Saturday, April 5, 2008

6-4-1=Me...

Well I never thought I would be running this Saturday by myself, but I was. I guess I have the unfortunate task of writing about this week's troubles.

We started out with 6 girls. Two got injured mid way into training. The four of us continued on in our journey until last week when we got the terrible news. Kristie, our pacesetter and beautiful friend was hit by a car with her husband driving home. Thank goodness they weren't seriously injured, but it was a serious accident and they were taken to the hospital and the 24 year driver of the other vehicle was life flighted. He was running from police and rear ended their car going 100 mph. I will let her tell the rest of the story if and when she's up to it- but that was the start of a week of awful luck.

Kimmie, another dear friend, was actually leaving the hospital after visiting Kristie and was also rear ended. Again, luckily, she was not seriously hurt, but she did have to go to the emergency room and both girls are suffering severe neck pain.

It is a very difficult thing to watch close friends suffer and I just want you to know Kristie and Kimmie, how much I enjoyed getting to know you and that I'm praying for your quick recovery in time for us all to run the marathon. Together.

So this Saturday for our last long run, there was just 2 of us left. It was an odd feeling having so many girls missing but we decided to do 15 miles anyway.

Long story short, Jen immediately started feeling intense pain in her knee and had to stop less than 2 miles into it. And that's how we got down to me running in my race day outfit alone, along the marathon course to the finish line.

Trust me, it's not as fun...but I guess I'm glad that I was able to finish. Not without a lot of pain though. I think I would have stopped myself if I had a choice but my car was parked at the finish line. So I had to keep going. I fear both my knees are injured. I'm going to go to a sports therapist as soon as I can. I'm so scared to hear what he's going to say because I've had this pain for awhile now and I've just kept going somehow.
Damn patella tendons!!!

Anyway, I don't feel like I wrote this post well, and I'm sweating right now as my two yr old is on top of me trying to type with me. I think I need to go pop some Ibuprofen.

Thanks to all our readers for their support and comments! We appreciate it so much and look forward to keeping this blog alive after the race. I intend to keep running until every spec of fat is off my thighs and then I'll just keep running because by that time, I'll probably be good at it.

I am beginning to understand that once you go *black you never go back.

*black, meaning toenails or the actual marathon (which doesn't make sense)...but black rhymed better and is funny.

Happy running to all of our readers and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone on race day.

Cheers.

6 comments:

Jen said...

I am SOOOOOO sorry I couldn't finish with you today! It just hurt too much. I went to the chiropractor and got adjusted. He said the problem likely was coming from everything being out of whack with alignment. And, I'm going to go to a sports physical therapist on Wed or Thurs. I am finishing this freaking marathon, if I have to down an entire bottle of pain reliever!

Anne said...

What a horrible week! I wish all of you a speedy recovery.

Kera, I was diagnosed with patellar tendonitis in both knees about a month and a half before I ran the St. George marathon last year and was told by my orthopedist that I couldn't do any more damage by running the marathon, so I did...with lots of pain killers and chopat (knee) straps on both knees. I hope your sports therapist gives you similar news and that you're able to run the race!

foxontherun said...

I am so sorry to hear about your friends accidents. I wish them a speedy recovery and hope they can run the marathon with you.

Remember that you've done the miles. Take it easy this last week and 1/2. You can always do what I do and hop into the pool with the aqua jogger.

Good Luck!

Anne said...

I am a new fan to this fabulous site. I'm so sorry that 2 of the girls got in those accidents, and I hope they recover fully soon.

Regarding your knees, my husband has had 2 knee reconstructions and an additional surgery to fix a ligament (all due to soccer injuries) and he completed a full marathon as well as a half wearing knee straps and taking pain killers before the races. His knees still get achy, but he manages to finish. Not that I want him pounding on his knees forever as I want him to be able to chase after our kids...

Anyway, I will be thinking and praying for all of you on the 19th, even those who wont be running! Also, maybe when you guys decide to do another run (not necessarily a marathon), maybe I will find one out here the same day and will run in conjuction with you. This site definitely inspires me to run more!!!

Ang said...

So sorry about your friends!!! It's unbelievable!

Way to go finishing all by yourself!!!!! You are going to rock the marathon!

Leilani said...

I've been following your blog for just a few weeks, but I have become very invested in your progress. I was so upset for you hen I read Kera's post Saturday night. I thought about all six of you during my Sunday run. Everytime I got tired, I would think of you and run faster. It was hard, but I ended running my best time ever. I am hoping and praying that everyone in the WRFDJ group mends quickly, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.