Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Just a quick update on marathon racing plans

Since I know that there are people who follow my training here that I don't regularly interact with outside of the internet, I wanted to quickly note that I will not be racing Mohawk-Hudson Marathon this Sunday.

This past Sunday (2 days ago), I took our cat Isabella into the emergency vet after she threw up twice and had no interest in eating.  As it turns out, she has a gall bladder stone, accompanied by inflammation in the organs surrounding it.  It's not currently blocking a duct, but is floating around and causing discomfort and nausea from time to time.  And if it does block a duct, then it's a true veterinary emergency.

Gall bladder stones are not common in cats.  They can be removed surgically, but the surgery is risky.  So, after 24 hours in the ICU, I brought her home Monday afternoon, along with several different medications.  We're trying (via medication) to shrink the stone so that it will pass through and we can avoid surgery.

After giving it some thought, on Monday night I decided to DNS Mohawk-Hudson.  I don't know how Izzy's health is going to progress over the next few days - it's possible that she won't be stable enough for me to feel comfortable leaving her this weekend.    Additionally, I've been very stressed the last two days with poor sleep.  That's not how to approach the final week of tapering - I'm not well rested.  And even if I was comfortable with traveling to Albany, my mind is not where I need it  to be to race well.

Tuesday (today) was the last day that I could cancel my hotel without penalty, so I made the call last night.  Pulling out this early in the week also meant that we could modify this week's training plan (including this morning's track workout), so that we could extend my taper in hopes of racing a marathon the following week.

The weather for Mohawk-Hudson is looking challenging at this point, which made the decision easier (though it's arguably still too far off to be certain).   But I'm still bummed - I've wanted to run this race for a long time.  Some other year.

Right now, I'm targeting a marathon on October 15th - either Columbus or Hartford (I prefer Columbus, but which one will depend on weather).   Of course, this is all still very Izzy dependent.  Depending on her status, there may be no fall marathon for me - waiting until November is not a good choice because of my plans for racing in Spring 2018.

It is what it is.  And I'm still very fortunate - I'm sure there are many who are injured and would prefer to be in my shoes.


2 comments:

  1. You're a very good cat mom. Hope the medication works.

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  2. I hope she ends up being okay!! Sounds like a smart decision to delay for a week.

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