Lacing Up, Crossing My Fingers and Training For a Half Marathon

It's been 8 months since my last Running for Tish update. Soon after my last post I began my first year of teaching. I was still unable to run because of my injury and on top of that I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water with a very difficult class, home visits and parent teacher conferences. Jumping in and taking over someone else's class in the middle of the year is not as simple as it sounds! Running definitely became less of a priority for me because of this. I did make it to the gym a few times during the school year though and found that I was able to run again which was extremely exciting for me even if I couldn't find the time to enjoy it! It became even more difficult to find time when my son joined the track team. The time that I had previously said wasn't there for running really wasn't there! Spring went by and I continued not exercising much. One thing I remember my college professors telling me was that once in the school setting I would be surrounded by food...all the time. This proved very true. There were always treats (cake, cookies, brownies, donuts) and on top of that part of my job is to sit down with my preschoolers and eat breakfast and lunch with them. As my exercising slowed and pretty much halted all together, I began allowing myself to eat more and more foods that I knew I shouldn't. By the beginning of June I had gained 8 pounds and was ready to get myself back under control. In the last 45 days I took control of my health and fitness have lost 10 pounds (yay!) and started running again.

 

So now I am in the middle of training for my half marathon. My longest run so far has been 7 miles. Thursday I plan to move that number up to 7.5 to 8 miles. My IT band still bothers me and my hip gets aggravated and threatens occasionally. I try not to get too excited about being able to run the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon because it was so devastating last year when I had to drop out. It used to be when I ran it was really fun and carefree and I loved that. Now during a run I am constantly evaluating myself. I carefully consider each ache and pain and determine if I can or should continue. I will not make the same mistake of running through the pain and finding myself unable to run at all. I found a product that has been an amazing help. It is a simple compression band that is worn just above the knee. It holds my IT band in place and is either a great placebo or actually relieves a lot of the pain and irritation caused by my IT band.

Hopefully I will be able to keep adding on the miles and soon I will be able to 13.1 miles. When I run I try to enjoy the moment and remember that I love to run. I look forward to a day when I can run without constant worry that my next step will be the one that hurts too much. I run because I love to and I hope I never lose that. I will keep lacing up, crossing my fingers and training for my half marathon and if I'm lucky I'll be at the starting line September 28th!