From the lowest low to the highest highs

About a month ago, I ran my fourth half marathon in what can be described as the blizzard of impending doom. It looked something like this:

At least here, I can see runners, which is more than I can say for the whole race.

 This was my worst 13.1 time on the books.  It was my best 13.1 in terms of a pure mental test, and I somehow succeeded – 40MPH wind gusts and stabbing snow, be damned!  I feel silly looking back now, feeling proud that I made it through as best as I did as we are all still moaning about how awful it was (but we conquered!)

It was the week after that the half really started laughing in my face, or should I say, my left shin.  A nice localized sharp pain that exceeded the worry alarm, and back to the doctors I went.  Here we go again.  One Xray, a bone scan, an MRI and 4 weeks later, I sit today, stress fracture free and wondering, oh wondering, what the heck went wrong.

Dr. Orthopedic thinks I may have just not recovered enough if I raced the half really hard (or it could be compartment syndrome should the pain return; he thinks unlikely).  Well, no, I didn't race per se, but how can someone not feel physically beat up on those wintry conditions?  Would I have saved myself 4 weeks of waiting if I had just laid off the road a week or two?  Should I have kept running anyways and seen if it had gone away, possibly winding up more hurt like last summer?

I have the OK to run now, but only about a mile at a time and slowly working my way up.  I must control the urge to work the miles up.  No, really.  I must.

Knowing my 18.12 challenge is around the block, I printed off a marathon training plan for first-timers.  Why?  18 miles lies somewhere on the 26.2 training continuum so I figured I could plug this in there.  Boilermaker sits in perfectly on the schedule too, believe it or not!  And why first timers?  Because the plan starts out at 2-3 mile runs, which is where I am starting from again (not even actually, ha!).  The progression is slow, but steady – just what the doctor ordered. 

I know injury is not preventable, but are some advice that I am probably not going to follow this time around:

• If I feel I can’t take a true rest day, I MUST do something non-impact (Jillian Michaels, I'm diverting angry glances at you and your plyometrics).  Warm weather is coming and I have a generous gift card to a local bicycle shop, birthday gift from my husband.  Let’s see if my cycling experience becomes more positive this summer with some fancy, and proper, equipment, and if it aids in my running training.
• Get back to trail running once a week.  Soft trails, not technical ones.  I am craving a trail run as I write this, possible since I found tons where I work (Cornell University).  It is softer on the joints and works different muscles.  I used to do one trail a week, and gave it up after an IT band injury which I know was caused by bad sneakers, not the trails.  Keeping to even trails will help this too.
• Walking is OK!  I’ve been walking at least 2 miles a day, 4 on the weekends.  It’s so hard not to run, so much in fact I’ve forced myself to wear jeans while walking, not spandex, just to stop the temptation.  However, I get the same feelings from walking that I do running – I’m out exercising, so it puts me in a good mood.  It’s mentally cleansing when I am alone, and other times my husband has joined me walking around our woods and other trails, which is some bonus “us” time.
• Last injury, I gained about 5-8 pounds, which made it that much harder to get back to running (and into my jeans).  This time around, I made myself be more careful with my diet, including cutting out bits and pieces I did not need to eat.  I’d like to continue this trend when I get back to training, and add additional calories in a healthy way.  This, alas, is so damn hard because running really doesn’t make me crave salads that often, if you know what I’m saying. 

So, here I am again, trying to get through this race season - it's spring, and I'm already saying that!