Most of you who follow my running endeavors know that if there's a half marathon and a 5k together, I'm signed up for the half marathon.... until now, and I'll explain why.
A week ago, four miles into my run, I was accidently bumped from behind and fell to the ground - on the downhill side of a steep and highly traveled paved bridge. When I fell, I landed on the ground in a pose similar to what they call the "Cow Pose" in Yoga class. (See the pose picture below, and no, we won't be commenting on the similarities in the name of the pose.) I'm certain that I didn't land as graceful as the picture though. Based upon my injuries from this fall on the downhill side of the bridge, I must have only landed on one knee - the same knee that was injured in my car accident of August 2012 when I crushed the knee cap and fractured the side of my left knee.
I didn't see any blood when I got up from my fall, so brushed myself off and I tried to trudge along the best I could. I made it another four miles before I had to stop running because my knee cap was burning. I went home to rest, ice and elevate that knee. I continued with the ice and elevation treatment nearly every day and only had two short runs of 2 miles in between that incident and this race.
I think I might have had some hesitation about this race the night before, because I didn't lay out my "flat Debi" photo on Facebook, which is something I almost always do. I had been mowing the lawn the day before and had experienced some knee pain, causing me to to ice and elevate the knee as soon as I came in the house.
I woke up on time and mostly ready for the Florida Beach Half Marathon and we headed out to Fort DeSoto Beach in St. Petersburg, Florida in anticipation of doing the half. As we were driving to the race, I was putting on my knee sleeve and other race apparel and I started imaging what 13 miles (that I wasn't really trained to complete) could do to the knee if a simple lawn mowing the day before had made it sore. It was right then that I prayed that God would give me direction and clarity about attempting this run.
Because the race was sold out, traffic was more congested than usual, but we arrived in plenty of time for me to pick up my packet, stand in line for the restroom and socialize a bit. Once we had parked, I headed toward the packet pick up area and I saw the race director's wife. She just happened to be standing by the medals and being the "bling collector" that I am, I looked closely and realized that I was looking at the medals for the 5k and not the half marathon! Very honestly, I have medals for half marathons that were smaller than the 5k medal! I talked to Rya and explained what had happened the week before, and asked her if I could change races from the half marathon to the 5k. She told me that I could, but she did remind me that I would lose out on the extra challenger medal for the series of 4 completed half marathons. While that extra medal tugged at my "bling collector" personality, as an athlete, I knew the right thing to do. I also felt that God was directing me to make this decision, and so I switched to the 5k.
I am so glad I listened to my body and to God! The 5K was fun - short and sweet! I had spare time and I wouldn't have to lay on the couch for the remainder of the day! I know that making the decision to do the 5k instead of the half marathon, I will be able to continue proper training for the May 17 Cleveland Half Marathon without having to wait four or five days for my body to heal following this race.
Jane was by the beach at Fort DeSoto Park waiting for me to finish the race, so I joined her and we stayed there for a bit.
On the way home we stopped at the outlet mall, where I browsed around gaining another 14,000 Fitbit steps! I also picked up some great running socks and a Yoga bag on clearance so I was very happy!
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