Roger Has A Bad Day Video

This is an older video that I never got around to uploading. It was recorded on March 30th.

To make a very long story short, I pulled my calf muscle while running because I was pushing myself too hard. I was training to run the Boston Marathon in under 4 hours as a friend had promised me an additional $250 to Cystic Fibrosis if I did it in under 4 hours way back in October of 2008. At that time I was shooting for a 6 hour marathon, stopping every mile for 2 minutes (Galloway Method) so I figured it was extremely unrealistic. That said, as I progressed in my training, I realized I was actually closer to a 4 hour marathon than I thought after I ran 21 miles in 3 hours 19 minutes in March 2008.

Below is the video of the day I hurt myself. I had asked a friend of mine to film me for a "Final Video" that I was putting together summing my past 10 months. At that time (when I got in my friends car) I thought I would be OK in a couple of days, but as I discovered later that day, I did some serious damage to my calf muscle and 3 days later, still was not able to run.

I was pretty depressed as I saw everything I had worked for over the last 9 months starting to fall apart and my worst fear that I might not be able to run the marathon was quickly becoming a reality. Sorry about the language but I was actually in some considerable pain and very mad at myself for pushing too hard.

Roger Has A Bad Day

If the above video doesn't work, here is a link to it on YouTube.

I posted the video on Facebook and within ~20 minutes or so, had about 10 friends tell me that I had already won "the race" and that I should focus on the positive aspects over the negative. I was really moved by it and I sincerely believe that it helped me recover from the injury. I rested for the next week and pretty much laid off of any running, although I did continue to swim and slowly got back into Spin class.

Here is the revised video after I got over feeling sorry for myself which is a little more upbeat.

Roger Has A Bad Day Updated

After several failed appointments, I ended up at a Sports Medicine doctor's office on Friday, April 10th. After a 30 minute evaluation, the doctor concluded that I could run the marathon but I really needed to slow it down or I would never make it to the finish line. He also pointed out that no one runs Boston for a personal best time, but rather just finish it. He made a good point that this was my first marathon and not my last marathon.

Since then, my calf has healed pretty well. Bring on the marathon!

Roger :)