I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but I seriously didn’t think this race was going to happen for me.

In my last update, I mentioned that after my final long run, I came home with extensor tendonitis in my left foot. I iced it but didn’t think much else about it. That was on a Sunday. If my schedule works out how it’s supposed to, I long run on Saturday, take Sunday off, hit the gym on Monday and don’t run again until Tuesday, giving me two full days off from running. That week, however, I hit my long run on Sunday and tried to knock out a 5K the following Tuesday.

I got about a quarter of a mile in before I had to stop. The pain in my left foot was too much to bear, so I slowed to a walk. Walking was tolerable and I really wanted to get the miles in, so I finished the 5K walking. Again, I iced my foot, did some stretching and even took Thursday off hoping to heal up before I went out for my penultimate week 10K taper run. I was feeling positive, in the mood to run, not in any pain … Then less than 0.1 miles from the time I started my watch, the pain was somehow even worse. Walking is okay, running is terrible. I got frustrated and just walked back to the truck, not even attempting any mileage.

I did go to the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday that following week, but otherwise I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible. The pain was excruciating and I was starting to get depressed. Not only was I dealing with the real possibility of not being able to participate in a race I’ve trained eight months for, but I’d feel as though I was letting down a friend whom I had basically bullied into doing this race in the first place. I had almost completely accepted that I wouldn’t be running on Sunday. My rule was run it uncomfortable, but don’t run it hurt.

Additionally, catastrophic storms were forecast to hit the midwest and the weaker elements would creep into our section of Tennessee that day. Two of the three weather apps I reference were saying strong thunderstorms would begin at 7am and last until 11am. The race organizers will delay a race by half an hour three times due to visible lightning before they cancel the event altogether, and the forecast had “CANCEL” written all over it. This gave me a little bit of hope, seeing that if the race was canceled, I wouldn’t have to miss because of an injury. Still, however, I didn’t want Aaron to miss out over something like that because, like me, he’s spent the last eight months training, this being his first half-marathon ever.

Having done all the physical stuff I knew to do to repair my foot (RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation), I decided to approach my altar to bring in a spiritual element. I’ve recently added a Freyja icon to my altar and I have reason to believe she was pleased. I welcomed her with fire and an offering of Swedish Akvavit before setting my intentions and drawing a rune for guidance. The rune I pulled was Sól, the Sun Rune, which is a very positive omen. Sól can have multiple interpretations, but the two that I took from the casting were A) Good health and success, leading me to believe I would be well enough to perform or B) Sól’s position in the Elder Futhark puts it in direct contrast to Isa, the Ice Rune, and this positioning may represent a rebirth much like that of nature during the spring. This interpretation led me to believe that even if I’m not well enough to perform in the race, I would heal and be even stronger as a result. I accepted this possibility.

And in the name of Bygul and Trjegul, I improved drastically the next day! Katie and I met up with Aaron downtown to grab lunch and to hit up the packet pickup convention. It was hotter than Stacy’s Mom but it was nice to be out and about in our city. I wore my running shoes since they give me the most support but I was very interested to see how my feet would handle it. We walked about 12,000 steps that day and I was feeling just fine! That night, I confidently pinned my bib to my shirt, laid out my clothes and my Honey Stingers, then made sure my watch was fully charged. I was going to make this race happen!

Race day was definitely very wet and it rained most of the time, but there was no visible lightning for the duration so there were no interruptions. I still had some discomfort in my foot so I was careful to not overdo it, choosing to do calculated run/walk intervals after I crossed the 5K point and it was a good call. After I hit mile 10, every step I took was the longest I’d ran in about eight years so it was exciting, though frightening. I told Aaron it reminds me of when they used to draw tentacles and monsters on parts of a world map before the whole world had been explored. Would there be tentacled monsters at mile 11?

Fortunately, no. There were, however, very tight hamstrings, stinging pains in both feet and calves that felt like they would rip my flesh at any moment. At mile 12.5, Aaron and I decided there would be no more intervals, just a 0.6-mile trot over the finish line, which we did.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I was able to be in that race. Out of my three half-marathons, it was my worst finish time yet, but I also overcame more adversity for this one than any other race I’ve trained for over the last 12 years. I’m also very happy to move on to my next phase of programming, which I’ll outline here in the next update, but will be a return to The Pump app with a muscle-building focus. My intention is to get in 11-12 miles per week on the trails with two weekday 5Ks and five or six miles on the weekend between hikes, walks and running. This way I can still make progress on this Norway roadtrip.

Even though I didn’t get many miles in the last month, I still made good progress since the last update. I was supposed to be in Roros at this time, but I still have about three weeks (projected with the new programming in mind) before I get there. I can’t wait to share that dinner with you!

Aaron and I crept up the stairs at World’s Fair Park, walked across the pedestrian bridge at Henley Street, rode the elevator to the 4th floor at Locust St. garage then fist bumped before parting ways, saying “Let’s never do this again.”

Yes, I’ve said that twice before, but I mean it this time. For real. Veldig god!

Here’s the tracker:

Road Trip Tracker
Road Trip Mileage	Total Mileage	Percentage Complete
1,284.37	258.018	20.09%
Miles to Roros	Leg Mileage	Percentage Complete
164.042	133.258	81.23%
Date	Type	Distance (Miles)
3/24/2025	Strength Day Cycle	5
3/25/2025	Weekday Walk	3.1
3/26/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
3/28/2025	Strength Day Cycle	5
4/1/2025	Strength Day Cycle	5
4/2/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
4/6/2025	Half-Marathon!	13.1

30.784 Miles to Roros!

Alltid Videre!

-JTF