Sandbagger, no. Nut job, probably.

Despite anxiety of enormously disproportionate proportions (!) I ran the 10-miler without major incident or pain, and thankfully was not faced with the decision of whether or not to bail. My glute/hip is sore now, but nothing acute. I finished in 1:13:37 and won the master's division (7:22ish pace). Fourth female, 50/284 overall. [Results here] Yeah, I know....what was all that complaining about. No, I'm not a sandbagger, but I might well be a nut job.

There IS an issue. Thursday's run was cut short to 1.5 miles of inexplicable hip pain. I can't recall ever cutting a run that short. Thursday the chiropractor realigned me and Friday I saw the D.O. who diagnosed a "fired up" gluteus minimus and gave me a lidocaine/steroid injection (that was a first). Neither saw running today as a major injury risk so I went forward with it.

I can't believe what a headcase I have been the last few days. I was worried I had torn something, worried I had jeopardized Boston (again), and frustrated I apparently can't seem to detect warning signs in my body. I'd been feeling great.

By Friday night I was a fragile mess on the verge of tears. It's been a tough week post-conference and with Robert gone to Mexico, and there have been emotional issues with the kids, a close friend, and a family member going through some trying times. The last straw was when the oven stopped working last night. I stood there, kids' frozen pizzas in hand, shaking my head thinking, yup, one of those weeks. Thanks to my neighbor Debbie who is my trusty plan B!

Last night I decided needed to get off Facebook for a few days, unplug from the world, and get myself straight again. I was spent and had nothing left to offer anyone. Coach Jim helped me formulate my mental plan for the day and I was glad to know he (and his wife and his cute speedy twins) would be on the sidelines to either cheer me on or scrape me up. I restrained myself from pouring my panic on him and only sent him one venting text this morning. My friend Carla bore the brunt of my freak-out (yay, smartphones!)

Carla second from left - she's a TOUGH and STRONG runner, mom, and police officer

My time was within about 30s of my PR on this two years ago but it felt SO much easier this time. Two things kept coming to mind during this run. First - THIS is what I do. Second - nowhere else I'd want to be right now.

Coach Jim rocks.

Seven hours post-race, I'm still kind of sore but not bad. Coach said take a few days off from running to be sure all systems are go.

A positive takeaway from this race is that I know with a less-than-ideal lead-in to an event, I can still find my race focus and have confidence that my body knows what to do. I also learned that I still have work to do in the not-freaking-out department.

Mark Long, awesome runner and a Team USA triathlete!!

Praise God for his abundant grace today and every day.