One night last July, Jon was internetting (yes, I've turned the word 'internet' into a verb. in my language, anything can be verbified.) and found out that Walt Disney World hosts races a few times a year. He told me about one he knew would catch my attention: The Disney Princess Half Marathon. One problem? I wasn't a runner. Yeah, in high school I could pump out 6 minute miles, but I was 10 years younger and 20 lbs lighter. And while I've run a few 5K's recently, a half marathon was out of the question. Thirteen point one miles? Run for longer than 35 minutes? Is that even possible?
A week or so later, I was doing some internetting (ha!) of my own, in preparation for a trip in which we would be visiting Tallahassee and Cocoa Beach, with a one night stop in Orlando. A whole afternoon to spend in Disney World! I hit the interwebs for some information on dining options and lo and behold, I stumble across a blurb about Disney races. Out of curiosity (and the fact that Jon insisted with enough training, I could surely complete a half marathon), I Googled the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I checked out the info on the website, read race reports, and found the WISH forum at Disboards.com. The race sounded like a blast, and the support that Jon was giving me made me realize this is something I could do if I really tried. So Jon came up with a training plan for me, and over the next few weeks I started my training. I also read Jeff Galloway's book, Half Marathon: You Can Do It! and Bob & Shelly-Lynn Glover's The Competitive Runner's Handbook, as well as subscribed to Runner's World magazine. I decided if I was going to be a runner, I needed to learn the ins and outs of the sport.
As summer turned to autumn, my runs were getting longer. During one 3 mile run at the gym, I had soreness in my, well, butt area, on the right side. I'd had this pain a few times before and made sure I stretched it out, so that day I did the same. By the time we'd arrived home from the gym, I couldn't move. I literally fell onto my couch, face first, and remained that way while Jon made dinner. This was no pulled muscle: the next day at the doctor I found out it was sciatica. I hadn't heard of sciatica before, but it's simply a set of symptoms that come when the sciatic nerve - what The Competitive Runner's Handbook describes as 'the longest river of pain in the body' - is somehow pinched or compressed. I think the Glovers had it right, because this was the worst pain I'd ever felt. I spent the next 2 days on the couch watching The Office on Netflix, while drifting in and out of a painkiller-induced sleep (Vicodin, muscle relaxers, and Ibuprofen will do that to a person). When I got back to running 2-3 weeks later, I would feel okay until I hit 2 miles. Then the pain would come back and I'd end up walking slowly home, discouraged, the doctor's words repeating in my head: "once you get sciatica, you usually have it for life". What was my body doing? Didn't it know I had a half marathon to run? Walking home from what was meant to be a 4-mile run, only to end after 2, Jon assured me that he was proud of me either way, and if I had to forego this year's race and wait until next year, I still had accomplished so much just by trying. It meant a lot to hear that, but I couldn't help but be upset. I decided then and there that I would find a physical therapist to help me work through this injury and keep training for the 2010 race.
Thanksgiving came and went, and my PT sessions were going well. I learned that my pelvis was out of alignment - a common symptom amongst runners - and that contributes to the compression of my sciatic nerve. They also had me working on core exercises, which would prevent the compression as well. I eased back into running (pain-free, at that!) and made it to one of my short term goals: The Five Miler. I left the gym that day so high off running; I had run for 5 miles over the course of one hour without pain, and managed to end knowing I could have gone longer. As Christmas approached, we decided it was time to book our trip. Jon and I felt confident that throughout the rest of the winter, I'd be able to get in the mileage I needed to be well prepared for the half.
Running wasn't on my agenda for the last week before our trip; I had hit my first double-digit run of 10 miles (another milestone!) a few days prior and was now in taper mode. Packing, running errands, getting my playlist ready, checking over and over and over that I'd packed my running sneakers... I was a stress case, to say the least. I'd done all that I could up to that point - race weekend was here.
A week or so later, I was doing some internetting (ha!) of my own, in preparation for a trip in which we would be visiting Tallahassee and Cocoa Beach, with a one night stop in Orlando. A whole afternoon to spend in Disney World! I hit the interwebs for some information on dining options and lo and behold, I stumble across a blurb about Disney races. Out of curiosity (and the fact that Jon insisted with enough training, I could surely complete a half marathon), I Googled the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I checked out the info on the website, read race reports, and found the WISH forum at Disboards.com. The race sounded like a blast, and the support that Jon was giving me made me realize this is something I could do if I really tried. So Jon came up with a training plan for me, and over the next few weeks I started my training. I also read Jeff Galloway's book, Half Marathon: You Can Do It! and Bob & Shelly-Lynn Glover's The Competitive Runner's Handbook, as well as subscribed to Runner's World magazine. I decided if I was going to be a runner, I needed to learn the ins and outs of the sport.
As summer turned to autumn, my runs were getting longer. During one 3 mile run at the gym, I had soreness in my, well, butt area, on the right side. I'd had this pain a few times before and made sure I stretched it out, so that day I did the same. By the time we'd arrived home from the gym, I couldn't move. I literally fell onto my couch, face first, and remained that way while Jon made dinner. This was no pulled muscle: the next day at the doctor I found out it was sciatica. I hadn't heard of sciatica before, but it's simply a set of symptoms that come when the sciatic nerve - what The Competitive Runner's Handbook describes as 'the longest river of pain in the body' - is somehow pinched or compressed. I think the Glovers had it right, because this was the worst pain I'd ever felt. I spent the next 2 days on the couch watching The Office on Netflix, while drifting in and out of a painkiller-induced sleep (Vicodin, muscle relaxers, and Ibuprofen will do that to a person). When I got back to running 2-3 weeks later, I would feel okay until I hit 2 miles. Then the pain would come back and I'd end up walking slowly home, discouraged, the doctor's words repeating in my head: "once you get sciatica, you usually have it for life". What was my body doing? Didn't it know I had a half marathon to run? Walking home from what was meant to be a 4-mile run, only to end after 2, Jon assured me that he was proud of me either way, and if I had to forego this year's race and wait until next year, I still had accomplished so much just by trying. It meant a lot to hear that, but I couldn't help but be upset. I decided then and there that I would find a physical therapist to help me work through this injury and keep training for the 2010 race.
Thanksgiving came and went, and my PT sessions were going well. I learned that my pelvis was out of alignment - a common symptom amongst runners - and that contributes to the compression of my sciatic nerve. They also had me working on core exercises, which would prevent the compression as well. I eased back into running (pain-free, at that!) and made it to one of my short term goals: The Five Miler. I left the gym that day so high off running; I had run for 5 miles over the course of one hour without pain, and managed to end knowing I could have gone longer. As Christmas approached, we decided it was time to book our trip. Jon and I felt confident that throughout the rest of the winter, I'd be able to get in the mileage I needed to be well prepared for the half.
Running wasn't on my agenda for the last week before our trip; I had hit my first double-digit run of 10 miles (another milestone!) a few days prior and was now in taper mode. Packing, running errands, getting my playlist ready, checking over and over and over that I'd packed my running sneakers... I was a stress case, to say the least. I'd done all that I could up to that point - race weekend was here.
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