Friday, May 02, 2008

My inferior Inferior Ramus

There you have it, over a month has gone by without one single post. What's that all about? Oh, so much.
I have a very generous and loving family. At the holidays they shower me with more than I deserve. This year I held on to one of my gift cards because I had a special purchase in mind. I was waiting on said purchase until I had earned it.
I came across a hoodie that had the letters, "BQ", on the front. A hoodie that couldn't be rightfully worn until I had acquired official "BQ" status. I planned on obtaining that rank on April 5, 2008. I was on target to run a 26.2 mile course in Abilene, Kansas in a time of 3:40 or less. The time required to be a qualifier for 2009's running of the 113th Boston Marathon. I ran every day for six months straight. Up at dawn, in the rain, in the wind, in the cold, in the snow, in the sleet, on the ice, in the dark, and even on Christmas.
Boston is the "mecca" of marathons for American runners. It's the oldest running marathon and it's one of the few remaining that require a qualification to get in. I wanted to be one of those runners and from the outside it sure looked like I was in.
I was convinced that the Lord had given me this passion to accomplish this goal for a reason. In my heart I needed to qualify for the race. I needed my son to know that anything is possible for him and I needed him to walk on the shoulders of this dream. I quit taking credit for "my accomplishments" and ended each run with praise to the Lord, thanking him for carrying me all that way at those speeds.
I needed to run 26.2 miles at a pace of 8:20 per mile. As I fought through sickness and emotional struggles, I kept working and on Monday, March 24 I ran my last training run. I ran 22 miles in 2:59. That meant I had ran each mile at an average of 8:10. As my Dad said, "You're in, you could walk the last four miles and still make it in 3:40." I cried as I finished thanking the Lord for giving his kids what they want.

As I look back over my training log, I see that I started noticing a little pain. I even wrote down, "little nagging pain," on the 31st. As many of you know that's the start of the sad end to my story. That nagging pain lead to excruciating pain which lead to a diagnosis of a stress fracture in my inferior ramus. (AKA: I fractured my pelvis #13 on the picture).




To fast forward the story, I didn't run my third marathon on April 5th, I haven't qualified for Boston, I haven't run since April 1, and as of yesterday the Physical Therapist doesn't think I'll be running any marathons this year.


My heart broke over my dream being lost. I was crushed and confused, left questioning all I had believed in. I'm still bummed, but know that this will all be clear one day. I've learned a lot being side lined and I know this journey isn't done.


As I fought back tears, my dear friend assured me, "This doesn't change what you've already done. Judah saw what you did and this doesn't erase that."

I won't stop believing and I'll continue to petition the Lord for his guidance in chasing down my dream.

My physical therapist looked me in the eyes last night and fueled the fire that felt as if it had been extinguished, "You're not a quitter, marathoners are not quitters."

So, maybe just maybe I'll hang on to that gift card. Maybe that BQ will come at the perfect time.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:23 PM CDT

    Hey.....nice pelvis you got there lady!! Like I told you earlier today, one day soon this will just have seemed like a small blip on the radar. You'll get Boston, and we'll all be there to watch you.
    -Dad

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  2. Hey Lacy, thanks for stopping by my blog. Lemme tell you, fracturing Ramus (in two places) was devastating for me. I honestly have no idea how I made it through the marathon, but was on crutches for 32 days and didn't run for 12 weeks. I have been running for about 8 weeks now, and although the first weeks were slow going, I was impressed by how quickly my body recovered. My stress fracture was caused by a lot of things, and in the process I learned about some underlying issues I had. I got to work with an AMAZING sports medicine doc, and learned so much in the process. Please know that I would love to share anything you want to know. I know how hard this is (I too was on a BQ track) and if you want to talk about things, please let me know! Just leave me your email on a comment at my blog. Chin up, girl....healing is in sight!

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  3. We love you Lacy, and we KNOW this is not the end of your story. Judah has an a - may - zing mom -- the great thing is that he knows it.

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  4. Anonymous1:15 PM CDT

    Hi,

    I recently found out I have a stress fracture in my inferior remus as a result of initially pulling my hamstring and groin in a hurdle workout and then racing steeple chase two weeks later. I am about to hit the 6 weeks of no running mark (after taking 5 weeks off and then trying to run for a week in pain before finally getting an MRI), and my dr. says to do a light 10 min. jog to see how things feel and then go talk to him. As you had the same injury and it sounds like you are able to run again do you have any advice or coming back to running, exercises, strengthening that can be done? My dr. said I can bike and swim so I have been doing that to at least keep me from getting too depressed.
    thanks a lot.

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  5. Hi "anonymous"!
    Once I got myself back in the gym, I too hit the pool and the bike. I did that for several weeks. I was out from April until July. I could have been better about my cardio during that time, but like you mentioned, it was depressing and I wanted to give up at some points.
    Once I was given the go ahead to go for a run, I again, was a little upset. It was so difficult the first few times. After slogging through the short runs and recovering, I was able to start tacking on the miles. I had to wear a lift to correct my leg length problem too.
    Take heart friend, it comes back. I actually returned with stronger times and more endurance.
    Kick butt on that bike and keep the faith friend. Stretch and stretch some more. So sorry this happened.This too shall pass though.

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  6. George Spontak1:07 PM CST

    Sounds like you're really doing well. I came across your site while researching inferior ramus. I fell on the ice on 12/30/10 and came crashing down on my left side. It took a week before the x-ray showed that I had a non-displaced fracture of my left inferior ramus. Thanks for posting the clearest picture of the pelvis that I've yet found and so now I can locate where my injury is. I've been on crutches since the injury but I plan on returning to work on 2/22/11. The body is great in healing itself if you give it the chance to do so. Of course you have to live through the impatience and fear while the process goes on. Good luck in all your activities, including running.

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