2009 Nike Women’s Marathon Trip – Day Five

Monday 10.19.09

For whatever reason, Sharon and I woke up around 4:30am and couldn’t fall back to sleep.  She read the newspaper and I just laid in bed, enjoying being snuggled up in bed.  A little later we decided to take showers and head downstairs to get some breakfast because I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to Bread and Cocoa with the girls.  I ordered a veggie omelette and hashbrowns that wasn’t as good as I hoped, but it was still better than a bagel and a banana.

Half an hour later the Super Shuttle came to get Sharon and a little while later we got a call that our shuttle was outside too.  Turns out it was the same one Sharon was on – go figure!

Sharon and me before leaving for the airport

We made it to the airport only to be told that our flight was delayed and we wouldn’t be able to make our connecting flight in Vegas.  Oh geez!  The guy who worked for Southwest told us that if we could make it to the Oakland airport (a 40 minute taxi ride) the flight out of there left about 15 minutes later than our original flight and we would be fine.  Thank goodness that we were at the airport super early so I hobbled behind everyone else as we went outside to catch a taxi.

40 minutes and $75 later we arrived at the airport.  We stood in one line and then told to go to another one – only to be told again to go to the original one.  Gotta love it.  Luckily the Oakland airport is smaller than the San Francisco airport so we made it through security quickly and made it to our gate in time to go to the bathroom and to get something to eat for the plane ride since our layover in Las Vegas was only 30 minutes.  I wish I could say that the flight was uneventful, but about 30 minutes before we landed the pilot kept dropping in altitude and going back up.  Then when we landed he swerved all over the run way!  It was horrible and by far the worst flight I’d ever been on!

After a trip to the bathroom Kristin, Hilary and I went into a place to get something to eat since our flight came in earlier than we expected and our connecting flight was delayed for about 15 minutes.  While we were waiting for our food I noticed people standing up near our gate and Hilary went to look, but saw that the departure time was still 15 minutes later.  We asked for our food to go, just in case, and we left for our gate.  It was a good thing because apparently the plane had already boarded and they were waiting for us!  Ooops!

The flight was long but uneventful and we were all thankful for that!  We got in to Jax around 8:30pm and I called Carl to see where he was and he was just parking the car to meet us at baggage claim.  However, when we into the lobby area (before where security is) I saw my wonderful husband holding the most amazing sign ever.

My amazing husband!

At this point I was sore as anything from sitting for so long on the plane and my right foot HURT.  I could put weight on it, but it hurt when I went to walk or bend it.  I limped along though the airport until we got to the car and then we dropped off Kristin and Rachel in the parking lot.

We made it home, had something to eat and I collapsed into bed.

After work on Tuesday I decided to go see my doctor to see what was going on with my foot.  I could move my foot, wiggle my toes, push back and everything but I couldn’t put weight on it while bending it.  The doctor decided to have me to up to the hospital for some x-rays because they did’t have a machine there.  I actually made it to the hospital and back to the doctor’s office (they are only 5 miles apart) for him to read the x-ray before they closed, which was quite the feat since I was hobbling like anything.  I could tell from the x-ray that nothing was broken but apparently I have a pre-stress fracture on my right foot halfway between my ankle and pinky toe.  Boo! The doctor thinks it was from the hills and the constant beating of my foot against the pavement for nearly 7 hours.  I can’t run for at least 2 weeks and I have to wear a stiff-soled shoe as long as I have no foot pain – otherwise I have to go in a boot.  I’m pleased to say that my Clark’s and an old pair of New Balance stability shoes work perfectly!

I’m bummed that I didn’t make it through the marathon without hurting myself and that I have to take some time off, but I know that the longer that I stay away from running the faster I’ll be able to run again – if that makes sense.  I am really thankful that I didn’t feel any pain during the marathon, though!  Other than my foot pain, which has greatly subsided each day, I can say that muscle-wise I felt fine by Tuesday.

I’ve been exhausted this past week so I didn’t do much exercising at all, but I’m going to use this time to focus on strength training and yoga so I won’t lose too much fitness (riiiight!) and totally suck wind when I start running again.  I do feel a twinge when I see people running down the street and believe it or not I actually want to be running right now.  One more week and then I’ll give it a try 🙂

Thank you all for your kind, supportive and encouraging words while I’ve been training!  I don’t know that I’ll be doing a marathon again any time soon, but I definitely have my eye on a half marathon in March.