The December That Wasn't

At the beginning of the month, I was excited to start upping my running a bit and get back into shape before I tackled my first marathon. Midway through the month, I had some inspired runs in Central Park and got to meet a coach whose philosophy on running and training clicked with me. After the coaching clinic I emailed him for help running my first marathon, my "debut," if you will. I was going to title this post "Stop...Treadmill time" because so many of my RunStreak runs had been inside and after dark. I was hoping to run between my boyfriend's parents' houses on Christmas Day, a nice 8 mile, head and stomach clearing jaunt between all the gluttony and sloth of the holidays. I was going to continue with my Run Streak all the way to New Years Day...and then I broke my leg.

And then the Run Streak stopped

As my cousin described it, I tried to "ice skate without skates." I simply fell while walking and did some pretty bad damage. I broke my fibula, probably sprained my ankle, and kissed those marathon debut dreams goodbye. Luckily I was on the edge of winter vacation so I've spent the last two weeks at home on the couch catching up on new and old TV shows. My friends and family have been awesome about taking care of me, even my angsty teen brother.

It's definitely been hard not moving at all over the break, and seeing other people's pictures from runs or a beautiful day outside makes me miss the ability to lace up and get out even for an easy run. My right calf is already noticeably atrophied and I know that it's going to be a long and slow process getting back to even be able to run. I'm currently still on crutches but extremely hopefully that I can just be in my walking boot before I get back to school. It's scary how much I'm looking forward to going for a walk. The marathon plan is definitely off the table for the spring, and likely for 2014 all together. Depending on my recovery, I'll shoot for a 5 or 10k in the spring to have something doable as a goal. But for the moment, I'm looking forward to that New Years Eve cheese platter and the day I can wear shoes on both of my feet.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and fast New Year!

Rachel "yoga pants for days" Runner