Project Update: Half

I signed up for a marathon about two months ago. It was my new project. I have run a half, but the whole 26.2 is a carrot that has been dangling out there for a while now. I used to think crazy people ran marathons. Maybe that's still true...and I just became one of them. That's fine. I know that it's a little insane to run for so many hours. But the race. The challenge. The crowd. The weeks of training. The hard work. The discipline. It made me giddy to think about these things. My blood would start flowing, and my face would light up. I was going to train for and run a marathon.

Or not.

My IT band started hurting about three weeks ago. It was slightly sore on a 12-mile run that was cut a little short. The same soreness crept up on me on a shorter jog, as well. So I rested it...kind of. I only ran short rans and did other work outs before attempting about 15 miles. That was a mistake. Over an hour from the car and in the woods with two ultra-marathoners, it started hurting so badly that I had to walk - more like hobble - back to the car. It was over. That run, at least, was over. And so were my hopes and dreams of completing the 2010 Nashville Country Music Marathon. 


Ouch.

Physically and mentally, that hurt a lot. I thought that I could stretch it enough to get back into it in a few days, but a week later, a 3.7-mile walk to the farmers' market and back caused me to go straight for ice upon returning. So I rested and stretched and iced and stretched and rolled it out with the styrofoam tube of torture. I consulted my trainer friend and did everything I was supposed to do.


And they were right. It all worked. My knee is better, and I can run. At least a little.


But it's too late. It's too late to train up to the full 26.2 in about 11 days. 


So now the new project is a half marathon. I can do that. My body can take 13.1 miles...if I can get in a few longer runs between now and then. 


It's OK. I was super disappointed at first. I told people that I was still going to try to run the full. I planned out some long runs. It was supposed to still happen. But it's not. And that's OK. I'll run my second half, have a fantastic weekend with friends from all over the country and different phases of life and it'll be a huge, physical challenge after barely running at all this month. 


It'll be awesome.