There was not a lot of running for me in January. It's been a rough couple months with illness and injuries. I was having all my usual issues, like my back, and my glutes and hamstrings, and then on top of that, I got a nasty cough again. We had a 50k to do in January, so I mostly took time off to heal as much as possible before that.
Women's Run:
I made it to one Women's Run, and it was a great one. We ran a little bit around Sandy Downs, and then did Dan's Grit League course. So fun! I'm definitely not coordinated at all, but I did feel like I caught on more with each lap. Good times!
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| Git League! |
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| Some of the Grit League kids, and dads stayed late to help us ladies do the course. I love our running people so much! |
Cider Bend Half Marathon:
Mark and I were going to do our long training run for the week out on Wolf Flats. Right when we left our our house, we realized how bad the roads were. We kept going, and right before our turn off to Wolf Flats, there was a line of cars backed up on the road. There was a spot where it was so icy, the cars hit it and just slid off into the ditches. They closed the road, but it was so slick, the cars were having a hard time turning around (because of the slant of the road). We ended up sitting there for an hour, until we could finally move up to a more level spot to turn around. It was crazy! We got home, and had to run our half marathon around the plowed track at Cider Bend. It's the longest we've gone on our property, and it actually wasn't too bad. We both just listened to a podcast, and busted out the miles. It was cute to have the donkeys run along the fence with us every time we passed their corral.
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| Cider Bend Half |
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| Our cute little fan club! |
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| 😍😍😍 |
Wolf Flats:
We made it out to Wolf Flats for our last run before our 50k. We did 10 miles on a beautiful winter morning with a fun group of friends.
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| We started in the dark, which I love to do. |
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| The beavers have been working hard on this big tree along the river. |
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| Brent-Jenn-Georgina-Tricia-Mark |
Wilson Creek Frozen 50K:
Mark and I are trying to get four ITUS events this year, so we can earn the jacket. We mostly picked ones in Boise, so we could see Bailey, Mason, and Nora. Our first one was the Wilson Creek Frozen 50k. I got a really bad cough the week before the race, so I ended up not being able to see Nora anyways. 😒😷😭 I was also wondering how I was even going to survive the race, with pretty much zero training. My longest training run was a slow paced half marathon around our flat property. This race had about 7 thousand feet of gain, and I had trained zero hills. The only cut off time, was at the 20 mile mark, and it was pretty generous. I just kept telling myself, "You just have to make it 20 miles, then you can crawl the last 12 if you need to." 😅 I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well my body did. Other than coughing my guts up, I felt really good. I was able to hang with Mark for all but the last 4 miles of it. We made it well before cut off times, and I was happy with how I handled the hills too. I guess muscle memory just kicks in. I was even still running at the end; no crawling needed. 😂 I started having some pain in my ankle, where the crease connects my foot to my leg. I had this on The Pulse last year in my other foot really bad, and it cleared up in a few days, so I didn't think too much of it. We made it to the 20 mile aid station, and I stopped for a bit to eat, drink, and use the bathroom. When I tried to start running again, the pain turned really sharp, and radiated up my shin. I couldn't even run! That's when I realized it was different than what I thought it was, and probably a bit more serious. I told Mark to go on and I would just plug along the best I could. I didn't want to walk for the last 11 miles, because I would be out there forever. I tried to slowly start running again, and once I got into a rhythm, it got more doable. It wasn't comfortable, but the pain eased up a little bit. We still had a lot of climbing, and I was able to keep Mark in my sights up most of the hills. Once we ended the final climb, the last 4 miles were downhill, and I was able to run all of that. This is where Mark left me in the dust. I can't hang with him on the downhills, even when I'm healthy. We both finished feeling pretty good. Boise got an unusual amount of snow, and very cold temps for the race. I loved this! A lot of locals had a harder time in the snow (because it's like running in sand). We are used to the snow, and the cold, so we thought it was great. It also made the foothills look so pretty! I loved the course and the conditions we had!
While we were waiting for Joyce to finish, I was realizing that my leg was getting worse. I had a gut feeling it was a stress fracture (which I've never had before). When I woke up the next morning, I could hardly put any weight on it. If I even shifted my leg, it sent really sharp pain up my shin. Not pleasant! I went to the doctor when we got back to get a few things checked out (back, cough, and leg). Here's where we are with all my ailments:
Cough: He was a little perplexed by this, because I have zero other symptoms. Just a nasty cough. He gave me a z-pack and said my lungs should clear up in a few days.
Leg: He did x-rays and nothing showed up, but I guess more times than not, you can't see a stress fracture on the x-rays until it starts to heal. He was pretty confident that's what we were dealing with. There was still a possibility it was a tendon. The more time that's gone on, the more convinced I am that it's not a tendon. The pain is no longer in the crease, and is very localized in my shin. We're treating that with rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
Back: My back has been an issue my whole life, and I usually just deal with it. It's starting to affect every aspect of my life now, so I knew it was time to do something about it. I can only sit for an hour at a time. I sit though the first hour of church, and usually stand in the back for the second hour. Traveling is very hard on me, etc... He gave me an oral steroid to hold me over, and ordered an MRI. Once they locate the exact disc, they will most likely do an epidural steroid injection. I've had a couple of those in the past, and although they aren't pleasant, they do seem to give me relief for a few months.
I go back next week to discuss my leg and the MRI results.
It's hard to stay off my leg when I have animals to take care of, but I've been doing the best I can. Lots of reading in bed. I felt like nothing was getting better until I hit the week mark, and now I feel like I can see some progress. I have another 12 hour race in March, so I'm hoping I will be good enough to at least eek out a 50k in that 12 hours. I'm trying to not get discouraged. I have some big plans in the works for 2024, so I was planning on 2023 being a year to get things figured out and dialed in with my body. I wasn't expecting a stress fracture, but if that's what will force me to take some much needed time off, than I guess that's what I'll do. Hopefully this time down will allow other things a chance to rest and heal as well.
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Mark-Trici-Joyce
Getting ready to start. It was single digit temps at the start. |
We started out running toward a beautiful sunrise.
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