Trying to get back

... in more ways than one.

I found out soon after the Princess 1/2 that I have a stress fracture in my right leg. I was told to stay off it for 3 weeks (what mother can stay off her leg??) and start back to running slowly.

I have wrestled with what exactly slowly means for me. Run slow, right? or add mileage slow, right? Or both? So... if I ran about 18-22 miles per week at a 10 minute mile pace before I got hurt, what does that mean for slow start up now? in REAL numbers people! Ugh. I lose sleep trying to figure it out. My doctor is no help. He just repeated the one dreaded word: slow. Keep in mind I have my first ever FULL marathon on June 5th. SLOW? How am I supposed to train for this (which I paid over $100 for), run it comfortably, and not hurt myself?

So, I have been running again for about 2 weeks. First week went great. No pain at all. I was like a crazy person though and did a lot of cross training too. Rowing is a favorite. Biggest Loser DVDs, the whole nine. Second week and I am not feeling so well. Sore everywhere, including my leg. Repeat it with me, "SLOW Shawna!"

This past week has my confidence waning, but I refuse to give into the nagging little voice that keeps telling me that I should just stop running. It really helps my world go 'round. Must.keep.running.

Tune in to see how it goes. I promise I slowed down. I promise I wore my so-not-sexy compression sleeves on my shins. Hopefully next week will get better.