My Injury Bingo Card

Coming home after a fun vacation away is tough, wouldn't you agree? I also had this past week off work, but with the broken leg, there wasn't a whole lot that I could do. I did my best to get some activity in almost every day. Mentally, that helped a lot. On Thursday, I saw the orthopedic surgeon for my follow up.

He was fine with everything that I'm doing and agreed with the strategy to let pain be my limiting factor. He was also pleased with my progress and re-xrayed my foot and ankle. There wasn't much change in the images because it is early in the healing process. 

However, the orthopedic surgeon thinks I may need surgery on my foot.

Surgery was not on my injury bingo card this year. Of course, neither was a broken leg. Actually, I don't remember signing up for injury bingo at all. I must have clicked on one of those phishing emails or something...

The fracture in my foot is displaced and he says it's unlikely that it will heal on its own. If I wasn't so active, he said he would allow more time for it to heal before deciding on surgery. He said healing could take up to 6 months and that doesn't come with a guarantee. Even if I have surgery, it will be a minimum of 3 months before I can think about running again. In the meantime, I can continue to do non-weightbearing exercises.

As you can imagine, I was pretty devastated by this news. After seeing the ortho, I needed some time to process this information. I spent much of the day on the couch, foot on a pillow, and Cocoa by my side. As the day went on, I was feeling better and ready to move forward. I do have my moments of melancholy, though. I sure miss running!

Non-Runfessions

Can I runfess if I'm not running? I mean, I was running for the first week of July...then I had to go and climb the damn rope at CrossFit. Damn. Rope. Anyhoo, I'm sidelined, but I have plenty of things to 'fess about. Probably more than usual. Thank goodness Marcia opens the runfessional the last Friday of every month. I hope she won't mind these non-runfessions. I hope you don't either.

The Wackiest Olympic Marathon in History

Last weekend, my son was sitting at the kitchen counter, laughing. When I asked him what was so funny, he told me that he was reading about the 1904 Olympic Marathon. Soon, I was laughing along with him. Since most of us are caught up in the summer Olympics, I thought it might be fun to share highlights from the 1904 Olympic Marathon, unquestionably THE strangest Olympic Marathon in history. 

This makes a story I heard about a woman slipping on the banana peel at the 2011 Chicago Marathon, dislocating her hip, popping it back in, and crossing the finish line sound kind of tame, right?  Makes my worst race ever sound like a walk in the park! 

This may be the craziest marathon ever!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation While Healing from a Broken Ankle

Greetings from beautiful Door County Wisconsin!! Before I broke my ankle and foot, my son and I had all kinds of adventures planned for our week away. While our plans were modified a bit, I was able to do a lot more than I expected, even in the boot. I won't deny a little bit of sadness about not being able to run on the trails up there. However, not lacing up my running shoes actually gave us time to do things we might not otherwise do. 

This trip was so good for me, mentally. I promise that I didn't do anything stupid, although there were a few times that I came close...

No filter on this photo!

What An Runner Does When They Can't Run and I Tried it! Rx Plant Bars

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Trigger alert: I have included 2 photos of my foot in this post. If you find this disturbing, you may want to scroll on by or skip the post altogether. I'd be happy to forward a copy of the post without the photos, too. 

Alternative Titles:

Musings of an Injured Runner

They See Me Rollin'

I'd Kick Myself If I Was Able To

Sitting on the Sidelines is No Fun

Act Your Age Not Your Shoe Size

12 Things I Learned From My Worst Race

This is an updated version of a post published previously. With so many marathons taking place this fall and everyone training for them, I thought republishing this post would be helpful!

I can say without hesitation that my worst race ever was my first Chicago Marathon. I ran that race in 2011. That first marathon was SO BAD that I was ashamed to even tell anyone that I ran it. I was so disappointed in myself that I didn't feel like a real marathoner after I finished, even though I have the medal to prove that I crossed the finish line.

It took me 3 years to get up the courage to line up again and run the race I knew I had in me. I've run 3 marathons and many more half marathons since, but I still draw on my experience from that particular race to drive me through my training and races. In addition, the mental toughness I've developed since then has helped me push through my battle with RA, which is like an ultramarathon that won't quit. 

Since a lot of runners are gearing up to start training for fall marathons, I wanted to share some of the wisdom and experience I gained from that ill-fated marathon and my races since then. 

Dementia set in early on!

I'm Broken

The week started off really well with a long run on a beautiful day in the forest preserve. I was eagerly anticipating my upcoming Saturday trail race in Devil's Lake State Park. It's a race I've wanted to run for several years. In this strange year that is 2021, registration just opened up about a month ago. I decided on the 10k distance as a way to check out the race and the trails, which are notoriously hilly. If it went well, I planned on doing the half marathon next year. Heck, I even had a blank recap post waiting in my draft folder. 

You know what they say about making plans, right? 

Once again, all my plans are on hold. Is the universe sending me a message? Or does someone have a Wendy voodoo doll? If so, please remove all the pins because...