To understand my motivation for starting this blog you one
would have to understand what it’s like to be sidelined with an injury. My running 50-75 miles a week cut short to
riding a stationary bike. Approximately 50
races on my bucket list completed and a Ragnar Tahoe Ultra Race postponed and
transferred to another venue. I am now
motivated to write as I spend a great deal of my time now sitting, healing.
How did this come to be?
A race. But first a bit of history,
I am not as young as I used to be none of us are) and took up ultra-running 5
years ago. I had never run before, hated
running with a passion in school and was known for commenting on how crazy
anyone was for wanting to do anything more than a 5k. I would never be one of those persons. Not me.
Then came “the bucket list”.
I have always been a backpacker, having explored Colorado,
Arizona and California since I was nine years old thanks to my parents. The John Muir Trail became a dream when I was
faced with a very sudden undiagnosed neurological problem and the great
possibility of being in a wheelchair in the near future. Anyway, in an effort to stabilize my walking
from a weeble to a wobble to someone who was able to handle paths with cliffs
on one edge, I took up running.
I went from my first race, walking a half marathon (more on
that later) to running a 50k in just over one year. I just completed that same
50k, in June, placing 2nd in my age group, the weekend before and for
fun only, ran the Walt Stack Double Dipsea.
It was here that I met my fate.
Stinson Beach and Muir Woods were a wonderful backdrop for a
race. The trail incredibly beautiful and
challenging. The Race was put on by outstanding people, couldn’t ask for
more. I felt great. Just over a half marathon, this was no
biggy. It was on the way back from Mill Valley
that I met with disaster. Mile 8.5. The
trail is one where you have to work your brain, concentrate on the obstacles
and know where to land. I did so all
throughout without problem. Until it got easy.
It was when the trail smoothed out and had no obstacles, no stairs that
I became complacent and dropped my focus.
I twisted my foot and immediately felt a pop. The pain came as I passed an aide station and
made the decision to power walk the pain away.
Unfortunately, it didn’t leave me.
The swelling was almost immediately after I passed my DNF option. I have never had a non-finish and wasn’t about
to experience that on this run. Getting into this was another bucket list item.
So I pressed on and slowly began running again.
The pain increased and I was faced with my brain wanting to focus on it
which was making things worse. That went
on for about a mile.
I knew something was not good with my foot, I thought it was
possibly a bad ankle sprain. It felt like it was my ankle, the same one I broke
in three places the first day of ski season several years ago while getting equipment
down from our attic. I kept focusing on
the pain and the obvious swelling that was occurring in my Salomon shoes.
As I pressed on, I came upon a couple of runners ahead of me
and came to the realization that if I focused on them, if I could pass them, I
would have something else to focus on. I could leave the pain behind me on the
trail. So, I did. I did this with each runner I subsequently
came upon. It became a game of sorts. “I
can beat this one”. I studied their
gate, their body position and their overall running attitude and picked them
off one by one.
I made it out the last 5 miles plus this way and completed
the Race feeling little pain.
I placed third in my age group and went home with a broken
fifth metatarsal.
And here I sit.
What I learned from this was; 1) get
yourself out by yourself when possible, 2) you can set the pain aside by
focusing outside yourself and 3) the race will go down as my favorite
because of what I learned.
I love running.
