My knee took me out a month from 9/12 through Hartford. I got on the line because I couldn't handle the uncertainty of what if. What if the adrenaline took over my pain threshold, what if running fast made it not hurt, so on. I got to mile 5.5 of the race before feeling my knee (+1 mile warmup). It was done, I was done. I was angry. I emailed one of the local sports docs that day to get in for an appointment and MRI. I had been doing PT, taking NSAIDs, gone gluten free to avoid any additional inflammation, I was doing it all. Below is one of many gluten free meals, the black pasta is quinoa and black bean pasta, 12 grams of protein per serving!!!
The next morning I went out for 9 miles and out of nowhere I had no pain. We progressed cautiously over the next couple weeks, but I was finally getting somewhere. I had my first long run again, 15 miles and felt my pain at mile 8. After stopping on the side of the road to do my PT exercises and stretching, I was able to finish without any further pain.
So now here I was able to run again toward the end of October. I had 5 weeks to build up for CIM and a week taper. I got my feet wet by running Stockadeathon 11/8. Although I finished place wise exactly where I wanted going into the race, my time was not stellar. I had run 55:20 and 55:30 for my 15k splits of my last 2 half marathons, so running 56:10 wasn't great, BUT it was a step in the right direction and it is a tougher corse. I managed 19 for the day, with no pain.
10 days before CIM was the Troy Turkey Trot. I had been ready to run sub 36 for awhile now, but given that it was only 10 days out from the marathon, coach Mike instructed me not to run faster than 5:50 pace, or 36:15. The clocks were off on the course, but my first 3 miles on my watch were all within 1 second of each other at 5:48, 5:48 and 5:47. Close to 5:50! I slowed down the next 3 miles, yet ran those consistently as well, finishing in 36:18 for 1st place, exactly where Mike wanted me.
Then it was time for CIM.
Racing
On Friday, December 4th, I drove to Newark, NJ to fly out to Sacramento. I got into Sacramento around 2:30 that afternoon and took an uber to my hotel. I went for a 3 mile shakeout run, then went to the elite suite to get my bib. I then met Jaime across the street at the expo, before going to get dinner.
December 6th, 2015
California international marathon.
Weather at the start was perfect. About 46 degrees and light rain. As soon as the gun went off I searched for the large group of ladies I had planned on running with. We went through the first mile around 6:09 and quickly settled into the 6:11/12 pace right after. The first water stop, I didn't place a bottle. Too much effort for mile 3. However at the next stop, I knew I need my bottle and after missing it, ran back for it before sprinting back to catch the girl I had been running with. Stressful!!! The next stop I grabbed what I thought was my bottle to find out it wasn't mine. The rain picked up around the 10k and it felt slick. I felt like with every stride I was loosing ground and had to work harder. Mile 10 was fast, 6:05, but we settled down again and went through the half in 1:21:11. I felt good, but it wasn't as easy as I had hoped. The hills were almost over and I was just looking forward to mile 16 where things would flatten out. However it was around mile 14 when I felt a pain in my knee. It wasn't terrible, but all I could think of was the knee pain I had back in September that progressively worsened with each mile until I couldn't take another step. This wasn't good mentally. Okay, slow down so in order to make it to mile 20 where I'll then drop out, I thought to myself. And I did. Mile 18 was my slowest mile of the race. I reached mile 20 only to reevaluate and realize my knee pain hadn't progressed like I had anticipated. Damn it! I then threw in a little surge for the next 3 miles running 6:22-24's again vs the 6:43 I had just run. The last 3 miles weren't terrible, but I did gain 22 seconds I didn't want. I finished 2:46:38. Not what I wanted, but not terrible considering where I was mentally with a good 11-12 miles left to go. Had I not worried my knee was going to start really hurting would I have remained calm and held my pace? That's what sucks about an injury, you get so nervous about going through it again the minute you feel something you panic, and I did.
I walked a lot (~3 miles) after the race, which was good. I had a flight that night and it always helps with recovery. My stomach wasn't hurting, but I couldn't think of food, but knew I needed something. Finally I thought of ice cream which actually sounded appetizing!
I flew back that night, landed in Newark at 5:30 am Monday morning. I drove back to my parents to get Mia and take a power nap before driving home and resting up for a late night out. Dinner at 677 followed by the bar, I was exhausted and drowned my sorrows for sure.
Survival.
When I was coming back from my knee injury I decided to enter the subelite field at Houston. After CIM I was on the fence, leaning towards no, about taking another shot at the OTQ. Then 5 days after CIM USATF announced they changed the standard to 2:45, yes, 2 months out from the trials, with only a little over a month left to qualify. How could they do this now?!!! What a difference pacing would have made had we known we had an extra 2 minutes. Mentally, how much more confident would I had been, a lot! It's beyond frustrating. And although I'm now only 45 seconds from the standard, I can't help but feel even worse for the women that ran 5-6-7 seconds over the "new" standard completely unknowing in 5 days it would ruin them. So, here I am now with a ticket booked for Houston. I ran 10 miles at 6:55 pace easily today. Tomorrow and the next few runs I'll shoot for 8:30 pace to ensure I recover. I have 5 weeks to be ready. I've done this before, a few times. In 2011 I ran 2 marathons 4 weeks apart and ran 4+ minutes faster the second one, then later that fall I ran 3:12 and 6 weeks later ran 3:08. In 2013 I dropped out of MHM at mile 20, 8 weeks later I ran a 9 minute 40 second marathon PR.
I'm now in survival mode.
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