I did my second Peachtree Road Race on the 4th of July. The race felt good at the beginning. Then…we hit cardiac hill and I felt like I was going to pass out! I realized:
1. I didn’t hydrate properly
2. My knee hurt and I needed to walk 🙁 which made me finish 5 minutes later than last year. (1:11)
I’m glad that I stopped though. Something was wrong. I knew it but I was in denial. Big denial. Even during some of my training runs, I felt a slight pain in my right knee. About 2 hours after the race I dislocated my knee and I spent the rest of the day like this with ice and heat wraps:
btw: that nail polish on my toes is Don’t Mess with OPI, one of my new favorites.
Truth be told: I’ve dislocated my knee before, so the pain was not new. I did not say it was nonexistent, it just wasn’t new to me. Fortunately, my knee didn’t swell too bad either. Thankfully, the rain held off for the entire Peachtree Road race. However, the humidity was crazy! The weather here has been a buzz kill. However, I appreciate the fact that we haven’t hit the 100 degree Georgia heat yet. So to the rain I say: “Thanks for the delay!” So, anyway, back to my knee and the Peachtree. During the race I had time to think through a few things. Races always do that. I need to do a better job of keeping track with my training. I used to read blogs and see people meticulously keeping track of hydration, mileage and weekly training schedules and think: that’s ridiculous. Now, I see the importance of it. Not saying I would have prevented my knee injury, but I should have known better about the hydration part.
Good news is, I recognize that I need to make a change and I am committed to taking the steps to change this bad habit. I already have my next race lined up 🙂 I’m a race ambassador for Espirit de She Atlanta! I have some fun things planned, so make sure to keep reading.
Sidenote: 2013 was my parents very first Peachtree Road Race! I’m proud of them 🙂 It was the first 10k for both of them. I found this photo of the 3 of us on MarathonFoto and my mom bought it:
And here’s my favorite photo of me:
This one had to happen right at the end, my earphones were getting on my nerves just after mile 5 so I removed them. The good news is I am smiling in all of my photos 🙂 Smiling helps me keep it moving. The bad news is, some of them look kind of crazy. Overall, I really like them and this is the first time ever that I’m thinking of purchasing a few. But that’s alright. If you want to see my photos from this year and last year, here they are. Did you run the Peachtree Road Race? I’m already looking forward to next year!
