I’ve had to make the difficult decision to postpone my triathlon aspirations for a little bit. There are a few reasons that have built up to lead me to this, and here they are:

First, my training buddy cracked a rib and won’t be able to do much exercising for awhile. We haven’t actually been working out together, but we have been encouraging and motivating each other, checking in often, keeping each other accountable, and of course it was a huge help to know that someone would be doing the race with me, considering it will be both of our first triathlon. I had pepped myself up and was prepared to brave the race myself though…

Then on Saturday, during my soccer game, I hurt my toe. If you follow my Twitter or Facebook updates you might have seen the picture, but if not then click here. I’m not going to post it because I don’t feel like having a picture of my nasty toenail up here. What happened is that my toenails are apparently naturally prone to bruising, my cleats are quite old and don’t provide any support, and I forgot to trim the nails before the game. Something happened, some kind of pivot or something, where my toes got mashed in the end of my shoes and right then searing pain went up through my leg. I had to stop and limp for a bit. I don’t know how, but I played until the next break at which point I asked to come out because I really felt like I had torn the toenail right off.

When I took my socks off, my toenail was still there and because it was painted I couldn’t see how bad it was. So I taped it up and played the rest of the game. Then all weekend I was walking around in flip-flops, and although it hurt somewhat I thought it would be OK. That is, until I decided to take the polish off. Not only is it completely black, it is swollen and separated from the rest of my toe underneath. I can move it around. So actually, I DID rip it off during the game.

I had to put my closed-toed shoes back on for work, and let me tell you, it throbs to walk in them. I was going to try to run tonight to see how it goes, but it’s just too painful. I know by the time the triathlon rolls around the pain probably will be dealt with, but in the meantime I can’t train effectively. Which I’m really bummed about, because I had finally gotten into the groove of running regularly and feeling good.

So even after all of that, I was STILL going to sign up for the race (the Austin Triathlon on Labor Day). But then I realized that I hadn’t filled out my schedule for next month at work, and when I went to do so I noticed that another nurse from my shift has already requested those days off, and we’re not supposed to double like that. If I were to request off also, that would only leave my unit with 3 nurses, not enough to staff the floor.

Because of all this, I’ve decided to skip the Austin Triathlon. I’m still really excited about doing one, so I’ve already started researching what races I can do in the future. I’m hoping that only a couple of months is all I’ll need to be really ready.

The race that I am shooting for now is one called Try Andy’s Tri on October 18 in Sugar Land, TX. That’s just southwest of Houston, which is a bonus because it’s so close. Also, the land should be pretty flat, which is what I’m used to, as opposed to Austin which is quite hilly. I can do hills with running, but not so sure about biking. The distances are swim 300 m, bike 10 miles, run 3 miles. This is perfect for me because it’s a super short swim, which is what I have the least experience in, so it’d be a good introduction. I’m also excited to do a small race for my first one, so hopefully I won’t be so overwhelmed.

In the meantime, while my toe heals, I’m going to try to keep swimming, and maybe attempt to cycle on the indoor bike. As soon as I can run I’ll be back out there. I hope it doesn’t take too long; I don’t want to lose all the stamina I’ve built up so far!