no half marathon for me

Went back to the doctor today...

Not a big shocker that he said walking the RunGirl 13.1 would NOT be a good idea.  For the record, I'm still picking up my race packet, though.  Long sleeved tech t-shirt?  Yes, please!  Technically I paid for it, right?  I may not have earned it, but well...circumstances beyond my control.

He went into his spiel about 4 to 6 weeks for recovery.  I explained to him that this weekend will make 6 weeks since my last run, so I don't understand why we don't have more progress.  He countered with the whole...4 to 6 weeks once I *rest* it.  Huh?!  He suspects that all the walking around in the parks was a wee bit counterproductive to my recovery.  He then explained my elliptical usage should be on a low incline.  Ohhh....ooops!  I was mostly doing my mileage on the weight loss program which is kinda up and down.  Yeah, apparently that wasn't right.  Well...in my defense, I had not done the elliptical in 3 weeks either.  He said stress fractures are tricky and we have to be patient.  Hmmm...back to that whole patience thing.  Yeah, I don't have any of that.

He told me that these things never happen at a convenient time - it's always when someone is working hard for something which is what makes it so devastating.  He was quite sympathetic, which I appreciated, BUT well...we had one more matter to discuss...  I asked him about the Aramco Houston Half.  I explained that I had knocked my full down to the half and was now wondering what my status was going to be for this race.  He said he wants to see me in another month and we can evaluate at that time.  I told him that I have until 12/19 to bail out.  He said he hates to tell me I can't do something I've been working towards and then asked me if I could walk that one...he would feel better if I walked that and thought I would be in a position to walk a half marathon in another 7 1/2 weeks.  Um...that's not how I saw me taking Houston.  It has a 4 hour time limit for the half, so yeah...I could totally walk it in that time, BUT this isn't what I wanted...this isn't how I imagined it.  It's bad enough it isn't the race I initially signed up for, but now to not even be able to RUN the half...  I know what you are thinking...I was perfectly willing to walk the RunGirl 13.1 if he would have allowed me to.  It's different.  RunGirl 13.1 is like a local half...it was part of my training...Houston was the big ticket item.  I don't want to do it half-assed.  Houston has a policy in place that if you can't race, you can defer your registration for 2012 (by 12/19).  I have an email out to the committee to find out if they will honor my full marathon registration since I had prematurely knocked my registration down to the half 3 weeks ago.  Regardless of their answer, I will be deferring my registration to 2012...come half or come full.

So, there you have it.  No RunGirl 13.1.  No Aramco Houston Half Marathon.  Just me wishin', hopin', and prayin' for a full recovery in the next 4 weeks so that I can get back in the game.  I only have a year to prepare for a marathon, after all, and we all know it's gonna take me that time to get my act together - mind, body, and spirit!