Sometimes, life throws us a curveball. Months ago, I would have thought that today I would be just about two weeks away from my third half marathon.

But, it’s not meant to be. After successfully completing physical therapy in November, my injury flared back up just 2 days later. I was in mile 4 of what was supposed to be a 9-miler that weekend. Logically, all I can attribute it to is walking around a bunch the day before at the UH Homecoming game … I had been warned before about not using the muscle too much back-to-back.

Spiritually, I think it was a sign to slow back down again. 2014 was a year of my life where I stepped back and started making changes in my life. I hired a personal trainer and began to get more serious about making healthy nutrition and fitness choices. I ended or cut back some volunteer commitments to make room for new adventures. I went through ups and downs with my vehicle.

And perhaps the biggest change came while I spent the past 6 weeks resting my leg: I adopted a dog! I’ve missed having a sidekick since my Lab, Buddy, passed away right before my divorce. I knew when the time was right, another pooch would come into my life.

And, Ava has been helpful in getting me active again. I think we’ve had maybe 1 day since I brought her home nearly 2 weeks ago that I haven’t gotten my 10,000 steps (and that’s because we spent yesterday watching parades and football!). 

I’m starting to see progress. I had a pain-free personal training session this week while doing some leg work. I ran for a full minute earlier this week. As you can see from the below, I haven’t been doing much of that lately (November 9 was the re-injury, and the rest are walks with the exception of 2 intervals of 30 seconds on Thanksgiving which led to some pain later in the day.):

I’m sad not to be running the half marathon with my Ambassador buddies. I’ll be honest, I was down about it for the past few weeks. But I realized what was more important was to listen to my body, and to help it heal so that I can run and do all the other activities I enjoy again. 

I just have to remember what I was told, and what I was experiencing, in physical therapy: an injury is a chance to step back and learn about how our body works, so we can build it up even stronger than before. 

I guess like other things in my life, God stepped in to say I wasn’t done learning my lesson yet. It’s not yet my time to be racing again. But my time will come. I’ve been known to work years to accomplish other goals in my life. Why is this different?

So friends, if you experience road blocks and detours, in running or elsewhere in life, know they are there for a reason, learn from them, and don’t give up!

And P.S.: I will still be there marathon weekend cheering everyone on!