Lost and Found: The Disappearance and Return of Seeking Boston Marathon

Some of you have perhaps wondered, where did he go? Others know why I dropped off the face of the social media planet. Some of the later understood. Some didn't know what to say. Some perhaps felt sorry for me, and at times I felt sorry for myself. But alas...I have returned! Before I can say I've returned, I must first (re)address where I've been.

Last two years of injuries...and you wonder why I disappeared?

You might say that the last 24 months have been a long and winding and injury-filled road. Most recently, I dropped out of the New York City Marathon with news of a stress fracture one week before the race. Once again, I re-dedicated myself to "bouncing back" from injury so I went slow, but worked aggressively on my rehabilitation. I worked hard on strength, and returned to the race circuit (and podium) one week before Memorial Day. As I wrote HERE, I rolled my left foot on the rock of misfortune in Sonoma, CA over Memorial Day weekend. Instead of slurping down wine, I spent the afternoon in urgent care getting the x-ray and latest injury diagnosis; a fracture of the 5th metatarsal. That's the bone on the pinky-side of the foot where the bone slightly protrudes. An eighth to a quarter inch either way would have required surgery. I lucked out and got my second boot in six months. Lucky me.

Without getting melodramatic, I didn't fall into full-on depression, but I struggled with it. I even went so far as to go on a "Social Media Vacation." After all, how do you write about running, or do product and race reviews when you can't run? I literally removed my social media apps from my phone, and my wife was shocked that her social media whore of a husband shut it down.

Top Taco in Denver on a scooter

So what have I been up to and where do we go from here? First, the "what have I been up to." For starters, I didn't work out at all for four weeks. Not wanting to risk a "setback" I didn't do a thing. Quite the contrary, I gave up a bit too on nutrition and ate like I was still training. Perhaps stress eating would be more correct. My doctor’s instructions were "no weight bearing" so I spent the first week on crutches including two trips (one was a race for my son in Wisconsin,) and the second a work trip to Seattle. I quickly determined, that traveling sucks on crutches and upgraded to a "knee scooter" for the balance of my time in the boot.

Looking at the "glass half full," I accomplished a lot over my six weeks in run purgatory;

Jelly Bean George W.

1) Saw my son race a "draft legal" triathlon in Wisconsin.
2) Saw a George Bush Sr. portrait made out of Jelly Beans at the Jelly Belly factory.
3) Repaired a water heater thermostat. I was proud of myself, and my wife was underwhelmed.
4) Traveled to Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington (State,) Washington DC, and Kansas City.
5) Set airport speed records on my knee scooter in several of the above airports.
6) Attended Denver's "Top Tacos" event on the Auraria campus which was largely a grass field and realized knee scooters do well on airport floors, but not so much on grass.
7) Brought "down the house" with my karaoke rendition of "Stray Cat Strut" at our local pub, and danced on one leg.
8) Painted a “sugar skull” expresso mug for my Nespresso machine. Of course it was a Boston Marathon theme.
9) Attended the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and drank beer with my 21 yr. old daughter. There was beer involved with many of the above.
10) Volunteered at a fourth of July race and impressed the race officials by riding in my boot on a bike to deliver race registrations back-and-forth to the finish line.

SBM Expresso Cup Art

Did I mention I drank a lot of beer? I woke up at least once in a bed I hadn't intended to wake up in. Yes, my wife woke up next to me, (and thank you Ashley for letting us crash at your new pad.)

Moving ahead to what's next, I stopped at my orthopedic surgeon's office a week ago Monday for my first follow-up post fracture. Likely due to my strict adherence to the boot and the scooter, the doc said my x-ray looked excellent! Best news I've got in a long time. He "freed" me from the scooter and prescribed two more weeks in the boot. That ends this Saturday. Oh happy day. At that point, he wants me in a moldable orthotic and also gave me a "green light" to begin non-impact training.

I'm in my second week of getting back to the gym with a blend of swimming, elliptical, cycling/spin,

Daughter of SBM enjoying beer 4th

and the strength work I was doing as part of my last stress fracture. My strength work has a particular focus on hip strength. The un-answered question in my mind is what is the balance of my year look like. I have one (and only one) injury deferral from the New York City Marathon last year. I have battled with the math in my head and my doc's instructions to wait until August for running. That still may give me twelve weeks to train on top of a decent cardio and strength base should July go as planned. Stay tuned.

I know enough to know that you don't rush back from injury, but how many weeks do you really need to train for a marathon with a decent base? My mind and heart really wants a redemption race in New York in November.

Seeking Boston Seeks Race Volunteer work

And don't forget, you can vote DAILY for me and my run buddy Liam in the Runner's World Cover Search contest HERE.