I've been slowly cementing the idea in my head that 2012 is my year for half marathons. And girly Disney half marathons at that. My excitement level has been building. I even started recruiting friends to think about coming along and cheering me on. (I'm even going to make them wear Team Emily shirts!) I was pretty confident, that while I might not be back to my top running form, I would still be able to finish in a decent time and maybe stop for a few pictures along the way.
I've been working with a new physical therapist on my knee and I decided to test the waters and see what she thought about me running a half marathon in January (I was only going to mention the first one and see where that got me). January is so far off - I would totally be okay to be doing some running by then. Right? Right? So I casually ask what she thought about me running a half in January...
I saw the look on her face as the words left my mouth and knew the answer wasn't going to be what I wanted to hear. In a nutshell, injuries like mine can take 9 months to a year to fully heal. (I whine to myself - but it's already been 6 months!!) She told me walking wouldn't be out of the question and that we could work together to come up with an acceptable run/walk interval that would be okay for my knee. The goal is to keep everything low impact on my knee while it heals.
Okay, that wasn't so bad. I didn't hear a firm no. So I'm still planning on both the Tinkerbell & Princess in 2012. That Coast to Coast medal is going to be MINE! But there will probably be a lot more walking than I anticipated, which probably means no photos (or very few). The 3 hour 30 minute time limit does have me a little worried. Even more so than last time. And of course the possibility of being swept off the course.
So in addition to the girly Disney halves in 2012, I am now tentatively planning to do another half in September. Pure walking. No running. It has a 4 hour time limit which will let me test out how fast I am (or not). I say tentative because if I'm not ready I will drop down to the 10K.
What remains now is me getting over walking (rather than running) which is my own hang up. It shouldn't matter - it is still an accomplishment. It's how I started after all. Walking a 5K, then a 10K and finally a half (way back in 2005). My first half was finished in just under 4 hours. So we'll see how much speed I have picked up in 6 years.
And at my next physical therapy appointment I guess I'd better check with her on me doing a triathlon! It's coming up in August!
ETA: And to help me with making sure I'm at the right pace, I finally bought my Garmin!!
2 comments:
Hooray for the Garmin! I love mine - I feel like my running REALLY improved once I got it and was able to see exactly what I was doing out there!
I totally understand your walking/running thing. With Seattle this month I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that I'll probably have to walk half of it. Some day I'd love to just RUN a half marathon. I've never even run a 10K without walking at least a bit. But for this half coming up, I think I mentally have to prepare and accept that walking is going to be a big part of my day. BUT it is still a lot more than most people we know are doing, so we should still be proud of ourselves!
Thanks for the encouragement!! Speaking of encouragement, if you need cheerleaders for the Seattle RnR let me know, I'd love to come cheer you on.
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