Bring your running shoes

"Bring your running shoes to your next appointment," my physiotherapist said last week.

The race chip is still on my pink shoes, since my last race was the last time I ran.  The one shoe is still laced funny to take stress off the part of my foot that was sore.  The part of my foot that turned out to harbour a stress fracture.

Today I find out if I get to run again.  If I get to lace up those babies, a solid two months since my last run.

I'm bringing my running shoes.

Race Day! Chinook Aquabike

I am off to the races.  Packed my bags and put them in the car last night.  Made a list of anything still in the house I had to remember: garmin, hydration, inhaler, bike...  Yes, I put "bike" on that list.  It seems obvious, but boy, would I feel dumb if I forgot my bike.

And now, the traditional pre race picture of me looking crazy:

I am bib 404, which my husband tells me means "website not found".  Now he can think of me anytime he sees that number.  :)

Race goals:

1. Stay calm in the swim.

2. Don't hurt myself.  It is not worth extra recovery time, just to run to transition.  Besides, I read my race report last year, and it seems my delicate feet didn't want to run much anyways as I found the surface a bit rough.

3. Push myself on the bike.  I am of the opinion that I tend to play it overly safe on the bike, so I don't blow up on the run.  Today, there is no run.

4. Don't let the uncontrollable get to me.

5. Savour the finish line.

I miss running

I have a lot of things to blog about: A very overdue race report for Vulcan (which was awesome, by the way),  a celebration about my aircast being off, some thoughts on a run program at my son's school, preparation for an upcoming race.  But, none of those things are what I feel like talking about today, and since it's my blog, I get to talk about what I want.

I miss running.

Even though my blog has been quiet, I've been happily going through the steps of normal life.  I've settled into a routine.  I've put in lots of hours at the pool, both swimming and water running.  I'm loving the outdoor rides, after being cooped up on the trainer at the start of this injury.

If you happen to know me in real life, I can joke about this injury with a smile and a laugh.  Cheerful self deprecation at my bone headedness in running through it without cluing into the fact it was a stress fracture.  I'll tell you that I'm thrilled just to be able to walk normally again right now.  And I am.

But, I miss running.

It's a desperate yearning I have.  I live across the street from a pathway access and I see runners go by all the time.  I no longer feel the jealous vindictiveness I did at first, but I want them to take me with them.  I want to return to my riverside pathways.  I want to run easy.  I want to run hard.  Heck, I'd happily take a hill run, a treadmill run, or even a track run.

I want to feel the wind in my hair, the runners high.  I want the brutally hard run that I have to force myself to finish, because I want to relive the feeling I get after finishing one of those runs.  I want to run fast.  I want to run with a friend, chatting away.

I just want to run.

Right now, I know I'm almost there.  Yet, somehow that makes me feel more desperate.  My foot isn't quite healed enough.  I know it.  And, as desperately as I want to run, I also desperately want to be able to keep running once I restart.

The truth is, this is good.  I'm no life long athlete.  I don't have decades of running in my history.  I have three years.  And, a month and a half is a long time in those three years.  I've always been afraid that if I stopped running, I would never start again, because I would stop wanting it.  That has not happened.

Because, when I can run again, I will.

Because, I miss running.