It's been too long!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written!  I knew it had been awhile, I just didn't realize how long it had been. I should probably start wth the St. George Marathon. It was awesome!  I've never felt so amazing during a race, clear through to the finish. My husband and I set a tentative goal of a 3:45 finish. We knew what our pace had to be to accomplish that goal and for the first 7ish miles we were actually ahead of that pace. Just over mile 7 is the biggest hill in the marathon. I could have kept running but my husband wanted to walk most of it so we did. We lost about a minute and a half of our pace going up that hill but I wasn't too worried. We were still ahead of our goal. Just like you would expect a marathon to do, it slowly wore my husband down. Our pace gradually slowed. I was carefully watching my Garmin and I didn't want my husband to be disappointed with his finish so I continued to encourage and sometimes push. I could tell he was getting right on the edge of his breaking point as we approached mile 23. I had too much left in my tank to slow down so we parted ways. I ran just over 7 minute miles for the last three miles. No one passed me and it felt so good to just let loose. I finished around 3:50 and my husband came in a few minutes behind me. We met up after and walked back up the course to meet a friend who was running her first mararton and came in with her. Overall, St. George was a great marathon. 

After the marathon, i started training for a 50 mile race in January. I trained for two weeks and decided I had tendonitis in my Achillis so I would take a few weeks off and let it heal. After a few weeks, my Achillis was healed but I realized I had tendonitis in my peroneal tendon. I stopped my long runs. When I didn't heal, I cut out my interval runs and hill repeats and started doing them on the elliptical. I still didn't heal so I cut out intervals on the elliptical and started pool running. Weeks turned into months and I decided to have an x-ray and see my doctor. I was afraid I had done something more serious than tendonitis. No stress fracture, yay!  My doctor suggested a podiatrist and a cortisone shot. I was reluctant because podiatrists are notorious for saying stop running. I found one who is a runner and got my cortisone shot. Ouch!  After about 4-5 days, it was apparent that the cortisone shot didn't work. At that point I was devastated. Running means so much to me. It is part of how I define who I am. I don't know how to be me without running. It's my outlet. Everytime I would see someone out running I was so jealous. It literally hurt my heart and left me wanting to cry. I continued to take it easy. About a week and a half ago, I decided it was time for physical therapy. I went for the first time on Wednesday. My therapist did a therapy called ASTYM and I have hope. After one treatment, I actually think I'm starting to heal. More time will tell but I have hope. 

I have a lot going on this year. I have Boston in April. I was supposed to do the Red Mountain 50K also in April but it's two days before Boston and we'll already be there. I've been asked to do the bike leg of the St. George Ironman 70.3. I want to do the Utah Valley Marathon but I won't decide for sure until after Boston and I feel how that goes. I would like to do the Bryce Canyon Half since I've never done it. I've got Napa Valley Ragnar in September (an ultra team) and then St. George in October. I need to heal and I feel like I really will now. 

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I hope to be better.  I hope you are reaching your fitness goals. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll catch you agan next time.