I started training March 1st and by the end of April I had a stress fracture and had to delay training. During that time, I got to feeling really sorry for myself—I was drinking more, indulging in cigarettes here and there, and generally throwing the kind of bullshit fit that I’m prone to throw every now and again. I had pretty much up given up on the triathlon, and my confidence in the marathon was diminishing rapidly.
Then this morning I woke up and I was tired of myself. I looked in the mirror and said, “you’re not going to smoke, you’re going to start eating right again, and by God you are going to do that triathlon and marathon, just like you had planned to do. You are not the girl who comes up with excuses for why she can’t do something—you are the girl who finds solutions so that she can do something.”
And that is exactly what I am doing. I am not letting some injury prevent me from being who I can be—and I sure as hell don’t feel sorry for myself. I can bike. I’m going to bike until my butt goes numb, and then I’m going to bike some more for the next two weeks. Then I’m adding swimming. In a month I can run. And I’ll catch up on the marathon training too. There is no backwards; there is only full speed ahead.
