actually flashing and smoke filled the inside.  It was truly possessed, I think.



R.I.P. Garmin 110  --  You did an excellent job for 4 years!

I had already heard this, but now I know it's true -- Fitbit's service is second to none.  I reported my broken Fitbit on Tuesday.  They shipped me another with no questions asked, no receipt provided and no returning of the broken device.  You can't ask for anything more...except for it not to break this time.

This was an anxious week.  My left hip was cranky so I decided not to do much of anything but rest.  I did pedal on the bike trainer Thursday night for 30 minutes just to work up a sweat.  And, then I ran 2.5 miles Friday morning just to make sure I knew how to use my new Garmin.  Of course there was some walking Saturday at Disney.  From a stamina perspective, I felt ready after cycling and pool running for countless hours for weeks -- nay months -- on end.  But I also knew nothing replaces that time on your feet:  the conditioning of  those IT bands and those frustrating old lady hips.

I lined up exactly 15 weeks from the date of my injury with the goal to simply finish.  It was not the way I planned to run my first marathon.  Heck, it was supposed to be my second one.  I had no strategy, just to run slowly and take walk breaks if needed.  I wouldn't dwell on the circumstances leading up to this race.  I was confident there was nothing else I could have done to be any more ready.  I kicked alternate training's ass!  {Sorry kids.}   And hello...it's Disney for goodness sake.  How could I not have fun? 

I decided I would ENJOY,  I would FINISH, and I would CRY LIKE A BABY. 

UPDATE:  I finished!  I cried like a baby!  My official time was 5:07:12.  And I loved every single joyful, painful, blissful, excruciating, soul-searching, entertaining second.  More to come... 


And that's a wrap!

Does anyone else get emotional during a race?

An InLinkz Link-up