RAAAAAACE WEEK!

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for their kind words regarding my injury. I read each and every one of your comments even though I haven’t gotten the chance to respond. Everyone who reached out whether it be on here, or finding me on Facebook- your support meant the world. It is what makes this running community SO amazing.

I’ve taken the past week off of running, not entirely sure if I’d be able to run Chicago this weekend. I swear it is a cursed race this year as I’ve heard about SO many injured Chicago runners. On Saturday, I finally couldn’t take sitting around anymore so I hit the gym, biked 12 miles and lifted which was more difficult than I anticipated. Rut roh.

I finally figured stuff out with my insurance company which is a nightmare (crap insurance through work) and got an appointment with a Podatrist that my dad recommended. I went in yesterday, on one hell of an emotional roller coaster. I thought I had prepared myself to potentially hear that I wouldn’t be able to run, but at the same time I was PISSED. Five months of hard work and sacrifice to not be able to do it only a few weeks before?! I was starting to see what everyone had told me about when I first started on this marathoning mission- that the mental game and roller coaster is harder than the physical aspect of training. I COMPLETELY underestimated how many ups and downs there would be throughout this entire thing!

I had myself convinced that I fractured my foot so bad it would have to be amputated (dramatic, I know, but I was a wreck). They took me back and did both X-rays and an ultrasound to check for a multitude of injuries. I finally met the doctor himself and went through everything- how this started a few weeks back with my Achilles and now it is my foot. He sat back, looked at me and said: “When is your race?” I told him and he looked at me for a second and he goes, “I know better than to piss off you runners. I come from a family of them and I know how psychotic you get when you can’t run. Let me check your tests and we will see what we can do to successfully get you through Sunday.”

X-rays and ultrasound came back normal. The doctor said I mostly likely strained my Achilles and as a result, overcompensated heavily with my foot which led to a whopping case of tendinitis. He told me I could probably run Sunday and that it wouldn’t be pretty and I’d be struggling after, but he wanted to do everything possible to make it happen. He gave me a Cortisone shot and taped my foot to hell and back. He told me to stop by on my way to the airport Thursday for a re-taping for Sunday’s race. Post Chicago, I will have to get fitted for a boot, but at that point I won’t care.

Even though I got the green light, I am trying to mentally prepare to run but not get excited at the same time. I plan on taking it day by day and know that it will most likely be a game day decision Sunday morning. Worst case, I jump back into the training saddle and do Philly next month instead.

I will try to post again later this week, but good luck to everyone running this weekend! Can’t wait to read about all of your hard work paying off!