2014 Naperville Marathon - Or Not...

If you've read any of my posts older than two weeks ago, you know that I signed up for my first full marathon earlier this spring. You also know that I have since dropped out of the race due to a knee injury I suffered this summer. Apparently my knees and a sand volleyball court do not get along well.

Well, that marathon (believe it or not) continued without me this past Sunday.

Since the race was a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon, I did not have the option of selling my registration to someone else or giving it away. As a result, I got stuck paying a decent chunk of money for a race that I wasn't participating in. However, I did realize that (like every other race) my registration comes with some 'free' stuff!

So Karin and I made the trek to Naperville, Illinois on Saturday to visit the expo that coincides with the race. It's a place where runners pick up their race bibs and vendors set up booths to sell running gear. It's a pretty fitness-friendly atmosphere, you could say.

Immediately upon walking in, we spotted a guy in a costume. And there's something you need to know about me - I am a sucker for mascots. If I'm at a parade or anything, I need to get a picture with them. Guess it's just my inner six year old wanting to get out.

We then went over to the board to find my bib number - #1430!

While picking up my bag of stuff, the lady handing things out just HAD to try to make conversation, didn't she? I, of course, just fed her fake questions - but in my head I was thinking:

"Is this your first race?" - It probably looks like it, doesn't it?
"Are you all ready for tomorrow?" - Yup. All ready to sit on the couch and watch football.

Needless to say, I really felt like I didn't belong there. All these skinny, fit runners in their race shirts and bright running shoes really just made me stick out like a big, sore thumb. On top of that, I had ordered a large shirt for the race. Guess I was a little optimistic about my training regimen.

But that being said, going to these types of events still reminds me that I still do have a goal of being a runner. While running a full marathon wasn't part of my Sunday this week, it will still be a part of a Sunday at some point in the future. I haven't given up on this goal yet.

The Injury Bug Strikes!

All the way back in May, I announced that I was going to tackle my first FULL marathon after a few years on the bench. But, as you can already probably predict by the title of this post, that will not be happening anymore.

About a month ago, while up at a summer camp with friends and family from church, I tried to participate in the annual sand volleyball tournament. Well, my knee felt otherwise. During our second game of the tournament, it decided to buckle underneath my overweight-ness (accompanied by three, terrifying pops) with a little help from the uneven, shifting, soft sand court. Awesome. At least my team went on to win the tournament without me!

As you can see, my right knee swelled up nice and big...

After getting back from camp, I wasn't able to get to the orthopedic doctor for 2.5 weeks. By then, things had started to settle down a little bit - I was able to walk without a limp, and it really only hurt when doing a squatting motion or trying to jog. The doctor didn't really find anything wrong either, with the exception of a half-hearted, hail mary "possible torn meniscus" diagnosis. He suggested I head to physical therapy for 6-8 weeks and get back to him after that. While there, they further diagnosed a hamstring strain and possible meniscus tear. Splendid.

So since then I've been forced to deal with the reality that I won't be able to finish training for the marathon in two months. I've fallen extremely far behind in my training, and don't want to risk further injury by trying to rush back into things. The icing on the cake is that I can't get sell my registration to someone else either, since the race is a Boston qualifier. Better believe I'm going to pick up my swag bag though!