Earlier this year, I was reporting on my weekly training reports, my workouts, my running, my fitness…. keeping you all up to date with my training for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Race Series that was coming up on May 18 and 19, 2019. I had stopped going to boot camp at the best gym in town (Elite Training & Fitness, Inc.) to be more available for J since the cancer diagnosis, but I was following a running plan and I was right on schedule with my running.
And then things changed, as I reported to everyone back in April – I suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is an aneurysm (see post HERE). In April, I thought I would be able to pull myself together by May 18 and instead of doing the 8k/half marathon challenge, I was planning to run the 5k and walk the 10k. Then I went to see my neurologist, who had other plans for me. He let me know that I would not be flying unless it was a “necessity” so…….. was the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Race Series AND seeing my grandson and his parents (my son and his wife) a necessity?????? Was my brain healing more important?????? Uh…… another call to the race officials to cancel my registration completely, a letter from my doctor to the airlines to cancel my flight, cancel my vacation at work……
I also had this other trip planned – the Burning River Endurance Run & Relay – I was going to be on a 8-member team for this fun event in July in the Cleveland area. I hadn’t told my Ohio family, I was going to surprise them with the visit. The shortest mileage to be part of this team was 9 miles. There was no way I could go from zero to 9 miles in a little over a month, so I realized I needed to take the bull by the horns and face the fact that I needed to cancel my participation in this race as well. I reached out to the woman who had invited me to participate. She found a replacement and I contacted the race. The race officials are very kindly allowing us to switch team members; while the process isn’t complete, I’m confident it will be fine. I have cancelled my flight arrangements using the same doctor letter, and I cancelled my vacation time from work.
Where does that leave me for running? Well today is Memorial Day and I participated in a local 5K. It’s true I walked, but you know what? I wasn’t even the last participant even though it would have been okay if I was.
My BFF, Jan, walked with me to make sure my heart rate stayed reasonable and that I didn’t do anything stupid (which I’ve been known to do). I will confess that I convinced Jan there was no way we were walking across the finish line and we sprinted for the last tenth of a mile or less. Thanks to one of my gym friends, it was caught on camera! LOL!!
When I was selecting an outfit for today’s race, I realized my running clothes were kind of tight and I knew I had put on some weight thanks to not running and not watching what I was eating. I found myself downloading a running schedule based upon my next neurologist appointment on June 13 – assuming he’s going to release me to run. Next week, June 7 in the evening, there’s a local 5K, Under the Moon 5K that starts at 7pm – I’ll be walking it though since I won’t be released yet….. probably.
Before I pulled out of the parking lot this morning, I registered up for the July 4th Firecracker 5K and the Remember the Fallen 5K in September. I’ve already registered for a few other fall 2019 and winter 2020 races, and I’ll definitely be keeping you posted! To answer the question: YES! I EXPECT TO BE RUNNING AGAIN SOON!!
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