If you follow me on Instagram, you already know this, BUT...there will be no marathon for me next month.

I know.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  Trust me, I'm right there with ya.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I've had a nagging injury since the first week of July, and an orthopedist finally made it official when he diagnosed me with a calf strain.  Which is pretty much exactly what I expected, though it does certainly suck to hear it, especially when it's followed by the prescription of NO running (like at all.  Like zero. Like NONE) for 6 weeks.

Let's see...6 weeks from my doctor's appointment puts me at...September 15.  THREE days before the Rochester Marathon.

Yeah, I emailed the race director that very day, and asked to move down to the half marathon.  And even that should be real interesting to complete with zero running leading up to it!  But since I've got several halfs under my belt already, at least it's a beast that I know how to fight.

That said, I'm handling this change of plans better than expected.  Don't get me wrong--I had my mourning period, though it took place well before the doctor's appointment (I knew deep down from the start that this injury was not going away easy).  I had a miserable couple of weeks when I couldn't BELIEVE that this year of hard work was going to end without me completing 26.2.  When I got down on myself and didn't want to work out at all.  When I wondered if I should give up running completely, forever.

However, right before we went on vacation, I promised my husband that I would use the time away to step back from my injury, and running in general, and try to clear my head.  And I did exactly that.  A week away in the beach air did wonders, and I came home feeling okay about the loss of the marathon (even before the doc made it official).

In fact--I will go so far as to say that this injury has been a blessing in disguise.  Let me count the ways:

1. Once I decided not to do the marathon, I realized that there was a part of me that was a tiny bit relieved.  I signed up for it as part of the Rochester 4 Seasons Challenge, which I was very excited about, but I was NOT pleased that my first marathon would be on a hilly, two-loop course.  The two loops bothered me the most--I've done two-loop 10Ks (running the same 5K route twice), and the mental challenge of completing a hard course and then doing it AGAIN is painful.  Now put that on a marathon...I was prepared to do it, but very nervous.  Now that I won't be running the Rochester full, I can choose a different first marathon experience that might play more to my strengths as a runner.

2. I have learned a LOT of patience.  I am not a patient person.  I tried a billion remedies to get rid of this injury...more foam rolling, icing, elevation, massage, compression, stretching, ibuprofen, blah blah blah.  But the ONLY fix for this calf strain is no running, and 6 weeks of waiting.  Patience required.

3. I have now learned the difference between a real injury and normal post-run soreness.  This is my first true running injury.  Every other ailment I've had while running has been an ache or pain that was easily remedied by taking an extra rest day or two, and foam rolling a bit more.  This pain felt different from the start, and now I know going forward what's worth trying to run through, and what's not.

4. If I had to get injured, this isn't the worst thing that could happen.  For a while I was concerned that this was an Achilles-related injury, which is NOT good news, as Achilles injuries tend to recur for runners.  But a calf strain, while slow to heal, WILL heal.  And then I can move on.  So I have to be thankful for that.

5. It's like a billion degrees outside right now, and I'm completely not jealous of those of you running in it.  ;)

So, just over a month til the Rochester half--what am I doing if I'm not running?  Well, the only activities that hurt my calf are running (duh) and jumping, which eliminates a lot of plyometric-based workouts from my regimen.  (I tried a BodyCombat class last week to cross train, and it was very no-bueno on my leg with all the jumping and kicking.)  However, there are a lot of other cross training activities that feel just fine.  I've put in a LOT of time on the stationary bike (both in spin classes and in the gym).  It's giving me a killer cardio workout, and I better be able to fly up some hills once I start running again, because my quads are killing me!!  :)  I've done some swimming as well, plus lots of yoga and strength training (I still love BodyPump!).  Plus, my friend Michelle just loaned me her road bike, so I might be able to take all this spinning out on the roads starting this week--woohoo!

I think we all know #IdRatherBeRunning, but based on the beast-mode-level sweating I experienced today, I guess this bike workout will suffice 😄 #rio2016 still helping me chug along! Loved watching @emmacoburn in the steeplechase today for a little extra motivation! 🇺🇸

A photo posted by Kelly (@thewellreadredhead) on Aug 13, 2016 at 3:25pm PDT

At this point, I'm just trying to keep my fitness level up enough to finish this race without completely dying.  I am VERY interested to see how all this cross training plays out in the race...am I headed for success, or a hot mess?  Stay tuned, because we're gonna find out soon enough!

Hello, reader/runner friends!  Yes, a long absence around here, but for good reason.  If you saw my Instagram post the other day, you know that the Well-Read Redhead family recently returned from a 10ish day long summer vacation.  Woohoo!  Add in the time required to recover from said vacation (because all vacations with children require substantial recovery periods), and wait a minute, when did August get here...?

Let me fill you in on the trip, especially the reading and running highlights!

(I'll warn you that this "brief" update post turned into a rather long vacation review, reading discussion, and race report, so...just read the highlights that interest you most, I guess?  BEAR WITH ME PEOPLE, I'M STILL IN VACATION MODE.)

Our first stop was at Sesame Place down in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.  We added Sesame on to the front of our summer vacation last year as well, because our kids are at PERFECT ages for it (2.5 and 5), and it's a fun way to kick off a big trip.  This year, we broke family records by staying at the park for NINE HOURS.  My kids are serious troopers for hanging in there that long!!  We had a great day, then hopped in the car and let the kids sleep while we drove to a hotel in Maryland.

The Happiest Place on Earth (for kids who have not yet been introduced to the actual Happiest Place on Earth)

The next day, I impressed myself by getting up at 6:30am to work out in the small, but well-equipped, hotel gym.  I had the place to myself, and ended up doing 30 minutes of cycling, plus a bunch of core/strength work with the free weights and BOSU.  I thought about trying a treadmill run, but one running step told me my right leg was still not okay (more on that later).  Boooo.  Still, this was good for spending 9 hours running around a theme park the day before!

Up in the gym just workin' on my fitness. Pretty sure someone famous said that.

After checking out, we headed to our final destination: the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  We vacationed here in 2012 as well, and fell in love with it.  A return trip was most certainly in order.  We shared a beach house with our 2 good friends and their 2 kids in Corolla, and had an absolutely AWESOME week.  We managed a beach trip (or 2 or 3) every day, as well as a side excursion to the aquarium on Roanoke Island.  It was fun, relaxing, exhausting, and rejuvenating all at the same time.  :)

More of this please.

Reading highlights...well, there aren't too many.  You do a beach trip with two young kids, and you don't end up with much reading time (see: Reading with a Toddler, an old guest post on the blog from 2013...very appropriate here! Sorry for all the broken pic links though. Too lazy to fix right now...).  I packed my book into my beach bag on day 1, and promptly removed it that evening, knowing that the oceanside reading of my 20's was just never gonna happen.  However, after the kids went to bed and during their afternoon downtime, I did often get some pages in on the deck.  My book of choice was Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter.  Full review to come, but WOWZA, this was an enthralling mystery, albeit an extremely, horrifically graphic one.

View while reading. Not sad about it.

Running highlights...again, not many, this time because of my injury!  (I still don't have a name for said injury, but I'm finally seeing an orthopedist tomorrow, so stay tuned.)  Other than my hotel biking/strength session, I also got in some sunrise yoga on our deck (AMAZING!!) and on a whim I decided to run a local 5K on the 27th.  I knew it would stir up my injury, but how could I resist a local race along the ocean?  I mean, just one little 5K, right...

My sunrise view during yoga on the deck. Seriously? Stop it.

The Brindley Beach Lighthouse 5K is run every Wednesday during the summer months in Corolla.  I was afraid that a race that is put on every single week would be kind of shoddily done (like, are they going to go all out for something they do over and over?), but holy moly--OBX Running Company has a pretty amazing thing going on!!  Every race employee I talked to was super friendly and helpful, the entire race was smoothly executed, all the little details were taken care of...it was great.  Very nice finisher medals and race tshirts for all participants, plus an email later that day with your official race results, finisher video, and pictures.  Seriously awesome.  They also do a 5K every Thursday in Nags Head, so I highly recommend checking one out if you are ever vacationing down there!

I got to the race site near Currituck lighthouse early to register, then spent some time stretching, warming up, and exploring the area.  The race started a little after 8am, which in Corolla means HOT HOT HOT.  It was 81 degrees with 96% humidity, to be exact.  YEAH.  For an upstate New Yorker, that is literally trial by fire, because I can't remember the last time I ran in those conditions.  Between the heat and my leg, I decided to keep myself going no faster than 8:30 pace, and just push as comfortably as I could.

The race started, and a minute or so in, I looked at my watch to see 7:45 pace.  Nope nope nope.  I dialed it back and fell pretty comfortably into the 8:30 range.  I finished mile 1 at 8:35 and felt surprisingly good.  Mile 2, I encountered the one water station and decided to walk through it.  I knew I NEEDED the water, and the thought of choking down 1-2 mouthfuls while I ran was not appealing.  I still managed to complete the second mile in 8:55.

As expected, the heat was getting to me badly by the third mile, but I still finished it out at 9:03 pace, for a final result of 27:27, good enough for 2nd in my age group.  Not bad!!  Only about 1 minute off a PR in fact, and that's damn good for those conditions.  I attribute much of it to the fact that my legs were very (very very?) well rested from no running lately, and that I put zero pressure on myself, since I did this race at the last minute anyway.

Sweaty me + medal + Currituck Lighthouse

So glad I participated in this race--the whole experience was so fun, and it ended early enough that I still had enough time for a long, fun day with the family on the beach afterwards.  :)

(I did pay for it with my leg afterwards though.  OW OW OW.  Le sigh.  Damn injured leg.)

Anywho, after that 5K, all my other working out for the week went out the window.  I will admit that I had MORE than my fair share of wine last week, participated in a lot of late nights laughing with our friends and playing ridiculous rounds of Cards Against Humanity, and ate a lot of not-workout-friendly foods like Duck Donuts and cookies and ice cream sandwiches.

In case you've never met Duck Donuts. LET ME INTRODUCE YOU.

But hey--no regrets!  Honestly, I'm starting to feel like this injury was "meant to be", as cheesy as that sounds, because it would have been hella hard for me to continue marathon training last week and still have the fun, carefree vacation that I enjoyed.  Plus, it's saving me from heavy training in the hottest months, and I gotta tell ya, all you runners with the hot-weather-running Instagram photos are NOT making me miss it.  ;)

Does taking a running break suck?  OH YEAH.  Watch my face turn green with envy every time a runner goes past my house.  I find it mentally painful to open my newest edition of Runner's World right now.  If it's possible for a Garmin to rust, I'm sure mine is currently doing it.  But if I have to find the bright side, then I will, because I can't let a speed bump get me down.  (More on this in a later post...)

Oh man, are you loving my rambling today, or what???  I have lots of upcoming posts for you though, and I promise they will be better organized!  I owe you a Shoreline Half race recap, I have a bunch of mini-book-reviews to publish, and I have some deep thoughts about running to share in the wake of this injury.  STAY TUNED!

Hello, runner friends!  It's been a while, but I am still here, chugging away at marathon training.  I'll give you a quick update, as I'm currently at the halfway point (week 9!) of the training.

Honestly: right now I feel like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Up to this point, my longest run has been 12 miles, and I kind of just feel like I'm half marathon training.  I actually have a half marathon scheduled this weekend (Shoreline Half, part 3 of the Four Seasons Challenge), which I am treating as a regular slow-paced long run.  After that though...things get serious!  Some weekday runs will be up to 7 miles (eventually as high as 10), and my long run the weekend after Shoreline is 15 miles--the longest I will have ever done.  EEEKKK.

Things that have been helping me out so far in marathon training:

1. Getting enough sleep!  Almost all of my runs are still being done at 5-6am, so I am really trying to be good about getting to bed at a decent hour.  I don't always manage it, but I'm doing well enough that I don't feel completely exhausted (yet).

2. Eating right.  I still gorge on my faves sometimes (cookies, ice cream...hey, I'm burning mad calories over here!) but I have been VERY good about getting enough protein and fruits/veggies, which makes a huge difference.  I've also cut back my alcohol intake, and usually will not drink at all before a long run.  I'm no alcoholic, but seriously, summer drinking time?  It's hard to turn away a Sam's Summer these days!!  :)

3. Good stretching/cross training/recovery.  I have tried to be very diligent about foam rolling regularly, doing yoga 1-2 times a week, and not ignoring my cross training days (as I used to do).  Biking, swimming, and strength training are my friends!

Morning thunderstorms pushed the long run to tomorrow, but I don't mind because I finally got to try the Active Yoga class at @ymcarochester. LOVE! All stretched out for tomorrow's 9 miler 😄

A photo posted by Kelly (@thewellreadredhead) on Jun 11, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

I am also LOVING compression socks lately for recovery.  I had a few pairs already, but recently got a chance to review SLS3's Butterfly Compression socks, and became an instant fan:

They felt great on the run, and I've been using them for recovery post-run as well.  I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be wearing pink running wear (let alone with butterflies on them), but seriously, these are so fun (and they do have other colors!).  I got a few compliments from other runners while wearing!

SLS3 has them available in their Amazon store HERE, so if you're looking for some fun new running wear, check it out.

Things that have not been helping me during marathon training:

Only 1 thing.  Injury.  

WHOMP, WHOMP.

Yeah, the last 10 days I have been battling some sort of lower-leg ailment.  If I had to guess, it's a calf strain (I've had trouble getting in with an orthopedist, so Dr. Google is diagnosing for now), though I have no idea what brought it on specifically.  July 2 I did a 12 mile long run that felt AMAZING...until I got home.  And then my lower right leg hurt, a LOT, but mostly when running or going down stairs.  I took the holiday weekend off, only doing yoga.  Walking in sneakers vs. flip flops helped ease it as well.  Tuesday I tried the 3 mile run that was on my schedule, and while it didn't feel amazing, I was able to finish it.  However, Wednesday (the 6th) I tried a 6-miler, and had to call it quits after 4.5.  Pain was getting worse and starting to radiate up my hamstring.

I haven't run since then.  EEEEKKK.  And yes, I do have a half marathon this Saturday that I am running (or walking? at least finishing) come hell or high water.  In the meantime, I have been giving my leg lots of rest, ice, and compression.  I've also been cross training (biking, swimming) to keep up fitness.  Do you know how long it's been since I swam laps in a pool?  EIGHTEEN years ago on the JV swim team.  You know what though?  Turns out I forgot how much fun it is.  So I guess the upside to injury is that I'm rediscovering my cross training options.  I MAY have said the T-word (triathlon) recently to my husband, and he MAY have looked at me like I'm crazy.  That's for another day...

Getting ready to rock the YMCA pool. I know, the swim cap is super hotttttt.

Anyway, as of yesterday (the 12th) I finally woke up and felt like the pain was getting better.  Only a slight pinching pain in my calf, and only when I push off my right foot to run.  So my plan is to try a short 2 mile run tomorrow or Friday, just to see what I'm up against for this weekend.  Then it's fingers crossed for Saturday...and after that, re-evaluting where I'm at for marathon training.

I'm really hoping that this injury has a quick recovery period, because if I have to take too long of a break, this marathon is probably not a good idea for me right now.  I know there are marathoners who have cross-trained their way to the start line, but that's really not the way I want to get there for my first one.  I will cut back to the half marathon if I have to, though the thought makes me sad/frustrated/NOT happy.  I am SO looking forward to this first 26.2.  But I know running through injury isn't smart, so if I have to put it off for a while, I (reluctantly) will.

So, 9 weeks down...and the next 9 weeks should be interesting!