False Start

You know that feeling you get when you're super excited for something, like those left overs you put in the fridge the other night from your favorite restaurant, or having plans with a friend you haven't seen in a while? Or maybe, just maybe it's being signed up for a race and prepping to run for a month. Well guess what, someone ate your leftovers, your friend cancelled on you and the race was postponed.....wait what!?

I got the most FRUSTRATING email last week Thursday, and it went something a little like this:
"Because of impending weather conditions, the Chicago Police, concerned for the public safety of Polar Dash runners, have deemed the race for this weekend “critically unsafe” and will not allow the race to take place.

Our Team discussed the matter with the Chicago Park District, who graciously agreed to reschedule the event to NEXT SATURDAY, Jan. 21^st. "

.....CAN THEY DO THAT!??!

Well apparently they can, and just did! The only sucky part about it though is that now I can't run in it :( Ok truth be told, when the guy at the marathon expo tried to convince me to sign up for the race in October I looked at him and told him he was crazy! A few months later though my lovely racing partner, Alison Kool, twisted my arm and told me I should run it....because you get a cool fleece! Ha! So a reach for the credit card, one, two three, submit....oh look at that I'm signed up!

A half marathon doesn't seem like much but even still I increased my runs outside, despite the weather having an extreme case of bipolar. It felt good to run long distances, 6...8...10! I love 10 mile runs, that itch comes on and before you know it I'm scratchin' it all the way up to McCormick place :)

About two weeks-ish ago though I went for one of these fabulous runs only to have a significant amount of knee pain about 5 miles out on the run. Now see let me paint this picture for you, 5 miles away from home with a sore knee and it is freezing outside so walking just ain't gonna cut it. What else would I do besides run home on it? Well when I got back to the gym I hit up one of the athletic trainers I know and she took one look at it, told me it was swollen and that I shouldn't run on it. This was then followed by the phrase, "But I know you're going to run on it anyways so ice, wrap and rest it Sam." Ahhh she's knows me too well :)

I finished up the week tapering down to a 5 mile and then a 3 mile with weights and strength exercises and did a little pool action. I even went out and got a knee brace, which actually helped my running a lot. All said and done I felt like I could push through 13.1 miles, just so I could say I did.

Until I got the email. The disheartening part about it all is that now I can't run the race. Next weekend starts my swim lesson program and unfortunately it's not something I can just get out of. So I suppose this is one of those times that disappointment ensues, but what are you going to do?

.

...Write a nasty email and demand a refund......