My Book Report Is Overdue!

Remember having to do book reports as a kid?  The teacher assigned you a book and gave you three weeks to read it and write up a report on what you thought the themes were, who your favorite character was and why, stuff like that?  Do you remember thinking to yourself, “Wow, three whole weeks!  I can get this done, no problem.  I’ll read the book twice, do an outline of my report first, then write it up.  With that much time I can even have a table of contents and draw a cool cover.”  Then a week later, with the book untouched, you thought, “OK, I’ll just read it once, skip the outline, and it’ll all be fine.”  And then a week after that: “OK, read the book, write the report, no cover.  It’ll work out.”  Then the night before the report is due you’re still up at midnight, writing furiously and hoping that you get really sick before tomorrow so that you don’t have to go to school. 

Remember all that?  Well, actually, I don’t.  I was that kid in your class who started the book the day it was assigned, did the outline, wrote up a table of contents, made the cover, and handed it all in the week before it was due (you’re surprised?  Because you think I was really cool as a kid and became a nerd later in life?).  I plan out and organize everything.  I set up calendars, create schedules, plan in that buffer time that I rarely ever need.  I even Google Map my itinerary when I go on long drives even though I have a Garmin, partly because my sense of direction is really that bad, and partly just so that I’ll know what to expect and how long it will take me to get there (and may God bless the inventor of GPS). 

Here in the Northeast, the most comfortable months to race are roughly from mid-March (except this year when the temperature was still in the mid-20s, grumble, grumble…) to about mid-November.  So, I had my entire race season mapped out and mostly registered for in early January.  The NYC Triathlon is July 14^th.  I registered for it last October.  But then I was felled by a fractured foot which my orthopedist PROMISED to me (at least that’s how I remember it) that would keep me in a boot and unable to do any land sports for 6 weeks.  So, I adjusted my schedule.  I did the math, and waved goodbye to 3 running races and 1 triathlon in April and May.  I had an Olympic triathlon on June 1^st that I would be back in shoes for but wouldn’t have time to train for so I let that one go, too.  Oh well, that’s the risk you take when you sign up for races so early.

To gain guaranteed entry into the NYC Marathon, a person needs to run 9 races with NY Road Runners and volunteer for 1 the year prior.  Of course, I did my volunteer stint the second week of January, but I only got in 3 of the 9 I need to participate in before I got injured.  By my original plan, I was going to run my 9^th in mid-July.    My 6 weeks in boot captivity plus a couple of weeks of rehab time was going to cause me to miss 4 races.  No problem.  I can still hand this book report in by about mid-September.

But then the unthinkable happened.  I failed my first test ever (well other than my first road test when I was too short to see the stop sign behind a dumpster and blew right through it, oops).  My second MRI was supposed to provide me with emancipation from my boot and set me on the path towards physical rehab and a somewhat jostled but still under control race schedule.  Except, it didn’t.  My boot incarceration was extended by 2 more weeks.  That killed another 10K and a third triathlon.  It was OK, though.  There are a bunch of NYRR races in September and October.  I’ll get my 9^th in before Columbus Day.  No time to draw a cover, but it will still all work out.

But, there was also the issue of training for this year’s marathon on November 3^rd.  Normally I don’t need to start marathon training until mid-July, when I’m in such good condition from spring and summer races that an 8 mile run is too easy if it’s not preceded by an hour long bike ride.  But this year isn’t normal.  I haven’t run since early April.  I won’t run a step until early July, meaning I wasn’t going to pull off anything defined as a “long run” by mid-July when I planned to start marathon training.  Again, this was OK.  I found shorter training plans that still have me toeing the line on the Staten Island side of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge on the first Sunday in November.  I’ll get to run it, it just may not be my best work.  I can live with that.

Then my doctor’s assistant sent me an email.  My orthopedist wanted me in the boot for FOUR more weeks, not two.  The assistant thought he meant 4 weeks from that day, I figured he meant 4 weeks from the previous MRI 2 weeks earlier.  I was right, she was wrong, and I helped a full grown adult count to 4.  And as satisfying as it was to be able to help someone figure out such a complex math problem, that now kept me in the boot until at least the end of June.

With a very heavy heart, I scratched the NYC Triathlon on July 14^th – my last scheduled triathlon of the season – from my schedule. I also tried to figure out how many weeks I have left before the marathon.  OK, no outline, no table of contents.  But I’ll still make it, right?  And how many races does NYRR have in November and December?  Can I get in all 9?

The answer: I don’t know.  At the end of June, the doctor might allow me to wear two shoes again, or he may keep me in the boot for another month (and here’s hoping that his assistant can count that out all by herself this time).  I might have time to train and run 6 more races in 2013, but I might not.  I may run the NYC Marathon in November, or not again until 2015 (and don’t tell me that I could get in next year by lottery.  I’m a statistician.  I know the odds are better of the Mets making it to the World Series).

I still plan to run a marathon this year, but I’m making my peace with the possibility that it won't be the NYC Marathon on November 3rd.  I have two back-ups: the Philadelphia Marathon on November 17^th, and one in Virginia on December 8^th.  And if those don’t work out, when I’m done training I’ll just walk out my door one morning and not come home until I’ve run 26.2 miles.

Injuries happen, and I can’t control everything.  But I can control my reaction to them.  I can go back to being “Fat Girl” and drown my sorrows in a Crumbs cupcake or two (for those who don’t know Crumbs, their cupcakes are roughly as big as your head), or I can stay “Fit Girl”, continue to eat healthy, and work out as much and as safely as I can.  I’m still going to finish my report, it just might have to be on a different book than the one I had planned on.