I have not posted here in a while, but rest assured I read this and the L&O forums daily.  I need to vent/whine/cry a bit, so oblige me please.

Finished my first marathon at Disney in January 2013, ran a 4:12 off of 25 mpw for 6 months of training, and that was a sweat fest for us northerners (and the +50 crowd).  Took 2 weeks off, ran lightly in early Feb and then made the commitment to run the Philly marathon (my hometown) in November.  I then ramped up miles, consistent at 150 mile per month Mar-Jun, then started the Pfitz 18/55 on July 4.  That got me to 200+ miles per month in Sep/Oct.  I was secretly targeting a 3:45 but figured I would just shoot for a 3:50 since I was not gonna BQ this cycle.  Hit all the runs at good paces, did not do any tune up races but ran hard, I was obsessing over this race for many months.

Well 2 weeks ago I complete my last 20 miler, and officially enter taper.  Tue of that week is 8 miles with 5x600 at 5k pace.  I complete the workout, and when I am 1/4 mile away from home, on the cool down at 7:30 in the morning, I turn to look over my shoulder for traffic before crossing the street.  Cars coming so I hop up on the grass strip between sidewalk and curb to get around leaf pile.  Turn to look back, hop off the curb and ......   I trip ......  Stumble forward with a hard strike by my right leg, loose balance and do a full forward roll.  All I hurt was 2 small cuts on my knuckles and a shoulder scrape (this was on the road).  Turn to cross the street and ouch, grab my hamstring like a pro-football player. I mean I could not take a step.  I then limp home holding the back of my leg.

Ten days later (today), I get my MRI.  If you have never seen a torn hamstring, this is what it looks like

The white spot in the bottom is the hematoma, the middle part is the torn muscle.  While the good radiologist was at it, she filmed my butt, you might as well see some of my piriformis pain.

White area is my right butt cheek, notice the left side has no inflammation.

Needless to say, I will not be running my marathon in 10 days.  I cannot imagine the hammy will heal up to withstand 26 miles of exercise, and I am sure not gonna just jog the thing to get my money's worth.  Disappointed is not a strong enough word at this time.  8 months of training, 1,600 miles in the bank, too many early mornings and cold nights to have it end like this.  A simple trip over a small curb with a 6" drop and I blow out my hammy.

Thanks for letting me vent in this post, I know bad things just happen, it is I am so deflated.  I told my 15 yr old its like writing a 400 page essay over 6 months, to only have the hard drive crash the week before you have to turn it in.  Was it lack of cross training, lack of core strength, lack of stretching or hill training?  I'll wait for the doctors recommendation as to how much time off and then re-evaluate at that time.  UGH.

I'm so sorry for you... :-( I would be totally upset and depressed as well. But all is NOT lost! As soon as everything is healed and you're ready to start again, you can pick it up almost where you were pre-injury, believe me. Is there any way that you could find a marathon in February somewhere? Can you travel? If not, choose a spring marathon in your area and target an even better, faster goal. You have all that training inside of you to build on. Good luck, I'm 100% behind you!

P.S. It was NOT your fault at all. It was an accident, pure and simple. Yes, it sucks...

All I can say is that honestly 100% sucks  and I feel very badly for you.

Last January, only 1 week before our group of 25 was heading to Bermuda to run a marathon,

 one of the girls pulled her hamstring so badly she could barely walk.  She still came on the trip

because she had booked the time off (and didn't buy cancellation insurance) but everyone felt

so badly for her doing all the training, travelling all that way and not be being able to participate

in the race. She didn't come for the group photo of everyone with their medals and I don't blame

her, it must have been heartbreaking.

As Lily said, going forward you can build on the fitness and training you have done and come

back stronger than ever.

Until  I know it sucks big rocks.

Wow, that sucks take time and heal its tough but you know exactly what is going on. Big plus.

However, did you just moon us?

I mean that's your butthole...right?

Sorry that happened. I was definitely depressed when I went through my series of injuries in the past. The one good thing was that whatever I could do at the gym, I worked the elliptical and/or weights as much as allowed which helped. Good luck.

Disappointed is not a strong enough word at this time.

Having gone through it at almost the same time in the cycle, heartbroken was the word I used.  Now, I did not think it was a strong enough word either, but it summed it up pretty good.

In my case, I did not stretch nearly enough which contributed to the problem, and I lacked core strength which would have prevented the problem.

It definitely sucks, all you can do now is think of what might have been, which some may say to not do but for me at least, it helped.  Then at some point you pick yourself up and move on, but you are a long way from there so wallow away.

Oh man!   That is sooooo heartbreaking, and you have every reason to vent!   Hope you heal quickly and that your next cycle ends on a positive note, and with a big ole PR!!   Hugs to you!

That absolutely sucks!