Frustrated.

I haven't been very prolific with my posts of late. To be honest, I've been a bit down contemplative. Last year, 2010, was an absolutely amazing year for me. I finished my second half marathon at Surf City and set a new PR. I finished my FIRST full marathon in San Diego, and even though it wasn't a great race for me, it was a PR since it was a new distance! I went on to have fanastic half marathons at Nike Women's and again in Los Angeles, then completed a 10K and set a new 5K PR for myself. The year culminated with ANOTHER new half PR in Las Vegas. That's five, count them, FIVE BIG races, two shorter ones, and FOUR PRs set. In short, I busted my rear. Literally. All my hard training paid off for me last year, but as we ease into 2011, all that hard training appears to have taken a toll on me. I am dealing with ever increasing pain in my hip, knee tendonitis that flared at Los Angeles and hasn't gone completely away, and as of Monday of this week, plantar fasciatis that I haven't dealt with in YEARS that seems to be creeping back on me.

Several doctor visits and physical therapy visits later, I am still waiting for someone to tell me exactly WHAT is wrong with my hip. I cut my running mileage in half and had no relief. I started stretching more and cross-training more, and still no relief. I have only one small race on my calendar for 2011 so far because I just don't know when I'll really be "race ready" again. It is frustrating!! The icing on the cake? My 40th birthday is this year. I feel like my body is saying, "Well, sure hope you had fun, because I'm going to fall apart now."

I have faced challenges before and I know that with the Lord's help I can tackle whatever comes my way. Good grief, I wanted to run ONE half marathon before I turned 40. I have run FIVE plus a FULL marathon! There's a bible verse in 1 Thessalonians (5:18) that says "Be thankful in all circumstances..." I have SO much to be thankful for. I need to take the advice I offer so often to others, "suck it up." I'm working on that. Right now I'm reading two great books that I hope will help lift my mood...

















And if those aren't enough, I'm also going to see "Hood To Coast" on 1-11-11. If you want to catch it in your town, go to http://www.hoodtocoastmovie.com/ to find out where it's playing. My hope is that all this helps me get over the discouragement of being injured...THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!