Some of the biggest news is, my new gimp status! I ran in a race this past week, and suffice it to say, I guess I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought I was. The race, as above noted, was called Cascade Lakes Relay. I was honored with a random invitation to join the team called, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." This came about, by what I feel was only by God's direction. I literally received an email stating nearly the following:
"You have no idea who I am. But I read on your bio that you enjoy running. We have an injured girl on our team, and were wondering if you would be interested in taking on her part of the race. Here's the race, Cascade Lakes Relay. You can google that and get more info."
So off I went, googling away, and excited to get the opportunity to be part of a relay team! I have always wanted to do one of these races, but have never had the opportunity. Usually you have to sign up nearly a year in advance for these races. What I want to know is when do 12 different individuals know where the heck they'll be in a year? So I've never signed up, nor do I think I could ever organize a team. Anyways, back to the point of the story (there's a point here? well, at least I'll try to get to one). The race started last Friday. In total, the entire length was 216.2, and I was planned to run 21.5 miles of that spread over 3 different legs, each nearly 12 hours apart. Leg 1 was good, a bit of a long, straight 7.5mile leg. You could literally see the finish line from the start of the leg. It was all downhill, but still a STRAIGHT run.
Before I started leg 2, I was exhausted. It was getting later and later at night, and since our theme was "FUN" we found that we weren't running as quick as we predicted. Anyways, suffice it say, before I was kicked out of the van to face the elements at 10pm, I was in the van, YAWNING, and really wishing for my bed at home, and reconsidering why I had sign up for said race. The ONLY motivation I felt that I had was that at the end of this race a possible 3-4 hrs of sleep was in my future, and that sounded glorious, since I really hadn't gotten any sleep the night before the race (unfortunately, the house we slept at the owners liked those darn grandfather clocks that chime every 15minutes...you can say I knew EXACTLY what time it was as I wasn't sleeping). So out I climbed from the van at about 11pm to start my second leg. I think I really was motivated for that sleep, because I took off running, and running fairly quickly! Usually, I am, at best, a 9:30 miler, and it turns out my pace was just around 8:30/mile. I knew I was running a bit quicker, but I FELT GREAT! God also helped me out a bit, because within the first mile I was running, I saw the BEAUTIFUL stars, I've missed for so long (living in So Cal you don't see anything more than the moon...and the moon only if you are luck). And I also saw a shooting star! It was AMAZING! So I just kept running and running. As my team gave me water, the only thing they commented was, you're doing great and making great time! That just prompted me to keep pushing it! Then....really I'm not sure what happened, and believe me, since I'm in the medical field I keep wondering what exactly did. It was right near the finish. I remember a guy yelling, "Stride it out. That's it." And right then, something pulled, gave, strained in my left achilles. It was like all of a sudden I couldn't run. Now this just didn't compute. I had just run nearly 6.5miles, nearly a PR, and I was hobbling to the finish????? So that's what I did, hobble to the end, pass the bracelet on, and quickly start stretching and poking around wondering why I had this pain. So there you have it...that's why I'm sporting this beauty now:
The Boot
I've found that it draws a lot of sympathy...even from my patients. I also think it brings a bit of intimidation to my small stature. It's a good husband motivator...."Take out the trash or you'll get booted." Hopefully, though, my union with this thing won't be for long. I got Xrays which didn't show more than beautifully made foot bones, no dislocation, avulsion, or stress fracture, etc. Now this isn't the end all diagnostic, but no need to do more until I give this little puppy some good ol' RICE therapy (rest, ice, compression, elevation). I have some fill-in-the-blank-itis (as my uncle put it well) and I'm not quite sure why I can't plantar flex my foot while weight bearing. Oh well, even those in the medical field have many injuries that you just gotta let the body heal itself, with time.
Now, I know you all have that dying question still burning within you, "Did I finish the 3rd leg?" Well, just so you won't go unsatisfied, and I would hate for those of you to have a burnt hole inside of you, I'll answer the question (but it takes a bit of explanation first). Well, after I realized, that yes I really was hurting and it wasn't my imagination. I did get that 4 hours of blissful sleep on a high school gym floor. I then was a good lil' nurse (even with the help of my teammates) to REST, apply ICE, and elevate my little foot. Someone even had Kinesio Tape. So I taped up a good replacement achilles, and prepared myself for a 6.1mile run. Now prior to this, I could barely walk, so I truly wasn't certain how far I would go. But I wanted to try. So I didn't even do any "test runs" prior. I wanted to save my foot. I was suppose to run another 7.5mile leg, but another teammate switched with me (which was so gracious of her)! So off I went. I think God was reminding me of humility, because of instead of running fast, I took off at a SNAIL pace (probably 13-14min miles). I slowly was able to make progress. The biggest progress of the day was the road kill I passed. Now for those of you who aren't into racing, "Road Kill" are those runners you are able to pass during the race. Well, my "road kill" was a bit different that day.
************Disclaimer, possible tummy turning, for those light of stomach be warned, or any FEMA activists....it wasn't my fault!******************************
As I was running along the Cascade Lakes Hwy, I saw a cute little chipmunk run out into the road. Just about that time a Blazer drove by, and I thought, "I hope the little guy makes it!" To my dismay, right before my very eyes and little moving legs, the chipmunk had been hit. Now there wasn't much blood and guts, so I began to worry that he was just injured, and when I got to him, the poor little chipmunk might just be in respiratory or cardiac arrest. And I was trying to contemplate if I could just run by and not stop for such a site. Well, before I had the chance to further prepare myself, my van of girls was driving by. They slowed down to cheer me on, and I tried yelling back to them..."I just saw a chipmunk get ran over before my very eyes!" Simultaneously, the driver of our van, didn't see the chipmunk, and "SPLAT!" Just a few yards ahead of me blood and guts literally squirted across the highway....I was checking myself to make sure I wasn't hit (thankfully I wasn't). I summed it up, that God allowed the poor thing to be out of his misery, and thus I didn't have to assess Airway, Breathing, Circulation to see if the little thing was still alive. But I did pass a literal Road Kill that day, despite how slow I was. I think I forgot about my hurting achilles at that instant! So LONG STORY LONG, I made it roughly 4 miles of the 6.1miles, and another teammate (WHO IS AN AMAZING RUNNER) finished it for me. Sad thing is, I was one of the youngest girls in the van! I'm afraid to get old, since I already seem to be falling apart.
Anyways, now I'm in this boot thing, and trying to enjoy the rest and smile at the comments I get! Plus, my shoes don't match, and I just can't have that! So here's hoping to be out of it soon!
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