I ran my first half marathon in 2 hours and 53 minutes - much slower than I had hoped, but I am just happy to have crossed the finish line! I had a stress fracture in my shin about two months ago, and hadn’t run since. My longest run up to that point was only nine miles. I couldn’t stand to do more than about 45 minutes on the elliptical, so my training was completely shot. But I finished!
These last two days, I have hardly been able to walk because I’m so sore. Even my shoulders and abs hurt!
I hope to start building my running back up next week. The doc says I can start running five minutes a day, and add five minutes every two weeks. It will take a while, but hopefully I won’t re injure myself.
Who knows, maybe I’ll run the full marathon next year.
Congratulations, liirogue! I ran my first on March 29 (the ING in Atlanta), so I feel your pain. I’m going the other direction, though–I think my next big race will be the Cherry Blossom 10-mile in DC.
But, to tell you the truth, running your first half-marathon after stress fractures and two months away from training sounds like a pretty stupid idea. You’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself.
I was cleared, no worries I was told I could expect a longer recovery period, but no serious damage. I expected more shin pain, but it’s only a little tender.
San Francisco Half-Marathon (The One with the Big Red Bridge)
2008
Georgia ING Inaugural Marathon (Hot)
2006?
Atlanta Track Club Half-Marathon(Cold)
Several Times
Statue to Statue 15K (Birmingham)
Restoration Run 15K (Athens, Georgia)
Peachtree City Classic 15K (Atlanta)
Silver Comet Trail Half-Marathon (Atlanta)
Run-the-Reagan Half-Marathon (Atlanta)
Vulcan Run 10K (Birmingham)
US 10K Classic (Atlanta)
Strong Legs 10K (Atlanta)
Lighting/Kessler 10K (Atlanta)
You want stoopid? In August 2008 I nearly broke my left foot at Mile 5 of the SFHM - so I loosened my shoe-laces and hiked the other 8.1 …Like I said, stooopid. And then I stopped running until the Chicago Marathon, in October 2008.
If you want to maintain your legs in a lower impact mode between events, row, climb, walk, hike. When you’re dealing with fractures and sprains, reduce impact stress and hard loading - it takes awhile to get healed properly, and there are ugly orthopedic things waiting for you when you do not heal properly.
I was told I could expect a longer recovery period, but no serious damage. I expected more shin pain, but it’s only a little tender.