I’ve gone back and forth about sharing an update on my leg for the past week. And the emotions have been all over the place in that amount of time. One day, I feel really confident that a marathon this fall is going to be a great experience. And the next day I’m wondering whether or not one will actually happen. Everyone has an opinion when it comes to injuries and it’s really easy to get sucked into particular comments. Luckily, I had a busy week of work including travel to NYC and it allowed me to be distracted just enough to put those thoughts out of my mind.

Even if I could only run 5 easy easy miles in NYC, the views were totally worth it.

 

But if you asked me right now “do you think you’ll run a marathon in either October or November?”, I would say that I am confident it will happen. I went to the chiropractor and the physical therapist this morning. For the first time in 2.5 weeks, I’m feeling like it might actually be possible.

My chiropractor does not want to see me for the next 3 weeks while I do a few weeks of physical therapy.  (she’s a great practitioner, so if you’re in need of one in Chicago, you know who to talk to!). My left hip has actually released significantly and today’s adjustment was the first one where I DIDN’T snap, crackle, or pop like bubble wrap. It’s the little things, ya know?

I went to physical therapy this morning and my therapist was able to release my quad with the Graston technique for the first time in 2 weeks. It hurt so good and I’m sure I’ll be a bit tender from it but that knot in my quad has been incredibly achy for the past 11+ days. I left his office feeling happy. Just to have even the tiniest bit of tension released felt like a huge treat. And he actually made me feel ‘normal’. Marathon training is never a cake walk but if you continue to push your body, you are going to have to deal with little nagging issues from time to time. And that’s okay. I can’t expect to run faster times and not experience some kind of breakdown. I’m just glad I’m level-headed enough to be smart about it. (If I had pushed through either the 11 mile steady state or the 12 x 400 workouts that were on my schedule last week, I might be writing a very different post right now.)

So, the PT thinks I have just a minor adductor strain in my left quad and that we can release it over the next 2 weeks. The rest I’ve already taken has allowed it to heal and it’s more comfortable on my easy runs this week than last. I have a massage scheduled next Tuesday, followed by physical therapy appointments on Wednesday and Friday next week. Light, easy running is the goal for now and I’m looking forward to running for more than 40 minutes at a time this weekend. I’m ALLOWED to run more than 5 miles, which means this weekend is going to be all sorts of sunshine and rainbows and happiness…which is just the way it should be.

If you haven’t seen this video yet, you must watch it now. I think it might be required inspiration before every race from now on:

– J