A path with no obstacles, probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

The training for my dream race continues! It has been a little tough at times but nothing I can’t overcome. The weather here in Orlando continues to interfere in my training. Now that I am well into the double digits, I much prefer to run outdoors. We dodged a rain filled tropical storm, and still battling with heat in the low 100s. I had a few runs that I had to cut short because the mixture of the heat and humidity was killer.

It did take me 3 tries to successfully complete a 15 miles training run. Storms interrupted one, and the other two were cut short because of my chronic pain. But you all know how I do things…I kept add it until I would do it. And I did! I got rained on a few miles but felt great because it was so hot. Afterwards, for some reason I was having a lot of problems with my hamstring and calf. Yes, I did forget to KT Tape it up, but I did once I got home. It still bothered me, I had stretched, iced, and rested. I had a feeling the pain was coming from my lower back, which believe it or not, most of the hips, hamstrings, and calves pain, come from your lower back.

Even if you have never had pain or trouble with your lower back, but suffer from hip, sciatic pain, or leg pains it can happen. The lower back has a lot of activity and over time, it can have wear and tear thus, radiating the pain down to your legs. Start doing some lower back stretches if you suffer from hip or pain in your legs. You’ll see that you will start to have some relief.

I like to alternate my long distance runs. By that I mean I will do a long run every other weekend. But since my body has been wacky lately and can’t predict when my pains will flare up, I will run on the days I feel good. While I did the 15 miles last weekend, I did 2 miles recovery run and 3 miles runs during the week. This weekend I had planned to do 10 miles which I successfully completed.

I’ve been trying to stick to our team ASICS coach, non other than Coach Kastor…the name should ring a bell 😉 I’ve been talking to him back and forth as to what I should be doing and he has been a GREAT help. My troubled days may be happening more often, but I still refuse to get knocked down. The New York City Marathon is just 53 days away. I have been dreaming of these moments for years. I never thought I’d say that I am training for my dream race this soon. It just goes to show you how powerful you can be if you believe in yourself and never give up on a dream you want to make a reality.

My quest continues, and I am very focused and haven’t lost sight of my goal. I may not be as strong as the other runners, and I may not be as fast, but my love for running is just as big as the others. Stay strong runners, we all have our bad days, but it’s up to you on how to overcome it. Don’t let them get you down. Pick yourself back up and try again.

-the Scoliosis runnner