Lots of runfessions this month! Oh September….how I wish I could rewind you. I feel like each month I sit down and review what I did or didn’t do, I’m still amazed that the month is ending!
September is such a busy month: back to school, work picks up, new activities are starting, birthday parties, races to run, family obligations and just daily life can exhaust you. We had a touch of fall weather only to be followed by a surprise heat of the summer during the last week and we are now back to fall! I’m holding off on running in leggings and long sleeves but it’s going to be hard.
Runfessions
Runfession #1: Though I’m sad to see summer end I’m finally ready for fall. I will runfess that I miss running early in the morning before anyone else us up. I miss the sunrise on my long runs and the feeling of accomplishing yet another distances in my half marathon training.
![Picture_20170814_094723655[1]](https://pipersrun.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/picture_20170814_0947236551.jpg?w=388&h=388)
Runfession #2: What half marathon you ask? Yeah, that’s how I feel too! After finishing 11.5 weeks of great training, I runfess that I had a “DNS” at Maritime Race Weekend. Some days I wonder if I’m even supposed to run this half marathon as I was unable to do it last year as well due to injury. Is this a sign or just unlucky?
Runfession #3: I took a much needed social media break the weekend I was supposed to run my half marathon. I logged out of all the apps on my phone. I ignored people’s posts and I disengaged from it all. I even took a two week hiatus from this blog. I runfess that I just needed to disengage from it all.
Runfession #4: I didn’t run that half marathon because two days before I had some health problems related to my heart and was told by the ER Dr. and head of Cardiology not to run the race. (I’m fine). I tried to laugh it off when the Dr. told me not to run but that didn’t really work. I also tried to really enjoy walking over the last two weeks because that’s all I was allowed to do. You know walking is lovely but it sure isn’t running.
I wasn’t very pleasant to be around (Sorry family). Really, I was stressed out. However, after more testing my heart is absolutely fine and I have nothing to worry about. I was even given the go ahead to run an upcoming local race by the Cardiologist, pretty sure he’s a runner as he knew of ALL the races.
Good news, i’m back to running in the evenings….
![IMG_20170927_213224_060[1].jpg](https://pipersrun.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/img_20170927_213224_0601.jpg?w=450&h=450)
Runfession #5: I runfess that I still want to run the Maritime Race Weekend on my own soon. I don’t share this one lightly or because “if you write it down, you’ll be more likely to do it”. No, I share this because I genuinely want to run the half marathon at Maritime Race Weekend. So, I might just go do it randomly one weekend that works for my family.
There…………I shared, I runfessed, I feel better. Now to enjoy running over the next few weeks and oh, one more runfession! I runfess that I’ll be pacing the Valley Harvest Marathon 10k (1:10 finish) again!!! I’m really looking forward to it and {Canadian} Thanksgiving weekend on Oct 8th.
Have anything you want to runfess?
When was the last time you took a social media break?
Ever run a course of a race after the fact?
You can check out my other Runfession posts: August, July, June, May, April, March, February, and January. I’m linking up with Marcia for today’s Runfessions post. It’s hosted on the last Friday of each month.
Piper's Run 
Oh man, I didn’t realize the cardiologist said no. Hope you’re doing better! xxoo
Yes, if he would have said yes, I would have done it. But it was a flat out no. I’m doing great thanks.
What a bummer you had to DNS your race. But when the head of cardiology tell you you must… Thank goodness you are okay and it turned out to be just a scare. I sometimes think we all need a little scare just to remind us not to take our health for granted. I had mine about 15 years ago but still haven’t forgotten.
It was a big bummer. To train for so long only to not run it stung!
Too bad you couldn’t do your race! I’m glad you are ok. I think it’s a great idea to go run the race when you get a chance. Good luck!
I’m really hoping to run it soon!
So sorry to hear about your health issues from a few weeks ago – I hope that you are feeling better now.
Totally understand needing to take a break from social media and blogging – sometimes a short hiatus is much needed!
I am feeling better, thank you.
So glad that your heart is fine!!! That must have been scary. Yes, I’ve taken social media breaks and even though it can be hard to do, sometimes you just need to disconnect for a while!
It was pretty stressful, that’s for sure!
Yikes! Sorry about the heart scare but yay for getting the all clear! I think I was waiting for the Berlin Marathon to be behind me to fully embrace fall but now I SO am! Bring it on!
Yeah for fall!!!
So glad you are all right! Hope you have an extra SPECIAL October!
Thanks Elle. I sure hope October is extra special too 😉
I’m just glad that you are ok!!! I wondered what the hell happened!
Thanks girl. Yeah, I just had to staff off social media for a while to deal with it.
Oh my gosh, so glad you’re all right! I can only imagine how disappointed you were to miss your race. Sending hugs your way!
So disappointed….crushing.
Wow!! Glad you’re alright….that must have been scary! Anyways…about those social media breaks, I think it’s for all of us to disengage once in awhile, even if it’s just for a day. We’re traveling to Florida next weekend, so I will be limited to how much time I can play on my phone….so that may be a bit of a break for me. We’ll see….
Thank you. Hope your time in Florida is wonderful!
Glad to hear that you are feeling better and that you got the ok to start running again. Health comes first for sure! We all need a little blog and social media break every once in a while
Health always comes first!
Great to hear that everything’s ok! That must have been a little scary to have a cardiologist tell you not to run. I know how frustrating it must have been to train for so long – hope you get to do that run soon!
Yes, it was scary to be told I can’t run and then to have to do a stress test! All is good now!
:hug: What a stressful and frustrating few weeks. I’m so glad everything is ok but how scary!
I hope you get to run that half one of these days. I think it’s your time.
Thanks. Yes, very stressful. I’m hoping to get that half done soon!
I’m feeling you on social media. I can’t decide what to do with that!
Me either! Some days I love social media and others, I just don’t!
Oh, gosh, sorry about the health scare but really glad you’re ok. I’m sure the social media break was good for your mental health too. Bummer to DNS but it sounds like you really had no choice.
Yes, taking a break from social media during the race was key to my mental health. It really sucked not running that race.
I’m glad you’re ok! I’m sure that was super scary! It sounds like you made the right choice, though. The race will be there another time.
The race will be there, however I’m not sure I have it in me to train for a third year for it. Wait and see I guess.
I’m sorry to hear about the race. Keep your chin up, there will be another race before you know it.
There are other races but I’m it sure is hard training for 11.5 weeks only to miss it two days out!
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Warning – insanely long comment below! My own runfession, if you will…😊
Anna, so sorry that you had to miss the goal race that you trained so hard for. As I mentioned in my comment on your other post, I also had some issues with my heart (early September 2016) and it completely stressed me out.
In September on what should have been a very easy run my heart started racing (my Garmin read 230 bpm!). I went to a cardiologist who told me that I was not allowed to “elevate my heart” (At all!! Not even walking!) until they did the stress test. The 10 days between then and the treadmill test were stressful, agonizing, terrible days and I’m sure that I was no fun to be around during that time.
Well, after a stress test, an echocardiogram, and being tethered to a portable heart monitor and its clunky cell phone receiver for 30 days (I had the electrode rashes to prove it for months afterwards!), the cardiologist wasn’t able to find a single thing wrong with my heart. I remember thinking that I actually WANTED them to find SOMETHING so I could have a concrete answer and take some sort of magical medicine to fix it, but nope, nothing.
Ultimately, I think my issues were stress-related. I had been having a stressful time at work and as soon as I *thought* there might be something wrong with my heart my mind spiraled out of control. (Which, unfortunately, caused my heart to race, which further fueled the fire!) I probably escalated myself into a panic attack a few times there.
After all of the tests showed that my heart was fine (well actually as soon as the stress test was over), I got back to running, but I was running scared for many weeks. Even though I knew that nothing was wrong it took until maybe… late January (?) for me to not be thinking about my heart and heart rate all the time. I was scared to go out on runs alone (having Piper along did help!) and, in hindsight, I realize that I was still really stressed about it for far longer than I needed to be. (And actually I didn’t need to be at all!) And that’s the crazy thing about stress… even though I knew that nothing was wrong it still took a long time to return to normal.
So, I never did do a “Runfession” about my issues but perhaps this ridiculously long comment on your blog can count!! If you feel like talking about your issues at all, (and assuming you don’t want to share it all here like I did!), please feel free to email me: anne.elizabeth.mcmanus@gmail.com
Happy running and working through the process of getting your confidence back!!
Thanks for sharing! Yes, those 12 days of waiting for the stress test suck! Though my heart rate never escalated to 230 pbm it was bothering me more and more and well…when you have “chest pain” you kinda freak out and stress a lot. We believe my pain is related to my car accident back in March – i’m still dealing with pain from that. Getting my confidence back as been just as you put it – questionable and scary.
I’m so glad you are okay! What a scary time for you. I will probably send you an email to connect off-line 🙂 Thanks again.
I’m so behind on reading blogs. I’m sorry to hear that you had to miss the race, but I am very glad to hear that your heart is a-okay! 🙂 Now on to read your other posts. ^_^
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