Spoiler alert. I didn’t finish.
I pretty much had it in the back of my mind there was no way I would be able to run a 10K. Ever since I ran the Glass City Relay, my knee had been bothering me even moreso than usual. I continued going to PT and prayed that it would get better. He told me the dreaded “do not run” two weeks ago, but told me I could try jogging/walking last week. I had hope.
I sadly could not attend the VIP dinner on the Friday night of race weekend. Lucky Emily was up until 1am working and didn’t even get to try to go. I was very sad.

This was my Friday night party!
So sad I took that picture of my computer while I was browsing IG seeing my fellow race ambassadors selfies. I’m not jealous at all, guys I swear 🙂
ANYWAY. I had signed up for the challenge. Because I signed up before my knee decided to break. Working until 1am and having an hour drive to Cleveland didn’t seem like a wonderful idea and my knee wasn’t feeling great, so I decided to stay at home (and work more) instead of trekking up to Cleveland for the 5K.
Saturday night, my knee wasn’t hurting too badly so I was optimistic I would at least be able to walk/jog the 10K the next morning. My husband and I set our early alarm, cried a little bit at the weather, and set off for downtown.
I was pretty happy we had free parking as a perk of being an ambassador and it was easy to get in the garage (and it wasn’t too far from the finish either, bonus!!). We walked towards the start line (where I ran into Andrew!) and I snapped a picture with my coworkers. My friend Samantha was running her first 10K! So proud 🙂


I was texting the other ambassadors and headed towards the start line to meet up with them. I made the picture in the neck of time! Obviously not everyone is pictured here but it was good to see these guys before the race!

I jogged a few blocks to see how my knee felt and it wasn’t hurting, so I decided to try to give it a go. I literally had nothing to lose! Soon enough, the gun went off and we made our way to the start line. I started jogging and I wasn’t hurting. But sure enough, about a half mile into it, my knee was screaming in pain. I stopped to walk. I then realized that there was no way my knee could handle walking another 5.5+ miles when it was in that much pain. I made the decision to pull off to the side and not injure myself further. I saw my coworkers Samantha and Katie and a few other friends as they ran by. I cheered them on for a bit and then made my way to the finish line.
After watching my husband finish, we walked (and I hobbled) to the VIP Brunch. I was so grateful for warmth and warm food. Since I didn’t finish, my husband had the checked bag on his bib and I was wandering around Cleveland without my jacket and warmer pants. It was cold. It was definitely the #mostclevelandraceever. That part sucked the most I think. Well, other than DNFing.
I’m proud of myself for listening to my body but I am so bummed that I couldn’t complete yet another race. I just want my knee to get better! I think it’s beyond ITB issues at this point as my pain is lower and in the patella-region. I have another doctor appointment on Tuesday to see what’s going on. Send some good thoughts my way!
Funny enough, as I went to the finish line I think my bib tripped up the sensor and it said I finished in 41 minutes. Which made me laugh because that will never happen in my lifetime. But I took a screenshot for giggles. Rest assured, I emailed them and my finish time has since been deleted 😉

I want to thank the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon for allowing me to be an ambassador once again for such an amazing event. I feel so bad that the two years I was able to do this I wasn’t able to finish (because of the same nagging injury!) but I’m confident that next year I will cross that finish line. I have no idea what’s wrong with my knee or what the future will hold, but I’m going to get that dang medal next year!
Andddd if you want to read about how so many of my fellow ambassadors freaking CRUSHED their goals, click on over to our ambassador page and check them out!
