Almost a year later, and one week before the Salt Lake Half, I was diagnosed with another stress fracture. This time it was in my shin. However, a shin fracture turns out to be something that heals WAY faster than a hip. No crutches, no sitting around on my butt, just a PREFERENCE that I not run on it while it was healing. AND it would ONLY take 3 weeks to heal. Which meant that although the doctor preferred I didn’t run the Salt Lake Half (I listened!) he had absolutely no concerns with me running the Tinker Bell Half.

I rode the stationary bike at the gym for three weeks, bought new shoes the week of the race, and had one (approved!) practice run before heading down to Anaheim. Walking around the expo (instead of on crutches and in a crappy mood) was super fun and I’m not being facetious. Instead of wishing I could crutch into a hole and die, I invisibly slipped from booth to booth looking at things and getting zero sympathy from random strangers who wanted to discuss various running ailments they’d had.