A Dream Deferred

In August I was kicked in the gut when my ortho doc told me I could not run the Chicago Marathon 10-10-10. I almost started crying but the bone scan showed two "substantial" stress fractures, one in each leg, funny I only felt the one on the right. I had been preparing for bad news but it felt like a bullet. I was terrified of running 26.2 miles but I was more afraid not to run it. I said prior to my appointment that if I got bad new that meant God had a different plan for me.

I got in my car, dialed my husband and as I backed out of my space I spotted a bumper stick, it was a from Obama's campaign, written in a foreign language no less. Was that my calling? Am I to take on the lies of the Obama-Destroy-America-Train? I can do both. I am totally only half serious.

I decided to focus on cross training in hopes that my follow up appointment would bring great news, I would resume my training four weeks out and finish in 6 hours instead of my original goal of 4.5o ( I can dream). I took some free classes at the YMCA and did things I would have never tried. I learned how to stand up on the stationary spinning bike. One week I kept running into a a woman who was a mushy mom like me. She struck up a conversation with me and shared that she started moving in January and had lost 50 pounds, she was not like me, she strong.

Zachary my 14 year old broke his collar bone on the day of my first ortho appointment, it was my moment but leave it to one of my offspring to steal my thunder. We started going to the gym together to ride bikes since he could not run or exercise. The next thing I knew we were going to the gym at 5am so he could play basketball with a group of men who have a early bird game twice a week. I am not an early riser, my original blog is Madness Of The Midnight Mom. Zach got better but I still get up and workout 60 minutes 5 times a week at 5:30am. I will share more about that later.

Last Friday was my followup appointment. The x-ray showed nothing but so did the original, it was a bone scan that revealed my problems. During the my exam I had to be honest, my right leg was far from 100%. Then came the second shot to the gut, 4 more weeks before I can run again. The 10-10-10 race was not to be. My doctor is very optimistic about a routine that will slowly get me on the road again.

I have received the warmest wishes from everyone in my life. Thank you if you donated to my charity for the race. There is always next year and I have a plan, 10-9-11 is my destiny.