There's No Crying in Running

Whew... what a rough day. Today was the long run for week 10 of my 19 week marathon training. And it sucked. Hard.

I've been struggling the past few weeks with ongoing gut issues that have hindered my midweek runs and caused anxiety going into longer runs. I'm gonna keep it classy and stop this conversation in its tracks.

This morning I woke up with an upset stomach and feeling nervous about not having run enough through the week. The group was running out in Gull Lake (25 minutes away), so I needed to get up and get it together early. I did all the usual things, ate my banana and waffles, got all my gear together and left in plenty of time.

I arrived at Gull Lake to find that the gas station with the 1 solitary bathroom stall for 150 runners was closed, and the bathroom was out of order anyways. I choked back panic and headed for the woods. And met this fence:

There's a reason I never picked up steeplechase

The fence did not look like that when I started. I tried to hop it and the wet, rotted wooden fence gave way. I fell to the ground, scraping my arm and landing on my right ankle. I sat on the wet ground, fighting back furious tears, not sure if I could get up - and I still had to pee! Adding insult to injury of peeing in the woods - now my skort was wet from the ground.

I hobbled back to the group, about ready to pack it in and head back to bed. A team mate encouraged me to consult another coach who is an athletic trainer. He basically said given my pain level, I could try it out, see how it goes and hopefully get some miles in. Because once I stopped, sat down and went home, it's going to swell and will be worse tomorrow. So no easy out - and I started.

So I told Kathy (our pace group leader) that there's no crying in running - and then quickly amended the statement. Who am I kidding? There's definitely crying in running.

I won't give you a play by play, but will say that what could go wrong, did - including the stiffness in my ankle after stopping at water stops, cramping in my calves and hamstrings, and getting stung by something on my left foot. At the 13 mile point, we were back at the start - and I wanted to stop, but Kathy told me to put on my big girl panties (direct quote) and do the last few miles out and back. Fine. FINE. I did it. It was quite hilly and I walked more of those last few miles than I would have liked, but I did it. And now I'm icing and watching "The Spirit of the Marathon" on Netflix.

If you need me, I'll be on the couch.