It was an interesting weekend. Salome & I went for a bike ride and nearly got taken out by a stupid driver pulling out of a parking lot into the bike lane from behind a hedge without looking. I hit the brakes and had to swerve to the left without time to shout out to Salome who was hugging my wheel. Fortunately, the driver of the car hit his breaks too. Meanwhile, Salome is forced to swerve left of me and we bump hard into each other. I felt certain we were both going down. We both held firm to our bikes, however, and neither of us fell. Good thing too, as Salome was to appear in a charity fashion show that afternoon. Road rash would not have been a good fashion accessory.
On Sunday, we decided to run the 3 miles from our house to the finish line of the A1a Marathon & Half Marathon. Our friend Jen Jones was running in defense of her overall woman's win in last year's half marathon. Jen not only defended her title, but hit a PR in 1:26:40. We met up and congratulated Jen on her repeat victory. Check out her husband Matt's fine video work of her finish at her blog Yeah, I Run Like a Girl... We also met up with Aussie, Deb Mrky and her running buddy Scott, who were running the half marathon as a training run for April's Boston Marathon. After mingling for a while, we ran the 3 miles home.
That night, I once again felt knee pain. It stayed sore for a couple of days. As I had only recently gotten back to running 2 miles on the treadmill, perhaps it was too much, too soon. But to be honest, I'm concerned that I may ultimately need that arthroscopic knee surgery. I'm also doubting whether I can get back into running shape for the London Marathon in late April. Thus, I'm bummed about my near running future, not to mention tri events. While I can ride and swim, I doubt I can participate in much more than a sprint tri in the coming season.
Added to that happy thought was the report of training buddy and fellow triathlete Tony Whittaker. He and several friends were scheduled to run the Austin Marathon. It was to be Tony's first full marathon. His foot had been bothering him, so he finally went to his doctor to have it examined. He report's back that he has almost no cartilage in his foot. He started Austin, but ended up having to stop after 3 miles due to foot pain. Training friend Miranda didn't even start due to a nagging muscle injury. Our other friends John, Bernadette, and Melissa all finished between 4:30 and 4:45. Buddy Bob Kazar finished in 3:45. Congratulations to all finishers. Condolences to Tony and Miranda. I feel your pain.
Given my situation, I've decided to pull the plug on this blog. I feel an athletic blog should be about the trials and tribulations of training leading up to race reports. I just don't feel like reporting on my setbacks and efforts to get back to a base level. I'll keep training and get necessary treatment or surgery to get back to this great sport, but I'll be doing it in private. I'll still check in on my fellow bloggers from time to time, so keep your training posts and race reports coming. When I feel I can come back with something more noteworthy, I'll consider blogging again. But for now, I am out of here. Thanks for reading. Bill
That is scary about the near crash, you two have some mad skills to keep upright!! I have no desire to bike down here anymore, I'll wait until I get up north.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about the knee, it'll work out but it'll take time. I was in your shoes this summer and pretty (okay REALLY) depressed about the whole thing. I really didn't know if I was going to be able to keep competing but time and good PT helped out a ton!
Maybe toss an update on here every now and again and not totally kill the blog?
I have had the same thought about pulling the plug. Sometimes I feel I am trying to entertain people and running out of material.
ReplyDeletebut ultimately, I use it as a training log and since I would probably lose a real training log, I always know where to find this one....
And I hope it wasn't my book that forced your blogging retirement.... :)
Jen, Actually, once you get up to your area its a lot safer. I find from Boca north, the roads are better, wider and with better maintained bike paths.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep you suggestion in mind. I guess I'm in a bit of a funk.
Sorry to read about the knee pain. We were excited when we heard you ran 6 miles Sunday but sad to now read about the pain that developed later. We feel your frustration and truly hope you can find a way to finish London.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Congrats. We enjoyed meeting the Fort Lauderdale group, just wish we could have been celebrating Tony's 1st marathon finish. He had a great attitude and we were glad he was there to share stories and some laughs.
We will miss your blog - keep us updated. Best Wishes Melissa & Bob
Stupid drivers
ReplyDeleteYou will be missed, you been around for a long time, back when there was just a few of us bloggers, not like today, where everyone has a blog. Take care of yourself, we will still be here when you are healed and ready to race again
Take Care
Scott
I've had a few experiences with inattentive drivers myself. I think drivers often look for other vehicles while entering the road, or turning, but are somehow oblivious to both runners and cyclists.
ReplyDeleteI run with a fairly large group of runners, and it is always unsettling when one of us becomes injured. Sometimes it can be attributed to training errors, but often, I think it's simply luck (or bad luck). We've all run with aches and pains, but at what point do you run through the pain and what point do you stop running?
If you need surgery on your knee, I wish you a speedy recovery! Again, several of the runners I run with have had surgery and have returned to running. Best wishes!!