stress fracdture

You may recall that I was diagnosed with not one, but multiple stress fractures after my Cleveland Marathon training. For some reason I got fractures in my tibia and my metatarsal area and was unable to actually run the day of the marathon. Yes, I trained and ran 20 miles – but I never got in my 26.2 miles during race day.

But I haven’t given up my running career. Will I ever be a competitive marathoner? Absolutely not. And while I don’t have another marathon in my near future – I’m still running. AND I signed up for – and completed my first race since “the stress fracture incident!” While it may have only been a 5k – and our time wasn’t great (in our defense, B and I ran about two miles to get to the start of the race — so we ran 5 at least total), I’m still proud, and happy that we stuck it through and I’m still running.

$racing after a stress fracture$

Me, B and Mary post-race

Will I continue to run? Yes. Have I been running? Yes – today I completed nearly 4 miles in under 10 min/miles (a big deal for me .. still recovering!) and I’ve signed up for another race with my coworker, Cari (the first race I’ll have done without B!) … you can’t stop me – yes, you may be able to slow me down, but I’m still running!

Post 5k

So with that, I leave you with a few of my favorite running quotes:

“There are clubs you can’t belong to, neighborhoods you can’t live in, schools you can’t get into, but the roads are always open.”
Nike

You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming.
Frank Shorter

My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy.
John Bryant

And of course, a few from Pinterest:

This time last week, I was anticipating my next Saturday night. I’d imagined myself chowing down on some pasta and bread with some other runners, getting pre-marathon jitters and feeling excited and proud about completing my first marathon the next morning.

That’s all changed. As you can probably guess from the title of this post, I found out what was ailing me — stress fractures. That’s right – plural. All week I’d been having some pain in my left foot and even after icing and taking NSAIDs, it wouldn’t go away. There was a nagging feeling that something was wrong, so I took some people’s advice and headed to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in sports medicine.

I had X-Rays on Friday – my left foot and my left lower leg – and sure enough, I had not only stress fractures in my metatarsal, but a large stress fracture in my tibia. That pain that I assumed was shin splints? That was the stress fracture. That weird bump that was growing on my shin? That was my tibia bone, growing back onto itself. I left the doctor’s office wearing an air cast (or as the dr told me, “the most expensive boot I probably owned”), an appointment for an MRI and a strict order NOT to run the marathon for fear my tibia would break in half mid-race.

That’s right, TWO days before the race, I was told not to run. Seventeen weeks of training, hundreds of miles, including a twenty mile training run — and the race was off. I would be cheering on my husband, sister-in-law and friends from the sidelines.

I know that I shouldn’t feel so bad, but I can’t help but feel that all my training was for nothing. All those Friday nights I stayed in, all those Saturdays I spent pounding pavement — what was it for? Maybe next week I’ll be feeling a little better, but right now, instead of pre-race jitters I’m feeling disappointment, sadness and frustration.

Have you trained for a marathon or another race but been forced to back out a few days before? Have you had stress fractures (of course I have them in multiple places). How did you recover – how long did it take to get back in the saddle and start running again?