Back On Track for NYC Marathon!

It has been a busy, not to mention a little frustrating, couple of months. Summer is pretty much over in Alaska, but we are having a beautiful fall. We don’t get all the red colors like in some areas in the lower 48, but the gold colors have been so vibrant this past week.  I have not been able to capture the beauty of the area on my iPhone but below is an attempt.

These were all taken near my home in Eagle River Alaska while out on a run. It is my most favorite time of the year!

As for running, it has been an on again off again type of training. I think I have the training all figured out and then due to flare ups of my injury, I have to revise my training plan. I have even contemplated pushing that scary red button on the NYRR website, but being that I can defer right up to the day before, I haven’t pushed it.

To defer until next year would seem like a better option so that I can get this tendon issue taken care of and really enjoy the training for the NYC marathon. But, this marathon is on my bucket list and I don’t want to take a chance of not being able to run it next year for some unforseen reason. So, I am forging ahead….

Along with my insertional achilles problem (which has greatly improved), I have developed mid-portional achilles tendonitis in my right leg which gets very tender and painful during the run. I was treated by a DO which was helpful for the short term, but the pain keeps reoccuring . However, I was vacationing in Idaho and was able to run the entire time I was there. Most of the runs were done on unpaved country roads which was really nice and softens the impact.

I love running out in the country, the scenery is awesome!

The week-end after vacation, I was signed up for the Skinny Raven’s Half Marathon. Since my training was going good and I could run without pain, I thought I would do it and use it as a training run.

 

I did finish the run, but at mile 8, I could feel my achilles tightening up and by the end of the race it was pretty tender. I ended up taking two weeks off after that which was really stressing me because at that point there was only 10 weeks left before the NYC marathon. I wasn’t very optimistic that I was going to be able to do this marathon 🙁 .

I had already been to a few different doctors over the past few months for my left leg achilles problems. I would get the achilles tendonitis diagnosis and put on their protocol for treatment. The problem is, it hasn’t worked for me. So, a running friend of mine suggested I see her chiropractor, Dr Englebrecht at Arctic Chiropractic, in Palmer, Ak. I wasn’t optimistic about seeing a chiropractor, especially one that was a significant distance out of my way. But, I thought, why not!

And….I love him! He is the reason I have been able to run the last few weeks, and he is very optimistic that I will be able to run NYC.  He treats the whole body of course which includes evaluating spinal dysfunction, nerve function, kinesis and areas of  weakness among other things.  He also does myofascial release and I have been able to run pain free since going to him. My tendon gets a little tender afterwards at times but after stretching, foam rolling, and icing, I am ready to run again the next day. I hope my therapy with him continues to improve!

So I am back to being excited about NYC! As of this moment, the time until the NYC Marathon is:

Keeping my fingers crossed and babying my achilles 🙂