It's been seven long weeks since my last run, and I might need to join a support group soon! I seriously took less time off from running when I had my youngest. After I finally caved and sought medical care for my running injury, I hobbled around on crutches for two weeks, one of those weeks was the first week of school, where I teach in the preschool room. I'm now on my second week crutch-free and had a follow-up appointment with my Orthopedic doctor.
He reviewed the MRI of my femur, stating that this injury had been building but was caught early on, and rest is the best remedy. I am now cleared to walk, bike, use the elliptical, and do squats and lunges without weights.
I'm going back to fitness basics: hitting 10,000 steps, drinking 100 oz of water, aiming for 100 grams of protein daily, working out 5 days per week, and avoiding sugar.
The first big run is scheduled for October 12th, as long as I don't have pain over the next two weeks. By "big run," I mean running a total of 1 mile with a run/walk strategy.
This week, the Boston Qualifiers for 2024 were notified. I broke into the 45-year-old age bracket this year and would've needed at least a 3:50 marathon to apply. During my training, I was aiming for 3:45. A record number of applicants met the minimum qualifying time, 33,058 runners. Of those runners, only 22,019 were selected. There weren't enough spots for the extra 10,000 runners, so even those who had met their qualifying time needed to beat the minimum time by 5 minutes and 29 seconds. If my year had gone as planned, I would've had to run a 3:44:31 marathon to make it to Boston 2024. That's running an 8:34 pace for 26.2 miles. Phew, training for Boston 2025 starts October 12th.