Pinkie Tri!

Getting up at 4am is never fun, and knowing that a near drowning experience awaits makes it a lot worse. Oh well, I had paid my $60 and done (some) trainin, so it was off to Kawana Waters for my very first baby triathlon.

When we arrived there were a lot of girls wondering around in race suits looking very fit and experienced. It didn't matter that I myself was wearing a race suit, these girls were clearly talented and I was about to embarrass myself. Then I saw the people in tutus and knew everything was going to be alright.

The pinkie tri started with a 300m swim in the Kawana swimming pool (I told you it was a baby triathlon). Although I can swim 300m now without much trouble, swimming continues to scare me. Unlike with running, I can't take 'walk breaks' as that would involve sinking. I'm just not a very good swimmer. Sorry mom, the 'swimmers shoulders' that you were always so excited by have not gotten me anywhere, except that I may have looked the part in the Chinese swimming team during the 90s. As it turned out the only thing I should have worried about in the swim was the congestion. There was just no where to move and some very slow swimmers who it was difficult to get around.

The first transition was a bit disastrous due to my blindness and lack of glasses. I spent a lot of time looking for my bike because the big numbers weren't at the end of the rows like they were at the other end. I have now been informed that I can get perscription goggles. Might need to look into this for next time.

Once I finally had my cycling shoes on, I ran my bike out to the street for the cycle leg. It was very nice to ride somewhere flat for a change and I managed to overtake a lot of people. I was very suprised to find I was actually half decent on the bike. After 3 laps it was back into transition. I almost entered in the wrong spot but figured it out soon enough and was racing in to pull my running shoes on. This time I found my spot quite easily.

I expected the run to be very easy. A bit of a joke really. I don't even run as little as 3km on my short runs. As it turned out though, my legs felt rubbish. The term I like to use is flat. Like when you run for the first time after an ultra and it is clearly too soon, or you drunk to many beers the night before a run. It was just so difficult to put one foot in front of the other and force myself to move. Somehow, from when I left transition to when I finished, my watch only showed 15 mins elapsing. It felt more like 20 minutes to be honest so I'm not sure how that worked. The official race time shows 18 minutes for the run split, but it doesn't have times for transition, so I think that run time also includes the transition time, or at least part of it. I'm fairly certain I only went over a timing pad when I entered from the bike leg, not when I left, so that would make sense.

My legs were singing by the time I could see the finish line. I am fairly sure that the only reason I pushed myself to keep running was so the 12 year old kid sitting on my heals wouldn't beat me. It's like getting lapped by oldies at the pool.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed the triathlon, not like I enjoy running, but I did feel very satisfied to finish, and I have definately enjoyed the cross training. I think I will try a longer distance next, then a half olympic distance, and then finally, Olympic distance. I would love to do a half ironman, but I know I won't get that good at swimming by the end of summer, so I have let that go for now. Even an olympic distance is a bit of a long shot.

Time on the Trails with SHJ and the Little Red Man

Last weekend I was meant to pace Tam at Great North Walk. I had been waiting for the weekend to arrive with a mix of apprehension and eager anticipation. I desperately wanted to run and help Tam out, but I was also worried I might hold her back if I wasn't fast enough.

As I waited at yarramalong (Checkpoint 4) with Matt, I wasn't so sure I would be running. Poor Tamyka had tummy problems from about 50km. Susannah had been trough the checkpoint and back out, but came bake a little later with Tamyka who informed me I had a new runner because she was pulling out (with a 100km finish). I wanted to help Tam and her her a hug, but I needed to get going for Susannah's sake too, so we headed straight out, keen to make up some time.

I am not going to give a race report because I didn't race, I paced. It was Susannah's race so I will just give a short summary of the experience. It was about 2:30 in the morning when I started pacing and SHJ was keen to make up some time and seemed a bit worried about making the cut-offs. I just tried to chat to keep the sleep monsters away and her mind off her aching legs. I kept track of when she took pain killers and kept a look out for the little red man that marks the GNW trail. It was always a relief to see the little red man and know that we were on course. I hope I did ok with the chatting. I am pretty quiet when I don't know people really well and I find myself searching for topics. SHJ made up heaps of time from CP4 to 5 and Matt and Tam actually missed us at CP5 as we were so quick. I had enough food to get me through though, so no big deal. My hat was in my gear bag with Matt, so I had nothing to cover my bad beanie hair but that was the worst of it.

SHJ continued to do well over the next two sections and I really enjoyed pacing her. We did meet Tam and Matt at the next CP so I was able to get more food, coke and my hat. Finally we reached a sign that said 10.5km to Patonga and it felt like we were on the home stretch. We went through some technical stuff near the tip (an obvious highlight) and then it was nice road and fire trail. Susannah has very long legs and was taking great striding steps along there. I am such a short ass I had to jog to keep up. The race finished on the beach with a really nice atmosphere. They rang a bell for SHJ as we entered the beach and Tam was screaming "go Susannah" very loudly. I was so amazed by SHJ to run so well over such tough trails, and proud to have run with her for part of it. What a champion! Yet another 100miles under her belt. The girl is amazing.

I was very sore after the run - chafing and sore feet. On the way back i made Matt pull over so I could puke. Unfortunately I had to make use of a plastic bag before we stopped. Ew. I had a welcome shower when we got back (I believe everyone appreciated this) and settled my tummy with some green tea. Then it was off to bed. Wonderfully I woke without much pain in the morning.

I am very grateful to Matt for his wonderful crewing. Lots of driving and not much sleep! It was lovely of him to keep going after Tam finished. I am also very thankful to the ever generous Tamyka who flew me down, gave me a room and an opportunity to run on beautiful trails. Congratulations on another 100km! Susannah is just incredible. I loved tagging along for 70km. Also, a massive congrats to Libby and Malani for their 100ks. Very inspiring stuff all round ladies.

Paint it all pink

I have signed up for the pinkie triathlon on Nov 27. It is a short distance and I am told it is not very competitive, so a good event for a first attempt I figure. Mostly, I liked the comment from Tamyka that "not many people will wear race suits". Although the idea of turning up in a superhero suit does mildly amuse me, I don't want to go out and spend money on something I may never wear again (if the whole triathlon thing turns out to be another one of my silly ideas).

The first leg is a 300m swim. To most people this probably sounds very easy, but this is the part that fills me with dread. I know I won't drown, but it is highly questionable if I will be able to accomplish much more than that. It may be that the rest of the field is finishing the bike leg before I even get out of the water. I have been training a fair bit for this part of the race. Basically, I go to the pool a couple of times a week and try to swim 300m freestyle without hanging out at the end of the pool to gulp down some air between laps. Once the 300m is complete I grab the pull-buoy and take it easy for the next 700m. I have been mildly successful and am fairly confident now that I should be able to get through the swim leg without having to stop and catch my breath, or switch to breaststroke midway.

Next is a 9km bike ride. I am ok with this. The issue that I have with cycling is that I get scared of the traffic, but I assume there will only be other bikes on the road during the race, so this shouldn't be an issue. On the weekend I rode from Kenmore to the city and back and found this to be quite enjoyable, other than when some idiot tried to run me off the road despite the fact that I was in the bike lane.

Then finally, a 3km run. This should be easy for me, but the truth is I am a slow runner, and I may still be catching my breath from the swim.

So... Pinkie Tri. Or is it Pinky Tri.

Oh yeah, I am pacing Tam at Great North Walk! I am hoping that with 100km in her legs when she gets to me, I will be able to keep up with her.

Washpool/Gibraltar Range NP 50km Race Report

I was very excited about Washpool and the scenery certainly lived up to my expectations. My running on the other hand, did not live up to my expectations.

We headed to Glen Innes on Saturday morning. I had packed in a rush on Friday night and just before we got into Stanthorpe, I realised I had not brought my orthotics. I can normally get away with running trails without my orthotics, but given my stress fracture earlier in the year, I have been extra cautious recently. I didn't even have insoles in my shoes though, so I was in a bit of trouble. It turns out that stores in Stanthorpe, Tenterfield and Glen Innes are only open for a few hours on Saturday so it was too late for me to buy new shoes. A pair of 'sports insoles' from Bi-Lo was all I could manage to find. Not a good start.

We woke up early Sunday morning and drove about 1 hour to Gibraltar Range NP. It was a pretty cold morning so I was keen to start and warm up. Right from the start of the race I felt flat and was struggling to breathe. I hate using my Ventolin because it makes my heart race so I put it off, hoping things would improve. I left my long sleeve top on over my other shirt and breathed in as hard as I could. Finally around the 10km mark the air didn't feel so thick and my chest didn't feel constricted. Sweet. Unfortunately, no engines were firing yet and I felt flat and miserable. I forced myself to run the flats and downhills but walked the hills. Luckily the first 15km or so was largely downhill so I actually made descent time despite the fact that it was taking all my effort to just put one foot in front of the other. During this time I swapped places with a couple about six times. The would get in front of me on the uphills, only for me to overtake them on the downhills.

The next 20km or so involved a lot of climbing. There weren't too many steep hills, but there were a lot of hills. It seemed like all I did was climb for a few kilometres, run downhill for a couple hundred metres and then start climbing again. On one of those small downhills my ITB went. I swallowed a couple panadols, tightened my ITB strap and ignored the plethora bad thoughts in my head. I was in all sorts of pain and all sorts of trouble. All I could think of was getting to the next check point and then deciding if my ITB could make it. It was also very exposed and hot for a lot of this section so I went though more water than expected and ran out 5km before the checkpoint. At the time I was really annoyed with myself for being negative, but looking back, I am proud that I pushed through. Even when I came to yet another hill and wanted to scream, I just smiled and walked on up. I even made a clear break from that couple I had been swapping positions with for 30km. At long last the aid station showed up. I guzzled down some water, filled my hydration bladder and grabbed a coke. I figured I should keep on going as the pain killers had kicked in, making the pain in my knee bearable.

We had been told at the start of the race that the last 15km was downhill. I could call it flat. The profile from my Garmin Forerunner confirms that there was an elevation loss but it certainly didn't feel that way. I really had nothing left in the tank (having started with very little). I would run about half a kilometre and then walk a few hundred metres. It took all my will power to just keep moving. I came across An at a creek crossing. Her calves had seized up and she DNF'd. Greg had given her a lift between checkpoints and she was walking the last section (to view the prettiness). Good on her for going back out after the DNF. After a short chat I took off. There was only about 2km to go and I was determined to have the pain over as soon as possible. It wasn't long before I passed another guy. He said something about me still having lots of energy left. The truth was I just wanted the pain to end as soon as possible. I don't know how I was still standing at this point, let along running. I continued to stumble forward for what seemed like far more than 2km. Finally, after 7hrs 46mins, I caught a glimpse of the big red finish sign. As I ran between the flags to the finish line, the other runners, spectators and race organisers and volunteers cheered for me and it all felt worthwhile.

After a stretch, chat and ice cold shower, we were back on the road, headed back home. The six hour drive home was pretty uncomfortable. My muscles stiffened up and all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt a bit disappointed with my run. I certainly am not as fit as I had hoped and I was pretty annoyed with myself for letting the negative thoughts in. On the other hand, it was a tough course and I have finally completed another ultra - my first since September last year.

Plan B

I had two weeks of good training and then it all went downhill rather quickly. Last Sunday I went out for a 30km run at Lake Manchester and everything was going quite well until the last 4km or so. Coming down a steep hill I felt that very horrible sharp pain on the outside of my left knee that can only mean one thing - ITB syndrome. I had quite a few downhills to get through before I got back to my car, so I limped and grunted my way back over the next 4km. Once home I jumped on the foam roller and applied a heat pack. I was a bit grumpy, but not too worried as I ran 100km on a dodgy ITB last year. It was nothing that pain killers, massage and dogged determination couldn't overcome.

I took the first few days of this week off to help my ITB loosen up. I was therefore very surprised to wake up Thursday morning with pain in my foot. Worse still, the pain was in the exact same place as it was when I had my stress fracture earlier this year. Uh oh. As yet I have done little about it. I am just hoping the pain will go away. I don't think this has followed what I would consider the clinical development of a stress fracture, so I am hopeful that it is just some tight muscles from walking in heals.

In any case, I have decided to go through with a plan that has been forming in the back of my mind for a while - train for a triathlon instead! I figure that I can reduce my running mileage and up my swimming and cycling and hopefully start to avoid some of these injuries. My plan is to do a baby distance tri next month and then build myself up to a real distance. So watch this space people. Follow my training and progress (or lack there of) over the coming months! Fun times await.

From Little Things...

Last week I managed to string together some descent training. There was only one day marked as 'rest' in my training diary and best of all, I didn't write "tight calves", "sore calves" or "sore feet" once - a first for 2011. Although I only managed 34km for the week, I also managed to swim and bike and even did three weights sessions. So far this week has been going well too. Things are definitely on the up.

Washpool is just over two weeks away. I am going to do a 30km run at Lake Manchester this weekend and then taper a little bit. I don't really need much of a taper, however, carbo loading is a must!

I am looking forward to Washpool with the same eager anticipation that I had before my first ultra - the 50km at the Glasshouse Cook's Tour in May 2010. I feel a little silly. This distance is barely more that a marathon (something I am yet to run) and my preparation has been sporadic. Regardless, I feel like this will mark the start of a new running season for me and that is far more exciting than the possibility of a PB or finishing a really long distance right now. For now, being able to run 50km is what I want.

The other side of the world

Last weekend was Glass House 100. That marks a year since I last completed an ultra. It makes me sad to think that. Last year I managed to complete my first ultra (a 50km) and then go on to do 96k at Kokoda Challenge and 100k at glass house. This year I don't even think I have completed a race. Such a horrible realisation has made me decide to enter the 50km at Washpool in October. After that, I am going to do some baby length triathlons and build up to a reasonable distance tri by February. I would love to do a half iron man one day, but that is quite far in the future. I also have this crazy idea that I might do the 100km at Alpine Challenge next March, but I think I will reassess that idea a little closer to the date.

Despite being disappointed about my disappointing year of running, I very much enjoyed Glass House. This year I got to crew for Chris who was doing his first 100km. Crewing is quite interesting and fun - you get to check out all the outfits, meet some lovely new people who also seem to like following runners around in their cars, eat your runners yummy food because he thinks not eating will save him time and, most importantly, watch the progress of runners throughout the race. Chris finished in 13:22. Quite fast for a 100km, quite awesome for his first 100km. I am very proud of him.

Today I did a 10km road run without any shin pain. Things are looking up. Small steps, deep breaths. Can't wait for Washpool!

Small Steps

I have started running again. My progress has been stilted and bumpy with various niggles setting me back. On most runs, my feet ache by the end, or my shins hurt at the start and my body just doesn't respond the way I would like. It appears that four months on the sidelines with my bung foot has set me back a long way and I just need to slowly ease my way back in.

For these reasons I have decided not to race, not to set weekly mileage targets and not to speed train. My focus is form. It is back to basics with drills training, short runs, multiple rest days and very small increases to mileage each week. Until I am running 60km a week without pain, I will not enter a race.

On Friday I ran 7km withjout any pain. I am feeling positive. I will breathe deeply and remember that there are far worse things than not running as much as you want or missing Glass House.

In other news, I have rediscovered my love of running skirts. Girls, get yourselves a speed skirt from Lululemon.

I am most excited for Chris who is training for Glasshouse 100km and all the lovely MLR ladies who are running too. Good luck to those doing their first 100miles. I am in awe of you all!

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

I think Canada is the most beautiful country on Earth. Chris and I are currently on a hiking holiday, traveling around the Rocky Mountains, and although it isn't running, I am going to share some of our experiences, as it is still training.

Jasper NP
Our first hike in Jasper was a fairly easy backcountry hike called the Saturday Night Lake Loop. This really could have been done as a day hike fairly easily, but I wanted to camp in the back country so we split it over two days. On the first day we saw two black bears which freaked me our a fair bit and absolutely thrilled Chris. They weren't interested in us though and wondered off so we continued. As it turned out, I should have been more concerned about mosquitoes than bears, as we were swarmed by them. I even had mosquito bites in my ears, on my scalp and on my face. I reapplied bug spray constantly but it didn't seem to help. After completing our first back country hike we went to Maligne Canyon which is an incredibly deep and narrow canyon.

On our third day in Jasper we headed up The Whistlers Mountain in the morning, summiting in just over two and half hours. It was a climb of 1250m over 8km. The first 6km were a fairly moderate incline, but it got a lot steeper for the last 2km and my legs felt like led. I did feel superior to the gondola riders though. I thought they were kinda cheating when they took their photos at the summit cairn. In the afternoon we did some easy walks in the Maligne Lake area and then a short trail run along the Jaques Lake trail off Maligne Lake Road.

Yoho NP
On our first day in Yoho we hiked out to Twin Falls which was about 17km return. We followed the Yoho river most the way until we reached the beautiful Twin Falls. We then drove to Emerald Lake which is a gorgeous Emerald Green colour (never pick that from the name). It is one of the most beautiful lakes we have seen yet. We just walked around the lakeshore circuit. Our final walk for the day was to Wupta Falls. Unlike the other falls we have seen here, these were short and wide rather than tall and thin.

Day two in Yoho involved going to the most beautiful place on Earth - Lake O'Hara! This gorgeous teal coloured lake is nestled in amongst snow capped mountains with amazing hiking trails abound! We walked around the lake a bit and then headed to Lake Oesa. There was a fairly steep switchbacking climb where we saw a very large golden eagle flying over us (and I didn't freak out despite bird phobia). The grade then flattened a bit and we climbed over rockfall, passing several lakes before we reached Lake Oesa which was still frozen over. From there I made a very dumb decision to follow the Yukness Ledges Alpine Route. The story is far too long for here but let me give some advice. If you head out on a trail that is largely snow bound, exposed and that involves a lot of trail finding and navigation, make sure you have your gps before you go, or at least a compass! Things could have ended badly as we lost the track and ended up significantly above where we needed to be. Scrambling down rocks and dumb luck eventually got us back on track. We still had to walk over several snow bound ledges which freaked Chris out, but eventually we made it to the end of the trail at Hungabee Lake where we got to see hairy marmots. Finally we headed back to Lake O'Hara along the East Opabin Trail. It was quite a stressful but amazing day!

Now we are in Banff, hoping that the weather turns good. We have lots planned! My mosquito bits are almost gone too and I haven't had a bear encounter in days. :)

i ate enough calories for 100km

I am a very, very bad blogger. In my defence, it is difficult to maintain a running blog when you cannot run. To be honest though, that probably has less to do with it than general apathy. Between my last blog and now, there have been airports and flights and taxis and far too many timezones for a 7 day trip. There has been the looming decision that I just can't quite commit to in my mind. There has been job applications and selection criteria. There has been a trip to plan. What there hasn't been is running, or more importantly a desire to update the world (or the handful of people who read this blog) on my lack of running. I still feel no strong desire to blog, but I better write something before I get eaten by bears in the Canadian rockies.

So I got the go ahead to start 'running' (read as 'walk a few kms with a few 100m shuffles thrown in'). So I did this for about a week, then I started running about 5kms three times a week. It started out as walking half and running half. Now I am running most of it. My foot generally doesn't hurt afterwards, at least not much. I have also started hiking agin. On the first weekend in June I hiked two days back to back in Binna Burra. Day 1 we did Ships Stern and day 2 was Coomera Circuit (I highly recommend). The following weekend we did the Gold Coast Hinterland Great! Walk. It is a 54km hike from Green Mountains to Springbrook. It is not exactly back country, but it was good training. I did make Chris carry the tent though.

This past weekend was my attempt at Oxfam Trailwalker. That ended at 62km when the pain in my foot got to be too much and I was very worried about doing damage. I was pretty disappointed butnot as disappointed as I would be if I had to wear that stupid moon boot for another 8 weeks. My foot seems ok now.

Prior to Trailwalker, I had this rather silly idea that I might attempt the 100 miles at Glass House in September. Trailwalker has led to me rethinking that. My foot is probably not up to the training. Other than that, I really have no plans. I am going to Canada in under two weeks. I think I'll just enjoy hiking and trail running and not worry too much about what races I am going to do. Maybe I won't finish a single race this year! Fun times.

How to upset your podiatrist

My podiatrist upsets me all the time by saying things like I can't run and I have a fracture if my foot. It is only fair that I should get to upset him in return. Here are some things I have discovered he doesn't like, or seems to think are funny.

1. When he asks why I bought a new pair of shoes that I am getting him to check out and I respond "They are really pretty". Apparently he is looking for something to do with fit or feel. Apparently aesthetics aren't important when it comes to foot biomechanics.
2. When he looks at my x-ray results and says the fracture has heeled and I ask if I can start training for Trailwalker.
3. Telling him I continued running another 20km after my foot started hurting.

"Trail Running Is Good For the Soul"

During the last week the reality of my lack of training has really hit home. I have moments of absolute panic where I freak out about how unfit I must be becoming, or when I notice fat in places I haven't noticed it for years. Despite swimming and kayaking as much as I can, I simply cannot achieve the intensity and quantity of training that I do when I am running.There is a fear in the back of my mind that I just might not be able to get back there again, that I am just going to find it too hard to push myself back to that same level once my foot is better. So I have decided to remind myself of what motivates me to run. If I think about why I ran 100km once, I will push myself to do more when I am injury free once again. To put it simply, I love running. More specifically, I love trail running. I love the solitude, the rhythm of my feet, the structure of a training program, the beauitful scenery and the carnical atmosphere of a race. I always think of road runs, and distances up to marathon distance, as being hard and fast - the type of run likely to make my lungs burst. Trail ultras, for me at least, are slow. When I am out there for that long, going up and down hills, I simply can't run fast. If I get to that lung bursting speed I know I will blow up. So although people think I'm crazy, I think I'm actually taking the easy option. The challenge of an ultra is the endurance, not the speed, and that is the challenge I love. Last year in September I took on the challenge of 100km in the Glass House Mountains. It was undoubtable one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The challenge of pacing myself and managing an injury, nutrition and fluids was incredible, yet so much fun. It was one of the most peaceful moments of my life. It was good for my soul. So when I get better, I want to tie up my laces and start all over again.

Long John Silver's Workout Regime

So in addition to whinging a lot, I have done some other things while on this 'rest' break. It turns out that there are not many forms of exercise that involve not using your feet at all but here are the ones I have discovered:

1. One legged cycling on a stationary bike. This is extremely entertaining to the gym goers around me too. It is suprisingly hard on my quad.
2. Kayaking. Apparently you are meant to push through with your feet when you kayak, but I'm all for doing things incorrectly, like my taxes.
3. Upper body weights. Actually I also do one legged squats, calf raises and so on. This is also interesting to the other gym-ers and sure to make me look a little lop-sided after a few weeks.
4. Rowing machine - you are meant to push through with your feet on this one so I have taken to dangling one leg off the side of the machine. After seeing me on the bike though, people find this less amusing.
5. Buy Lululemon. Oh right that isn't exercise but it is pretty and makes me feel good. I think that when I click that 'add to bag' button, I get a runner's high.

As it turns out, I don't find many of these activities particularly enjoyable. Swimming is far and away the worst of the lot. I should note here that I am not saying that swimming is overall boring as a sport, it is just not for me. I don't mind it mixed in with running and cycling, but swimming 6 days a week just doesn't work too well for me.

Here is my issue with swimming. Firstly there was a flood so my local(ish) pool has closed indefinitly. I had a gym and pool membership, but now it is just gym, so I have to commute from another pool to the gym which is a waste of time. Oh if only I could run from the pool to the gym. Stupid flood. Stupid moon boot. Stupid foot. Ignoring this though, once I am at the pool, I have to swim laps. This is worse than running on a treadmill. There is a black line and you stare at that for an hour doing the same repetitive motion. There are also total morons at the pool. Total morons encompass people who dive on you, decide to stop mid-lap, decide to stand in the middle of a lane and people who think it is a good idea to sit on the lane ropes and have a chat. There is something called a recreational swimming area and I think these people should make use of it. Then there are men who think it is ok to swim in their underwear. No I don't mean DTs, I mean jocks. One guy even swims in his white jocks and they don't have an internal liner.

Agony Aunt

I'm sure all runners hate injuries. I just get injured a lot, so I feel a greater entitlement to whinging about them. It is not only that I can't run and therefore worry about the loss of fitness and gain of weight, or miss the simple joy of hitting the trails for a run. Far worse is the moodiness that comes along with missing out on my daily runner's high. Running is a natural anti-depresent for me. It somehow stops me from spending all my time in my head (which for the record, has quite a few dark corners). When I run (or am able to exercise in general) I sleep better, am less pessimistic and get to wear Lululemon.

I have now been in a moon boot for almost three weeks and have at least three more glorious weeks to look forward to. I have a metatarsal stress fracture and am only allowed to swim. People like to offer sympathy which is nice. However, a lot of people should keep their words of wisdom to themselves. Below are my top 5 most hated pieces of advice or sympathy:

1. "It could be worse." This is often followed by an example of a worse injury somebody else has had. All this does is tell me I am selfish and deserve no sympathy.
2. "See how bad that running is for your body". No I do not. Explain to me how my resting heart rate of 55 bpm or low body fat percentage is bad for me. Explain why having good muscle tone and strong bones is bad for me. Sure, I should probably have revisited my podiatrist rather than just assuming my shoes still fit me after 6 months, even though I was getting niggles in my feet. I just can't expand that analysis to encompass the idea that all running is bad for me.
3. "Oh well, you are fit. I'm sure you will bounce back". I am fit, yes, or at least I was. To me this just means I have more to lose. I do accept that people are trying to be nice with this one, it just doesn't work.
4. "Maybe you should try cycling instead of running to avoid these injuries in the future." This is similar to point 2. Also, do you really think it has never occurred to me to try a non-impact sport? I run because I love it. Although I enjoy cycling once or twice a week, it does not give me the great joy that comes with running. Lululemon also doesn't make much in the way of cycling gear.
5. "At least you now have an excuse not to push yourself through the boredom or running." Huh? This is completely lost on me. Was I being forced to run before the stress fracture?