On Recovery and Eating...

We all have our weaknesses with running. I'm sure I have many...but one has been completely evident these last two weeks. I STINK at recovering from marathons. I have had a particularly hard time recovering from the  ING Hartford Marathon that I ran on October 12th. My legs seemed to recover fine initially, but I ended up with a case of metatarsalgia in my left foot that *still,* three weeks later, is not 100% better. The good news is, after a trip to the ER and Xrays, I know it is not broken and there are no stress fractures. Even better, is that I can now run on it again.

Between some outside stresses in life, a three week cold that would not go away and the metatarsalgia, this recovery period has been absolute misery. My body (and brain) was it's own worse enemy, and with all the stress I was under from all parts of life, I was just not healing. Until last night.

Rewind 14 months ago. 14 months ago, a comment from a (not really) running friend spurred me to clean up my nutritional act, eventually lose 18lbs, and attain the strength and speed I needed to qualify for Boston and set a personal record in the marathon in 3:32:32.

Last night, some friends let me know that this person was at it again, making shady comments. I was initially hurt by it, but when I told me husband, he laughed. He said "Wait a minute. Last time *he* said something to you, you whipped your ass into shape. You just BQ-ed and PR-ed (he didn't!). What are you going to do this time. Remember baby...KARMA!" Then he followed up by "Now, don't forget to thank him next time you see him, he just gave you a huge gift."

And with perfect timing too. This recovery period did serious damage to my motivation. I BQ-ed. That was the goal I was working on for 14 months. Now what?

All at once, I wasn't angry anymore. Truthfully. A shit eating grin came over me, and I laughed. DAMN STRAIGHT. Game. On. Plans made. Preparations done (thank you husband for your help with this). Time to execute.

1. New training plan made and new training tools purchased - and with lots of time to execute now that I've said buh-bye to facebook.

2. New kitchen tools needed for clean eating prep acquired, new recipes collected.

3. I FINALLY got by Bento box I've been dying for. I know it sounds materialistic, but I've been dying for one of these to help "organize" my clean eating snacking throughout the day.

4. Countdowns Made. 65 days until Providence training starts January 1st. 100 days until Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler - my first check in to see if I'm on track. And...183 days till Providence 26.2.

Although I'd love to write more about how much I stink at recovery...recovery is officially over. I'm off to execute day one of my Karma-riffic training plan.

Bento Box LOVE. IN the tin foil are two egg whites. Also, clementines, strawberries,
raspberries, almonds and carrots with hummus. This, with an apple and a yummy spinach salad
are my eats for the school day.