Introduction: past and present

Training for the full marathon initially began on July 27th 2010. I looked online and found a pretty reasonable training schedule that was for 26 weeks. Perfect, as I planned to run it in February and the schedule terminated on January 23rd 2010. However, I was overzealous. I didn't listen to my body and I suffered an overuse injury right after I ran a half marathon on November 28th 2010 (photo above). I started feeling tension in the lateral part of my left knee around the first week of December but I kept ignoring it. I was sure that it was only normal soreness from running and that once I took a few days off I'd be back in shape. 

On December 12th 2010, after a 10-day hiatus from running, (and a few days after suffering from a cold), I hit the trail again. It was a long run of 18 miles. Yet, just a week ago I had pain in my knee. I had to stop at mile 16 because the pain became unbearable. I actually felt the pain at mile 12/13 but I didn't stop. I told myself that it didn't hurt enough for me to stop running, although the nagging pain was still there. The next day I woke up with a stiff, painful knee. I could barely walk to the bathroom! I was only able to sit on the toilet seat with help from my husband. Even so, I rode my static bike for 10 minutes and did a lot of stretching. At that point I figured it was time to do some research on how to heal this injury. I was still convinced that I'd be fine by February to run my marathon. 

I found that I was suffering from Iliotibial Band Syndrome. It's a lateral pain in the knee. The ligament rubs against the bone causing irritation and pain. Normally there is no swelling (which I didn't have) and the only "cure" is rest. It is an overuse injury. It typically takes 4-6 weeks to heal, meaning, I had to hault my marathon training for four weeks. Looking back, I was so sure that after that four weeks I was going to run the marathon and finish. Now I know that even when the supposed healing time is over that doesn't mean I would have been well enough to run 26 miles. 

So, on December 9th 2010, my denial now over, I stopped training. It was incredibly hard. I was down, depressed, feeling fat, and I even thought that I would never recover. To cope, I started incorporating visualization techniques into my life. Basically, you run in your mind and visualize the route, your breathing, and the feel of your feet on the pavement. It's a kind of therapy that helps athletes in recovery. 

That January 2011, I started including weight training and the static bike after the six weeks were up. I started running again on January 13th 2011, for 15 minutes. I would run three times a week for 15 minutes. If my leg felt healthy the following week, I'd increase the time by five minutes. I didn't reach 30 minutes until February 2nd 2011. I am now running 1 hour and 40 minutes, three times a week, and I feel great! I plan to start my training again the second half of June.  

This has been a learning experience. I have learned to relax, breathe, and take my time. Most of all I listen to my body now. If I need a break, I take one. If I need to stretch more, I do. I even do yoga twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays to help me de-stress and maintain my flexibility. I hope to use this blog to keep me honest. I am doing all the right things right now and I want to keep up the motivation. Maybe I can even help someone else.

As for the hair journey, that is recently new. I've been natural since my sophormore year at college (2004) but I feel newly natural. My goal is to take better care of my hair to I can maximize my own growth potential. I will include my regimen, products I use, hair styles and things that I learn from the internet. Including things I've learned on youtube or from other blogs by naturalistas that I follow. I measured my hair May 22nd and so my three month update on length will be at the end of August. I can't wait! (Look for more photos soon).

I look forward to sharing my Recipe for Health.