A Tough Decision...

So this post is hard for me to write. As most of you know I have been dealing with a calf strain injury for the past month. I've been getting treatment from Dr. Justin and making progress. But inside I've been stressed out. Stressed out because my next race is December 6th. And the last long run I ran was 6 miles on November 1st. Before that I ran my sub 2 half marathon on October 19th. So I haven't trained at all for this race. And that was really scaring me. All my friends said my body was so used to the half distance and it would be fine come race day. But I have never not trained for a race. Or gone into a race with no long runs the whole month before.

This race is near and dear to my heart. It's one I've been fundraising for...the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon. You may remember that I set out to run it last year. I traveled to Memphis only to have the race canceled the night before due to an ice storm. So I was really looking forward to running for those kids this year.

Since I've been injured I've been debating this race. Questions have been going through my mind about not training, will I make the calf injury worse if I run it, can I afford the hotel room and weekend travel?

A few weeks ago one of my roommates for the weekend sent us all a message and said she couldn't go. She has a lot of big life changes going on as well as a family vacation the week before the race and it was just too much. Then the next week, the second of my 3 roommates canceled also. And then yesterday, the 3rd roommate canceled. So that would leave me with a huge hotel bill for the weekend. All of my other friends already have rooms.

All the doors to this race keep slamming in my face. So in my heart I feel like God is trying to tell me something.

I've decided I'm NOT going to run the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon...at least not this year. This will be my first DNS.

As soon as I made this decision...a feeling of peace came over me. All this pressure and stress has been lifted off my shoulders.

Now I can focus on getting my calf injury healed properly. I can continue my run streak but not stress over only being able to run 1 mile runs.

It was a tough decision to make. I've been super emotional about it. But for some reason...St. Jude is not supposed to happen for me this year. I hope one day I will be able to run this race.

To all those that helped me fundraise and reach my goal this year....thank you! Please know that even though I'm not running, your donation is still helping those kids at St. Jude.

So what's next for me? Like I mentioned, I'm focusing on getting healed and continuing my streak. My next race is Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans on January 25th. I should have plenty of time to get my body healed and back in race shape in time for that race. (Remember you can use my code ROADRUNNERGIRL to save $10 off the half and full or the code ROADRUNNERGIRL10k to save $5 off the 10K!)

QOTD: Have you ever decided to not run a race that you are registered for?