Going into the race, I knew I had months of great training under my belt. Coming off of the best race of my life to this point (Grandmas Marathon 2013 with a new PR of 2:48:54) I was feeling better than ever.
The week and a half prior to Chicago, I had a nagging ache in my left gluteus medius. Hoping that it was just part of tapering and a small tweak that would go away before the race, I tried not to stress out.
Considering I made it through my 70, 80, 90 mile weeks injury free, the last thing I needed was an injury right before the race! Waking up the morning of the race, I still felt the dull ache, but I hoped that a little stretching, warm up, and Ibprofen would take care of it.
At this point, it's hard to do anything about it, so I figured go out there and see what happens and hope for the best. I felt great for the first handful of miles, but as I continued the pain slowly started to sink in. Not knowing how far I would get in the race I just kept running. Finally at about mile 12, I knew that any minute my left glute and lower back was going to give out on me and take me out of the race.
I kept going trying to find an aid station and by mile 13 I was put to a stop. I couldn't take the pain. I could barely take a step without a sharp pain in my left side. Going into the race not knowing what would happen, I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Not being able to finish the race.
Still extremely frustrated, this was my first marathon that I did not complete. My last 9 marathons I was at least able to finish even if I was having a bad racing day for whatever reason. I have never had to drop out because of injury.
I really wanted Chicago to be my #10 marathon but looks like it will now need to be my #12. I am already planning on rerunning California International Marathon in Sacramento December 8th.
California International Marathon Link -
http://www.runcim.org/
As long as I can heal up in the next couple weeks, it would give me a month of training, then back in California to rerun my terrible race performance from last year. Yes the weather conditions were terrible, but this is my other race I need another chance to run! I will be an elite runner for the race and have a chance to win prize money in pursuit of running an Olympic Trials time of under 2:43.
What a perfect opportunity coming out of Chicago! Not even a day later and I already made plans for my next race :). After all my hard work going into Chicago, I do not want to wait until June when I run Grandmas Marathon 2014. Chicago changed my racing plans for the next year. Now it looks like I will be rerunning all of my races from this past year!
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2013-2014 Marathon Race Schedule -
1. California International Marathon 2013 in Sacramento December 8th
2. Grandmas Marathon 2014 Duluth, MN June 21st - http://grandmasmarathon.com/site/
3. Chicago Marathon 2014 October 12th
2014 10K & Half Marathon Race Schedule -
1. Get N Gear 10K 2014 April 26th - http://www.getingear10k.com/
2. SeaWheeze Half Marathon 2014 August 23rd in Vancouver Canada - http://www.seawheeze.com/run/about-seawheeze/ (bucket list race)
3. Life Time Fitness Outdoor Triathlon Lake Nokomis (Run 10K for Team Wood) July 2014 - http://www.mplstri.com/
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After this weekend, I pray that I heal up in the next 2 weeks and look to my new & next pursuit California International Marathon 2013.
What races do you have schedule for the rest of 2013 and next year 2014? Please feel free to share or post a comment!
Running Failures Lead to Happy Successful Running :)
I'm so sorry to hear about your injury. Heal up girl! Onto the next one.
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