Marathon Training Stopped By a Bug Bite-Please Don't Let This Be My Headline

I am in week 12 of my marathon training. Up to this point, so far, so good. Nothing too terrible to report. Yes, the 16 mile run last week stunk and I was mentally and physically all over the place during it, but at mile 10, I somehow was able to focus and finish up rather strong, or as strong as I could in the given situation.
Finally going to hit over 30 miles a week and the schedule has upped the training to running 5 days a week. Looking forward to a long run on Sunday. All good right? Then this past Saturday came. I wake up with this really itchy leg. I look and it appears I have been attacked by 100 giant mosquito. As a child, whenever I got bit, the bite would swell and become red and hot. Haven’t really had this issue in awhile though, but didn’t think much of it. My 6 year old promptly treated me with the bug bite pen and I was good to go.
Now, to back track a little, about 10 days ago, I was mowing the lawn (push style) and got stung or bit by some evil creature. After hoping around on one foot, yelling a string of profanities, and applying a baking soda/water concoction to help ease the pain, I didn’t think much of this incident.
As the day progressed, the pain in my leg got worse. My foot and calf became very tight-as though my skin was being stretched. I look down and now my ankle and foot have gotten into the mix. And the red mark on my leg is spreading. I opt to not wait it out, being 5pm on a Saturday and decide to head to the walk in clinic before they close at 6pm.
Sure enough, my leg is infected. Cellulitis, for all you medical gurus. The PA draws a circle around the mark so we can see if it continues to grow. He contorts my leg in an odd fashion to be able to get the entire perimeter and asks me if I think I can hold this odd position for long.
“Sure, I can. I’m training for a marathon.”
“A marathon? Wow, I just starting running a year ago. I’m training for the Seacoast Half…”
And this is how the conversation went for the next 20 minutes. Poor Josh had his head so far buried into People Magazine.
I get a prescription for antibiotics and Josh asks the question I did not dare to ask. “Can she still run?”
I look at the PA, deep into his eyes.
“Think LONG AND HARD before you answer that question.”
Luckily he said that I could run, but he thought with the swelling it would be difficult to do. He also warned me that even though I started the antibiotics, my leg might get worse for the first 24 hours, and that if by Tuesday it wasn’t better, I needed to come back.
Stupid me, ran 10 miles yesterday. And then my ankle and foot looked like it belonged to a 500 pound man. Did plenty of soaks and elevated it yesterday, which helped. Today, it is not as red, it has stopped spreading, and now looks like it belongs to a 300 pound man.
So here’s to hoping I am on the mend-because if I really have to say I had to quit 12 weeks into marathon training because of a bug bit, I am not going to be a happy camper.

Cathe Road Trip

On July 31st, I was lucky enough to take a road trip with my sister down to NJ for the Cathe Road Trip. What is a Cathe Road Trip, you ask? Great question! A Cathe Road Trip is a 3 day weekend where you go down to the Four Seasons Gym in NJ and workout for hours and hours with Cathe Friedrich, who I consider to be the ultimate fitness expert. We leave for NJ from CT on Friday afternoon with 4+ hours to get there-PLENTY of time, right? WRONG. It took 8+ hours to get there, spending 4 hours alone in NYC. I hate NYC and the traffic. Sorry, I said it, damage done.

We got there soooo late, we missed the first workout class of the night. At that point, we were so cranky, we decide to skip the stretch class as well. We called it a crappy day and went to bed on Friday night to get up bright and early on Saturday.

Saturday was much better-started the day with a Step Class, then I took a Yoga class, then a Boot Camp class, then a Lower Body Blast class. That's 4 hours of working out in one day! Most people think this is crazy, but one of the great parts of the weekend? You are around one hundred other people who DONT think this is crazy! Saturday night we get a chance to go on the Cathe stage and do a quick, 1 minute routine, just as you would in her workout DVDs. Its awesome.

Sunday was a kickbox/boot camp class, then off to the diner for a greasy, fatty breakfast to round off the weekend.

This weekend is so great-a chance to workout with other people who have the same "priorities" as you, a chance to spend time with someone I look up to in the fitness industry, and a chance to just get away from everything-including running. But the best part-spending the weekend with my best friend, my sister. I realize that even though this weekend has so much to offer, I could be in a canoe on the Quinnipiac River with my sister-and still have fun. She's what really makes the Cathe Road Trip worth going on!