Marathon Training

Well, folks, it's been a while since I posted about running, and the reason is because it has not been going well.  After my first aborted long run, I had a second, equally painful, aborted long run.  So I am two critical weeks behind on my training and worried I won't be able to get in a last long run before I need to be tapering, meaning that ... this is it.  This is all the real training I get before my first marathon.

This week has been painful.  My leg has been in bad bad shape, hurting whether I run or not, and keeping me up at night.  It's been a week of much ice, much advil, and much whining.  I have been really discouraged, wondering if all my hard work will get a chance to pay off, and if I'll actually get a chance to achieve my goal.  It's also been hard because I haven't really been able to run, and I get twitchy as hell when I can't run.  I am not super pleasant to be around.

Today I went to the doctor to have my hip and knee checked out, and I was terrified that she'd put the kibosh on the marathon.  I am happy to say that I got a *provisional* go-ahead for training and for the race itself.  Apparently, what I thought was wicked wicked tendonitis was actually a slipped or misaligned sacrum/pelvis joint, which has caused my stride to be crooked and all my muscles and tendons on the right side to be pulled tightly in one direction.  That tightness starts pulling on the lower leg muscles and pulling my knee out of alignment after a few miles, and then it hurts hurts hurts.  So I must get me to a chiropractor to get the joint put back so all the muscles can stop freaking out, and at that point, the ice/tylenol/stretching routine should actually work.  I am cleared to run unless and until it hurts, so I can put in a few miles each day and keep from losing condition.

It's not perfect.  I'm sad that I didn't have the training schedule I wanted; I had it all planned out, and now I will have had only one 20 mile run before the race, which is less than preferable.  But, I have faith that I can still do this, and I"m trying not to let the injury and training setbacks freak me out too much.  All I can do is the best I can do, and I plan to do just that.