Oh, hey there blog.

Well, it's been a while.  Over two months, to be exact!  Training for the half has been a very tough and eye-opening experience.  I have mentioned several times about how my feet go numb after I have been running or walking for a few miles.  As you can imagine, this is very annoying.  After time, new shoes, stretching, and voodoo did nothing to make the numbness better, I went to see an orthopedic doctor.  He basically said "hmmm, this is weird, not really sure how to fix it."  He sent me to physical therapy, which I've been doing for a few months. 

I ran a 10k in mid-August and it was like my feet were worse than ever.  I went back to the doctor.  Frustratingly, no one can give me an explanation of why this happens.  My doctor advised me to stop running and to continue with physical therapy and other non-running exercises to strengthen my leg muscles.  The educated guess of various doctors and therapists is that I just have very tight, knotted up leg muscles. 

So, I'm not running right now.  I'm so disappointed.  I know I'm awfully naive, but I thought if I just put the time in with this I could accomplish it.  Turns out my body needs some more work.  It's no secret that I carry a few extra pounds, but I'm finding now how incredibly difficult it is to become an athlete in your 30s.  Wow.  It's hard.

Team Spina Bifida is letting me push my race date out to another half, so now I'm working towards running the Publix half marathon in Atlanta in March 2013.   My fundraising will just continue until then (I've raised over $1300!!).  Hopefully if I spend several months working on leg strength and low-impact cardio, I will be able to complete the half training without my feet betraying me.