Shortly after the birth of the Garmin, I moved to Hawaii for graduate school. Something about the move made me confident enough to sign up for a local 5k, and I ended up taking home 3rd place female overall (it was a very small field).
I couldn't believe that I had actually won a prize for something athletic. I began to think of what other races I could do. I decided to sign up for the Phedippidations worldwide half marathon challenge. Steve Runner introduced me to his running adviser John Ellis, and we began a friendship via the net. When John first suggested I run a marathon, I thought he was insane. After he explained to me that I was more than capable of running one, I decided to sign up and train for my first: the 2007 Honolulu Marathon.
While I was training, I thought I was doing everything right. I was running faster and longer and pushed harder and harder. My half marathon time even predicted I could qualify for Boston in my first marathon. I kept pushing through my training, and ignored many warning signs. Two weeks outside of the marathon, I had some weird groin pain. Thinking it was a muscle pull, I took the entire two week taper period completely off. I was determined to finish my first marathon. During the race, I experienced excruciating pain. The pain got so bad that I was running with an awkward gait, and my hip kept locking. Around mile 16, I had this feeling that if I stopped running I would not be able to take another step. So I continued to the finish.
The moment I finished, the pain was overwhelming. I couldn't lift my leg to step up on the curb, and ended up passing out in my bathroom that night. I went to the student health clinic, and serendipitously was able to see the sports medicine specialist. He sent me to an MRI right away. Still thinking I just had a muscle pull, I told him all I needed was some muscle relaxants, but he sent me to the hospital. After my MRI the radiologist came in and sat next to me. He said "are you sure you hurt yourself in the marathon and not in a car accident?" He went on to explain that my pelvis was completely fractured in two places, and he had only seen this in car accident victims. My doctor explained that I most likely had a stress fracture going into the marathon, and the act of running the marathon completely fractured the bone in the superior and inferior pubic ramus.
I was on crutches for a month, and then two more months of no running. During that time, I picked up biking and swimming and dabbled in some short distance triathlons. While I recovered I vowed I would qualify for Boston within the next year. My friend the Running Laminator took me under his wing and offered to help coach me towards my goal. I trained hard and missed my goal by 2 minutes in my first try at the Maui Marathon. Two months later I nailed my BQ time by 3 minutes in the Las Vegas Marathon.
A week later I qualified to be a member of the marathon maniacs by running the Honolulu Marathon.
My 2010 season was my biggest one yet. In May I qualified for the Kona Ironman World Championship at the Hawaii 70.3. In October I did my first Ironman, Kona, in just over 11 hours.
Four weeks later I finished the Florida Ironman in 10:46.
Two months later I finished my first 100 miler, the HURT 100.
I still consider myself a newbie in this sport and am excited to see how much progress I can make. I'm taking a small break at the start of 2011 to focus on my PhD work, but will resume triathlon training in the spring to try to shatter existing PRs. I'm excited to have you follow along with my progress this year!
If you want to learn more about my injury and recovery, click on the "pubic ramus stress fracture" tag.
