I am a runner.
A Marathon runner to be specific.
I ran my first Half Marathon in 2001 and after I crossed the finish line, I thought "that wasn't too bad. Maybe I should try a full marathon".
I ran my first full marathon in Ottawa in 2002. It was a totally different experience than the half marathon. Being double the distance you would expect that but I suppose that you can't really imagine how different and how much harder it would be until you are running the race.
I clearly remember during the race thinking that I would NEVER do this again. That everything hurt. That this was insane.
And lo and behold, as I crossed the finish line, I thought, "that wasn't so bad, maybe I should run another race and try to qualify for the Boston Marathon".
And so I ran another marathon and did qualify for Boston and did run that marathon.
Twice.
The first time was in 2004.
My Contraband took this picture of me smiling(!?) at mile 21. I'm in the white tank top with Canadian flag on it.
And then I ran it again the following year.
That's me in the red t-shirt with the Canadian flag on it. My Contraband took this picture as well but it was around mile 24 and I guess I had my game face on, gritting my teeth focusing on finishing.
I have also run The Chicago Marathon.
Twice.
The first time was 2005.
It is one of my favorite race courses. Flat, which means fast, scenic and packed with spectators.
I ran my fastest race there in 2006. In runner speak that is called personal best or PB.
My PB is 3 hours 36 minutes 38 seconds.
And with that as my finishing time I qualified for The New York Marathon which has faster qualifying times than the Boston Marathon, by the way.
So off we went to New York in the fall of 2007.
That's me in the pink shirt and grey shorts. This was taken in Central Park, about 1 mile from the finish. At that point in the race it may as well have been 100 miles from the finish.
I was having a hard time in that race. Harder than usual.
I had developed a wicked side stitch about half way through the race and it stuck with me right up until the end.
Not my idea of a good running companion.
I managed to finish in a respectable time of 3 hours 57 minutes 13 seconds. Not a PB but I could live with that.
So I guess you could say that marathon running is something I enjoy doing.
It's a bit of a painful, grueling enjoyment I suppose.
But for the past year I have been "benched" with an injury.
It was bound to happen.
After chasing around to various health care providers trying to get to the root of the pain in my hip, I was finally diagnosed with bursitis in my right hip.
I started seeing a physiotherapist in September and have been dong my physio therapy religiously.
I want to run again, pain free. Well excluding the given pain of running a marathon!
My physio therapist has been "prescribing" very short, very controlled runs for me.
Walk for 5 minutes, run for 4 minutes, walk for 5 minutes run for 4 minutes. That was what I was allowed to do in one running session.
Hard to hold back the reins when I was used to going out for a run that would last for an hour or longer!
But I followed his directions, and slowly he increased my running distances bit by bit.
All part of the healing of my injury and strengthening muscles to prevent the injury from happening again.
I am now up to a full on, non stop 20 minute run.
That works out to just over 4 kms.
I am thrilled!
So far, I feel no pain and hopefully with continued physio and strength conditioning, I'll be back in full form soon.
But I am well aware that baby steps must be taken before I am up and running full on.
I won't be running any spring races and I'm alright with that.
Instead I have my sights set on some fall races, with my physiotherapist's thumbs up of course.
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