Column: Twelve in 2012

DNF — Did Not Finish.

It’s not very often that I start a race with no intention of finishing it, but that’s exactly what happened June 3.

After tearing my gastrocnemius (calf muscle) on March 28, my training for all upcoming races came to a crashing halt.

My husband, Chad, and I set a New Year’s resolution to compete in 12 races in 2012. We had done three before my injury — the Polar Dash 5K, an indoor triathlon with Lifetime Fitness and the Get Lucky 7K. Luckily I hadn’t scheduled any races for April and May because of my busy coaching schedule at Saint Mary’s University.

Chad competed in the Heart & S.O.U.L Row, Ride, Run race April 28 so he’s knocked down four races so far.

The next race circled on my schedule was the Minneapolis Relay Marathon on June 3.

In mid-May I sat down with Chad and discussed our options. My calf had been healing, but slowly at best. I had been able to do some very short runs and got most of my workouts on the bike or elliptical machine while wearing a calf sleeve.

With a trip to Italy May 23 to June 1 with my softball team, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do a significant amount of training leading up to the June 3 event. We decided that we would still shoot to run in the relay marathon but would not ask anyone else to join us.

I wasn’t comfortable asking a third and fourth runner to give up a day, pay to compete and then race with a teammate (me) I wasn’t even sure could finish her own leg. (No pun intended!)

Instead, Chad and I listed only ourselves as members of Team Bray.

Here’s how the course was set up: Runner No. 1 runs roughly 6 miles from the Depot to the Bohemian Flats Park; Runner No. 2 runs 5.5 miles to the exchange zone on West River Road near 50th; Runner No. 3 runs 9.2 miles through Fort Snelling and Runner No. 4 runs 5.5 miles back to the Bohemian Flats Park.

Chad ran the opening leg and met me at the first exchange zone. We completed the second leg together with a run/walk combination and got to the second exchange zone in just over two hours. Then we walked off the course.

The main reason we did the race was so that we could get the third of five medals in the 2012 Team Ortho Monster Series. The second reason was to get my training back on track because I have a lot more events on my calendar.

The way I figure it — a DNF is still a whole lot better than a Did Not Start.

Tags: health, columns