Footnotes: My LisFranc Injury and the Road to Recovery: My First Race

The doctor told me before surgery that I would never be doing obstacle course races again.

Well, OK, he clarified that I would be done with running, jumping and high impact exercises, so naturally that included obstacle course racing.

But, I am stubborn and always find a way around the rules. He said that I could walk and hike just fine. And as as long as things were low to minimum impact, that was also fine.

He never said that I couldn't walk an obstacle course race. Or skip the obstacles that required jumping or landing more than a couple of feet off the ground.....right? So, loophole was found.

I henceforth made my racing debut at the Greater Salt Lake Battlefrog Race, which was a very last minute decision. Nate had signed up for it as a prep for Spartan in August and I kind of was sick of being cheerleader and being stuck on the sidelines. So, we talked about it at length, and we agreed that I would only walk the course. And I would skip any obstacle that had the potential of falling or landing more than a couple of feet off the ground. I warned him it might be slow, and zombie-like-ish, but he was totally fine with it...or so he said.. :)

So we drove an hour out to Tooele on Saturday morning, to the Miller Motor Sports Park, where the event was held. It was a course mainly used for BMX style bike racing, so mostly flat but with some rolling hills. I would describe the race more low-key than Spartan and not quite as intense. That was fine with me. I wasn't there to compete or be the fastest racer. I was just there to prove to myself that I could do it.

This video was taken at the beginning of the race for the 9 AM racers. Nate and I are at the very back. Needless to say, I started the race, on my knees sobbing. Full on sobbing. Shoulder-shaking, tears streaming down my face. There was so much emotion in this moment for me as I sat and waited for the race to start and listened to this speech. Sacrifice. Every obstacle representing an obstacle in life. Embracing the moment and living your life.

A rush of adrenaline hit and I took off at a slight jog to start the race. (Shhhh don't tell Dr. Van Boeurm!) but I didn't last very long and only kept it up for maybe a 1/4th of a mile or so. Then I settled into my race-walk, which according to Nate's GPS watch, was about 4MPH. Not bad! I held true to my commitment not to try to tackle any obstacles which required more than a few feet or climbing or had any chance of falling off. I was able to complete 8 out of the 24 obstacles, so, a third. I pretty much shredded my strength based obstacles, like the tire pull, bag carry, and gas can carries. I attempted a few obstacles that didn't feel quite as comfortable as I liked so I didn't try to finish them (mainly ones which required a lot of weight coming up on my toes... argh!). I think looking back I would like to have attempted/completed more of them, but there's plenty of time to improve before I try again.

The course ended up being a little over 5 miles, and we completed it in a little under 2 hours! I was very pleased with myself and was so glad to cross the finish line after 10 months of not racing at all. Some of the obstacle race purists might be pissed off...that I didn't "earn" my medal by not doing all the obstacles. IDGAF. I don't. I was out there doing it, and that's all that matters to me. There were a few staffers yelling at me that it was too early in the course to be walking... I just smirked... if he only knew what I'd been through to get here.

The next day, my foot was pretty damn sore. Like everywhere. Lisfranc joint, toes, ankle, shins, heel, arch. And the day after that. It started to be less sore by Monday. And today (Tuesday), it's back to it's good ol' self!

Totally worth it.