Marathon Weekly Update

Determination versus my legs

As I sit here on the eve of my next long run I have been reflecting on my running. I have to say that I am really proud of myself. The marathon was great in the conceptual phase and the first few weeks were all distances that I could imagine running. Last Saturday I ran 14 miles. When I began to think of a starting and ending point that were 14 miles apart I realized what an accomplishment that was. I thought of running from my home town to the next city north and that is nothing I would ever choose to do. Somehow running in a loop through various parts of the city didn't seem that far.

I won't lie and say that I felt great. The last two miles were really tough on my body. My calves were screaming at me and my shins felt like someone was shoving knives into them. I powered through and my group came in as close to smiling as possible. We ran the 14 miles in 2 hours and 54 minutes. Somehow it didn't seem like we ran for three hours.

I have been struggling to get my legs back this entire week. I had to walk/run my three miles on Tuesday and didn't do another maintanence run this week. I was planning to go to water running last night but my errands ran late and I missed the class. Instead I joined Leigh at a party in the lower Haight. It was almost like running - well not really, but at least I was with someone else who is training for the marathon.

Tomorrow we have 7 miles and I just want to make it through. I know that isn't the greatest attitude, but I'm still struggling with my legs. After I write this I am going to give my calves a massage and hope that helps. I have been hydrating, icing, and taking high doses of ibuprofen at night to recover but nothing seems to help.

On a different note I felt really good on my six mile run on the 2nd. I was in Florida and Libby and I didn't get started until 10:45am. Although it was hot and humid we made it through without too much trouble. We also ran two maintanence runs in the Bahamas when we weren't lazing around on the beach and eating conch fritters.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. I am planning on going to a fundraising party thrown by one of my fellow COBs in the evening, so even if the run sucks I will have a good end to the day. I will end my weekend with finishing my taxes and relaxing before the kids come back from spring break.

posted by Heidi @ 7:15 PM