January 2009: Training begins for Boston in April. Tough time to start marathon training in New England, but I'm tough as nails. April 5, 2009: Great Bay half in Newmarket. I'm going to run to the venue (2 miles), run the half (13.1 miles) and run home (2 miles) for a 17 mile run, final "long run" before Boston, then it's time to taper. I'm going to go easy, hold a slow and steady pace, this is just a training run. Great Bay is a very hilly course. About halfway through, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my ankle. I did what any (stubborn) runner does, I finished the race (with a little limp) and jogged home. Monday morning, wake up and can barely walk. Call my sports medicine Doc for an emergency appointment. Schedule an MRI, and start PT right away. I have a slight tear in my achilles - I'm not running Boston this year.
It's okay. My race in October qualified me for 18 months, so I'm good to go for 2010 as well.
Pull out my old road bike and start riding once my ankle feels a bit better. No running for me for about 8 weeks. But when I did come back, I came back stronger than ever. The first 5k I ran after my injury I set a PR for myself. And then I ran a 10k and PR'ed as well. I was back. September rolls around, PR in a 5k once again (my pace is now down to 6:50's for 5k) and run a second 5k 6 days later.
This time it's my heel. I couldn't walk after the race. What did I do now? Emergency visit to Sports Medicine doc the next day, he squeezed both sides of my heel, I jumped out of my chair and squealed. He told me I had a stress fracture and I left in an air cast and on crutches! He scheduled me for an MRI a couple days later. The results of the MRI came back and it wasn't a stress fx, he diagnosed plantar faciitis. (Achilles and PF issues closely related). Off my feet for a while again, spent more time on the bike.
December 21, 2009: Decided to get into triathlons, but I was going to run Boston in 2010 and be done with marathons for good. Begin training for Boston.
February 27, 2010: In the middle of an 18 mile run on a slushy snowy day, sudden stabbing pain in my right groin area. Long story short on this one: spine/hip issues, out of Boston once again.
So I registered for Baystate in October to once again qualify - and this was how I justified it to myself that it was okay.
Bring on the triathlon season. I had a great season, and my running was better than ever. I set a half marathon PR of 1:41 in June, and then my 70.3 half marathon time PR'ed me again at 1:40.
Baystate was 5 weeks after my 70.3. I had been in half ironman training all summer, not marathon training. A few weeks before my 70.3, my achilles started talking to me again, and this time my posterior tibial tendon joined in. So I didn't have a chance to run anything longer than 14 miles pre-race. After Pumpkinman, I had 5 weeks to train for Baystate. I was able to get in a 15 mile run (very painful, way too soon after 70.3), a 20 and an 18. And that was IT. And trust me, it was not enough.
Two weeks before Baystate, my achilles was in a lot of pain. I decided that I was going to lay off almost completely up until race day. I did three runs in those two weeks, a 5, a 6 and a 3. And that was IT. I went back and forth with whether or not I'd be able to run; on the days that I thought there was no way, I was very depressed. But the day before the race, I was ready to run.
Now... after that long intro.... race morning.
5:00 am: Alarm goes off. I'm up and ready. So ready. I'd been training for this marathon since January of 2009.
8:00 am: Marathon start. There were a ton of people - I started my garmin as soon as I went over the start line, and it was 1:30 after the race started. So it was jam packed. (I was so far back that I didn't realize what had happened - but the singing of the National Anthem was supposed to start, and most of the crowd was singing it - I later found out that when they said that the National Anthem would not be sung, everyone joined in and sang it anyway. Pretty cool) I started out slowly, and broke my way out of the crowd. I got out to the side and started passing people. And I was feeling GOOD.
Mile 1: 8:15. Okay, this is okay. I wanted to keep around an 8:05 pace, finish in 3:32. I'd be happy with that. I could even go a little higher than that - really as long as I finished under 3:40 so I could qualify I'd be fine. That is, if my achilles holds up.
Mile 2: 7:56. Okay, still okay. Ankle is feeling good. I'm feeling good. I'm gonna do this.
Mile 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10: 7:56, 8:02, 7:53, 8:03, 8:00, 8:00, 8:02, 8:05 Still feeling GREAT. Nutrition every 20 minutes, just like I'd trained.
Mile 11, 12: 7:58, 8:02
Now I'm coming around the bridge for the second loop. I see my Mom, tell her that I'm doing okay - my ankles has twinged a couple times, but so far so good. I'm gonna do this.
Mile 13: A little slower, 8:12. Mile 14: 8:10, 15: 8:12, 16: 8:08, 17: 8:15, 18: 8:08... still feeling good... 19: 8:15, 20: 8:18, 21: 8:18... starting to slow a little bit... 22: 8:22, 23: My legs start screaming "F YOU AMANDA - WE ARE DONE!!!" From my toes to my heel to my calf muscles, to my knees, to my quads to my hamstrings... it all HURT. And I don't mean just a little. It hurt BAD. (This is where those long runs would've come in handy). Mile 23: 9:14. Okay, I can still do this. I have plenty of time. I could even run 11:00 miles right now and still come in under 3:40. I'm okay. Just take it easy....
Mile 24: 9:23. Thoughts of "I can't do this" went through my head. Then I said to myself - this is ridiculous. Your achilles is fine. This is a little pain. it will be over soon. You CAN do this. And so I pushed on. Mile 25: 9:26. I was still working it out in my head as to how much time I had to play with. And the pain kept getting worse and worse. When I got to mile 25 and knew I only had 1.2 miles to go, I was able to kick it in a little. Mile 26 was 8:50, a little faster. Once I reached mile 26 and heard the crowds in the ball field and knew I was almost home, I forgot the pain. And I ran. I looked down at my watch at one point during that 285 yards and saw 6:20. I was cookin'. I heard a couple friends yell to me as I approached the finish. And I tore around the bases and crossed that finish line with everything I had left. And then I smiled for the camera. I had NOTHING left.
I finished with a 3:38, slower than my previous time on this course, but I had also not trained like I did in 2008. I had a different focus this year. And next year, I will have a different focus as well (Ironman). So I will not run Boston in 2011. BUT, it is in my head to run it in 2012. Who knows - anything can happen between now and then. But for now, what is important, is that I finally got to run another marathon. And it only took me two injury filled years to do it. But I'm happy, and now I can rest. (Sub-sub title: I used to have pretty feet)
