Lots of exciting things have happened this past week. I'm too lazy to attempt to make some sort of cohesive blog post out of them all, so I think I'll just do this one list style... here it goes:
Exciting thing #1: I finally got my act together and sent out my fundraising letter! (I probably should not be admitting this) I would be lying if I said that the fact that I have been injured didn't play a major role in my lack of motivation to get this done. But I also have to admit that writing this letter for my second year on DFMC was much more difficult than last year. Last year I relied heavily on the "WHOA! Lauren is running a marathon... I'd pay (or rather, donate) to see that!" factor to pique people's interest, make them aware of my cause and bring in donations. This year, me running is old news. But this past weekend, I had an epiphany. Me running a marathon may be old news, but cancer is most certainly not. And with that in mind, I wrote my letter, got my first round of emails out the door, and am well on my way to raising $17,000 (fingers crossed) for cancer research.
Exciting thing #2: I ran! I ran 3 miles, no stopping, outside, and with very minimal hip pain! If you could have seen the smile on my face as I came into the final stretch of the run over the Charlestown Bridge... a 3 mile run has never made me quite so happy.
Exciting thing #3: I walked down the hill the morning after my run with no pain! While this doesn't seem like much, trust me it is. Every morning, whether I'm going to work or going to get coffee on the weekends, I walk down the same hill and feel like a 90 year-old woman hobbling around on my bum hip. There are days when the pain has been so bad that I have to inch down the sidewalk, making what should be a 2 minute walk into upwards of 5. It was to the point where I had forgotten what a normal, pain-free walk downhill even felt like. And then Sunday morning as I prepared to hobble down for my coffee, my hip greeted me with a pleasant surprise... nothing! I felt like a normal person walking down a hill- sad that this is exciting.
Exciting thing #4: On Sunday afternoon, I did my long "run" on the Arc Trainer at my gym. Now, I think I've already made clear my dislike of this machine, but with the marathon fast approaching, I put my hatred aside and spent the next 3 hours rocking out to my ipod, kicking my own butt on the AT, and receiving strange looks from nearly everyone around me. Sure, 3 hours on a machine is a little crazy, but when I'm in training, anything goes. I left the gym feeling a little woozy, a little crazy, and a lot of proud that I managed to stick it out.
And finally, Exciting thing #5: Despite some hard workouts and some running, I have been pretty much pain free for the last 5 days or so. What does this mean? Well, I'm hoping it means I'm on the road to recovery, and more importantly, just on the road in general. I talked to Jack last night at track and he gave me the okay to try and get myself ready to run the New Bedford Half coming up on March 15. Of course, this is all dependent on the fact that my hip continues to feel good, but the prospect of maybe, just maybe, being able to run 13 fishy smelling miles (walking through the water stops of course... see Jack, I did listen!) in 2 and a half weeks has got me feeling positively giddy! (I cannot believe I just admitted that, remember when I hated running?)
Anyways, all in all, it's been a good week, and I'm in good spirits... here's hoping it stays that way. Between New Bedford, fundraising and Boston, I've got a lot of work ahead of me , but I'm ready for it (and so is my hip hopefully). 1 month, 22 days to go...
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