Traverse City Record-Eagle

Claire Walters

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May 16, 2009

Claire Walters: Anxiety hits in final week

Going into marathon training in early January, I foresaw this week -- the week before the race -- a lot of ways.

I saw myself as prepared, confident and ready to -- after a struggle of epic proportions -- conquer those 26.2 miles.

In fact, visualizing myself crossing the finish line was one of the ways I made it through many of my toughest, bitterly cold winter training runs.

What I couldn't have foreseen at the time, of course, was the uncertainty and anxiety I now would be experiencing because of a painful case of shin splints that struck just before a big 20-mile training run two weeks ago.

I made it through the run, but barely. My legs felt painful, heavy and dull, and I became uncharacteristically sick -- in the pristine front yard of a lovely home on the peninsula portion of the marathon route. (My sincerest apologies if that lawn happened to belong to you. Beautiful landscaping, by the way.)

I spent the rest of the day in bed and charted out a few much-needed days off, which I assumed would eradicate the problem.

Not so.

With the exception of two sorry 5-mile runs -- the shin splints have made it difficult to get into my stride at all -- I have spent the intervening days resting and obsessively icing and stretching my legs.

It's a runner's paradox: Stop running and allow my legs time to heal while losing what feels like all of the endurance I spent the past five months building up, or continue with training runs and risk potentially making the shin splints bad enough to keep me from finishing the race.

I hope in the long run (ha!), I will view my actions -- or, more specifically, inactions -- of the past two weeks as smart decisions that enabled me to reach my goal. However, missing runs so close to race day has taken a definite psychological toll.

In discussing various pains I have encountered during training in my last column, I wrote, "The ability to take these setbacks in stride is a difficult skill to learn, but one that was necessary to be able to continue with my training ... It turns out that not every little twinge is a complete crisis situation mandating a full-scale panic attack, although it can feel that way at the time."

I still think this is true, but it sometimes is difficult to maintain perspective and fight those pesky panic attacks, particularly with so little time remaining.

I'm confident I put everything I could into preparing for this race, and at this point I only can exert my best effort and be satisfied with the result.

In my first column on Jan. 11, I stated my goals for the marathon were "to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack without walking, collapsing or losing my breakfast." While my ability to fulfill the last of these goals may recently have been called into question, I still am cautiously optimistic I will be able to accomplish objectives one and two.

I hope to see you at the finish line on Saturday.

Record-Eagle copy editor and first-time marathon runner Claire Walters is chronicling her training experiences in a bi-weekly column as she prepares for the May 23 Bayshore Marathon. Readers also can follow her progress by reading her blog at blogs.record-eagle.com.

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    Claire Walters: Moment I'll never forget

    I officially can call myself a marathoner. I worked diligently and consistently during the past five months to earn that distinction. Those five months of intense training culminated Saturday in the Bayshore Marathon, and included countless hours spent running, thinking about running and planning my social life around running.

    Continued ...
    May 23, 2009 10:05 pm 1 Photo
  • Claire Walters: Commonly asked questions
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    Marathon training raises quite a few questions from those unfamiliar with the process; I should know, I peppered marathoner friends and family with dozens of queries before signing up. Now I'm the one undergoing the third degree. Some questions arise more frequently than others.

    Continued ...
    May 4, 2009 6:11 am 1 Photo
  • Claire Walters: Crunch time for training
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    Five weeks before the marathon, essentially the equivalent of running final exams, wouldn't be my first choice for travel, mainly because all of the distractions that make keeping up with a training regimen difficult. Nevertheless, I'm spending this week in northeast Ohio, visiting my parents, brother and sister, who made the trip from Asheville, N.C.

    Continued ...
    Apr 18, 2009 9:49 pm 1 Photo
  • Claire Walters: Running with 'The Grunge'
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    Some things are inevitable during winter in northern Michigan. There is the seemingly continuous snowfall. And the months-long, sometimes unbearable cabin fever. Then there's what we in the newsroom affectionately refer to as "The Grunge," a blanket term used to describe the multitude of undesirable cold- and flu-like symptoms that practically are preordained in this climate.

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    Updated Mar 23, 2009 6:50 am 1 Photo
  • Saturday, March 7, 2009
  • Claire Walters: Gel provides GUd boost
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    Rome wasn't built in a day. It's one of those pithy sayings we're taught from childhood to illustrate that hard work and dedication are necessary to achieve anything worthwhile. It's something I've been keeping in mind a lot lately, as I progress toward the Bayshore Marathon. Unlike the path at one of my favorite running haunts, the GT Civic Center, the road network of the Roman Empire likely was pretty difficult to navigate.

    Continued ...
    Updated Mar 8, 2009 10:30 am 1 Photo
  • Saturday, February 21, 2009
  • Claire Walters: List of must-have running gear
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    The myriad of products marketed to runners has got me wondering: Which are essential and which are the runners' equivalent of a Snuggie (oddly intriguing, but ultimately useless)? The first, most obvious running must-have is a great pair of shoes. Before seriously getting into running, I based my running shoe purchases on two main attributes: style and price.

    Continued ...
    Updated Feb 22, 2009 10:17 am 1 Photo
  • Saturday, February 7, 2009
  • Claire Walters: Running not for the weary
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    I have always been almost lethally uncoordinated. Some have even said klutzy. As a would-be student athlete, I had much more enthusiasm than actual talent. After an assortment of unfortunate incidents, including a sprained ankle during a casual game of basketball and a black eye (not mine) during a Junior High volleyball match, my parents suggested I give the track team a try, reasoning that I would be highly unlikely to injure myself -- or anyone else -- while jogging a few laps on a level surface.

    Continued ...
    Updated Feb 8, 2009 9:52 am 1 Photo
  • Saturday, January 24, 2009
  • Claire Walters: Woes of winter running
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    Let's face it: All but the most hard-core of runners in northern Michigan, with its notoriously snowy six-month winter, likely will spend a few runs indoors. Though the treadmill can provide a welcome respite from the lung-burning cold, it presents a choice: The inevitable boredom of a monotonous run versus the bitter winds, knee-deep snow and slippery sidewalks of the outdoors.

    Continued ...
    Updated Jan 25, 2009 9:41 am 1 Photo
  • Saturday, January 10, 2009
  • Claire Walters: Guess who's a runner after all
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    I never have considered myself an athlete. In fact, I used to think the dreaded couch potato gene was explicitly written into my genetic code. So I recently surprised even myself when I decided to register for the 2009 Bayshore Marathon and to write this column detailing my training.

    Continued ...
    Updated Jan 11, 2009 9:40 am 1 Photo