Dear 2010,
To say you kept me on my toes this year, would be an understatement.
You started off awesome; January was going fabulously! I was seriously at the top of my game with training. Hitting the gym on target, getting in all of my miles and feeling good and strong about my race schedule. I had big and busy plans for this year- I had seven half-marathons planned, four tri’s and a handful of smaller road races and relay tri’s. Yeah, I was excited to say the least. Even having to move back home with my parents for a few months didn’t have me down. I had good feeling about 2010. Until February came and killed them.
With February came big-time highs and low-lows. Good thing for medication or I may have become bi-polar. In the beginning of the month I was still flying high off January, but then a tweak in my hip left me run’less; I had to heal up in time for my Florida getaway to race the Donna 13.1 with Morgan! Unfortunately, the same day I was leaving for Florida, my grandfather passed away after a long battle post-stroke the year before. My family convinced me to head to Florida anyway and that everything would take place upon my return. So off to Florida I went for four jam-packed days of fun and running 🙂 I also got to meet one of the BEST bloggers out there, Robin. Together, Morgan and I ran the 13.1 and we had a blast in our homemade tu-tu’s! Check out the race report here. Everytime I re-read it, I smile! My welcome back to NJ greeted me with a snow storm, my mom breaking her foot and my grandfathers viewing. Oh, and a very unhappy hip.
About three days into March I learned a very valuable lesson; if your hip hurts, don’t run. If you run when your hip hurts, you could end up with a torn hip flexor. Torn hip flexors are no fun at all! March landed me in the orthopedics office, on crutches and then at PT for six weeks. Oh, and it would NOT STOP snowing!!! I had to bag my half-marathon in Virginia Beach but that did not keep me from going. I was off the crutches and back to light working out and off to cheer my friends on at the Shamrock Half-Marathon. On race day I still dressed in my running gear and even ran into the finish with my friends. It hurt to pass on the race but I knew it was the right thing to do. Little did I know then how slow my recovery would be and that this would not be the only race I would have to miss out on.
April would prove to be another tough month! I was healed enough to work out but not enough to actually run. In addition to that, stress at work was at an all time high; Governor Chris Christie piece of shit asshole was elected and cut our budgets and I was at risk for losing my job. I was only weeks away from graduating PT but had to bag yet another race, the Rutgers Unite race. That was supposed to be my A-race and I had to watch as all my friends ran and I couldn’t. Depression from not running was kicking in big time and I was seriously hating on 2010.
Finally, May came along and started looking up for OneLittleTriGirl! The weather was better, I graduated from PT and I was RUNNING AGAIN!!! It was a slow start and I ended up having to re-neg another race- no Broad Street Run for me 😦 It was disheartening and I tried to rationalize to myself that I could run it…but there was really no way. So I sold my bib and showed up to yet again cheer at another race I was supposed to be running. But I focused on the good things that were happening in May and looked forward to my 5k that was fast approaching. I was officially back on the race scene on May 16…exactly 2 years from my very first 5k ever. I ran a very slow 35 minutes but was happier than a pig in shit (pigs in shit are happy right??) crossing that finish line. I had zero pain and felt like I was finally on my way!!! I ended the month with a relay tri at Black Bear…a dismal swim for me, but being out there just felt amazing!
June was another up and down month. Just as 2010 and I were starting to get along and my hip was getting back to normal, my calves and shin decided they would hate on me and started KILLING with every run. I started seeing my chiropractor for ART and Graston to loosen up all the scar tissue. It hurt like hell but made such a huge difference. I tested it all out at the Scott Coffee 8k, one of my favorite races, and did great! I was still favoring my hip so I did not push it but I did better than I had anticipated and finished at 55 minutes. This race was all about eating some humble pie and remembering that I had come a long way and that a slow time really meant nothing…I was just lucky and grateful to be running again! My training was going well, I was in good spirits and I got to attend two amazing weddings wherein I danced my ass off. Sorry, no video of such things…
July proved to me that 2010 was not one giant bird shitting on me because July was the most awesome month ever! First and foremost, I came clean to all you bloggies with my Full Disclosure post, to which you all responded with the most amazing comments ever! Having that out in the open made me feel so much better and after killing it with a PR at the Philly Women’s Duathlon, I was so ready to attack at NJ State. And that is exactly what I did with another PR in the books! Between the great racing and my birthday weekend, I had a fabulous July and was on the upswing big time going into August.
And August was no let down; the PR’s kept coming…first at the Belmar Sprint and then again with my swim in the Steelman relay. The Wildwood Tri was a challenge, but in a good way and I ended the fabulous month with a trip downtheshore to my favorite place on Earth, Wildwood Crest. Oh, and I was finally moved out of my parents house and back on my own. Well, kind of my own. Having a roommate has proven its own set of difficulties. It has been nicer to be closer to work and out of my bedroom at my parents, but in retrospect, I wish I had done this alone.
Heading into September, I could feel myself wearing down. I had raced almost every weekend of the summer and while I was doing great, I was burning out. After running the Tim Kerr 7-miler in Avalon and really struggling with my calves/shins, I decided it was in my best interest to re-think my fall racing schedule. The last thing I wanted to do was re-injure myself and I just wasn’t trained enough to run a half-marathon. So there went the Philly R&R…the fourth bagged raced of 2010.
In October, we lost a great friend in the blog world, Rick. I found out the same day as my Warrior Dash which made starting, and finishing, that race so much more meaningful. Warrior Dash was something Rick loved and had planned on running again; it was poignant for me to run that while I knew he could not again. I had decided over the summer to defer my Baltimore half-marathon to 2011, so another race off the schedule! This turned out to be the best decision ever because I went and got myself a second job that would prove to keep me even busier than I could have imagined! While it wasn’t a great month for racing it was a fabulous month for training. With the Philly 1/2 marathon fast approaching, I was staying as on top of my training as possible. I was exhausted but nothing was going to keep me from running the Philly Half…even if I was planning to run “just for fun” given my lack of mileage.
In the blink of an eye it was November. Other than being completely exhausted with work, November was one of the best months of 2010 for me. I first traveled off to Colorado and then North Carolina. And within no time the Philly half-marathon was here 🙂 I had planned to run it for fun and just enjoy the race, but in the end, I killed that race! My first half-marathon PR in a year and a half!
And then it was December. I was in major burnout mode coming off of the Philly half and basically my training fell apart. I have been working way more than I should be in an effort to pay off some of my debt and really just could never find the energy to work out. December has been a hard month for me, personally. I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my plans for 2011 and my thoughts about life in general. I feel pretty stagnant and need to make some kind of change…just haven’t figured out what that is yet. I am finding myself confused and not quite myself. Honestly, it was all I could do to write this post and have it finished before tonight. And no, I still haven’t caught up on my reader. I have been on vacation from my day job but working almost every night. When I am home, I have so much to do, I am simply overwhelmed. I have been through this before so I know it passes…I just want it to pass already! So good-bye 2010 and your up-down-up-down ways. I am really looking forward to 2011!
Love,
Onelittletrigirl
I wish you all a happy, safe and most of all healthy New Year in 2011 ♥
I had intended to link all my races within this post, but time just ran out. If you are a new reader, or you just want to re-visit some of the older posts, you can find all the races and reports in the category to the right. You know you all want to go see Morgan and I in our tu-tus again!!!!
Finishing is Winning 