I Survived!

Well I did it! I ran 20 miles yesterday. I'm so glad that its over but at the same time I am nervous--finishing this run means the marathon is coming fast--and there is NO turning back now!
I'm glad I called my playlist "Dirty 20" because I was pretty disgusting after running for 4 freaking hours. But it went okay...it was mostly, well...BORING. I'm so glad that I had 2 podcasts to listen to, they really do make the time fly by. The last 4 miles were the hardest--my left knee started to hurt at the end, which is weird because I usually never have knee pain so that freaked me out a little. (Okay it continues to freak me out.) But I am SOOOO glad its over and now I can "relax" a little and rest up during the next few weeks.
I think this run was a little less climactic than the 19 mile run. After running 19 miles I knew in my heart that I could definitely do 20. But I am a little worried that I didn't make my 20 mile run as much of a true "dress rehearsal" for the marathon as I should have.
Technically you are supposed to pretend like your 20 mile run IS the marathon--from your dinner the night before, to breakfast, to the shorts, socks, shirt you will wear to the ways you will fuel during the run.
I had everything down except for the fueling part--I've been so nervous to eat gels and drink Gatorade that I've tried to use them as little as possible. But it became TERRIFYINGLY obvious during this 20 miler that I need to fuel more. I ate 1 gel during the whole run. Huh. Just to give comparison---when Stacey ran the marathon a few years ago she had 4. Soooo yeah, I need to figure something out and just bit the bullet. Yes I may have to use the bathroom more, but its better than hitting the wall. Okay yes, the wall is inevitable, but I can at least do what I can to put it off or get through it.
So 20 miles DONE! Still quite a bit more to go but I am actually getting really EXCITED for CHICAGO!!!!!!!

Dirty 20

Tomorrow I am running 20 miles. I've just spent the last hour putting together a play list for my ipod titled "Dirty 20" because its 20 miles and its gonna be dirty. No seriously, after running for that long you are really just a hot, sweaty, dirty, tranny MESS. I fully expect that all of the above (hot, sweat, dirt...possibly a tranny?) and probably even more will happen tomorrow.

My play list starts with one of my all-time favorite songs: BAD by U2. Its the perfect song to start my journey. It reminds me of my time in Chicago--appropriate since that is where my marathon will be. Plus its a slower paced song so it will ensure that I ease into this ultra-long run. The rest of the play list is inner mixed with podcasts--This American Life and All Songs Considered, some INXS, New Order, Heart, Weezer, Cake, Rolling Stones, Violent Femmes, Bob Marley, Ryan Adams, Tom Petty and yes, Miley Cyrus.
Most of the songs I put on this play list are new---new as in--I haven't worn myself out listening to them on every run I've done in the last 3 months. Some are old favorites like "American Music" by Violent Femmes--I love that song and it reminds me of High School. Bob Marley will hopefully chill me out during miles 12,13,14 when I'm just beginning to get tired and my form gets sloppy. I hope to pretend to be on a beach with a cocktail...oh whatever, yes I hope that his songs make me feel high for a least a mile so I forget all the pain I'm in.
And yes, I added Cake's "The Distance"--totally a race/runner song. I don't really like it that much, but if I'm going anything tomorrow its sure as hell DISTANCE...but not so much speed.
And then Miley Cyrus, Rhianna, Nelly Furtado will just keep my spirits up and keep me going. Sadly I have to admit that I really love Miley's song "Party in the U.S.A." I know, its so sad. But I can't help it! Its super-sugar pop at its best and honestly when that song is playing I picture myself at a dance club in super high heels surrounded by thousands of gorgeous gay men. (Don't judge: running that far your brain does strange things...it conjures up images of me dancing with hot gay men. It could be worse.)
Well that is all for now. I have lots more to update, but I was supposed to be in bed an hour ago. I must sleep so that I can get up and run 20 F-ING MILES while my husband and dog sleep. I will give all the dirty details after the run is over. Maybe I'll give the top 20 Dirty things about running 20 miles. I'll have plenty of time to make my list....!

A new injury & a REALLY long run

So in my last post I talked about my 18 mile run. A HUGE milestone for me and a run that went really well. I felt pretty good during the run and after.
WELL.....then I took the next day off (Monday)--which, by the way--one good thing I can say about these long runs: they allow me to actually LOOK FORWARD to Mondays. I usually hate Mondays. But since I've been training I love knowing that all I have to do the next day is get up, go to work, then come home and do NOTHING! And I usually allow myself to also enjoy a bowl of ice cream on Monday nights too! Okay lets be honest--the ice cream is the thing I look forward to the most! But I digress....

Anyway, so I took Monday off and Tuesday morning decided to run on the treadmill. Yes, I hate the treadmill, but it was still dark when I got up and honestly, I just wanted to zone out and watch TV while I ran. The first 3 miles felt fine, then suddenly I felt a pinch above my left ankle just below my calf muscle. I decided to just run through the pain to see if it would go away...well it got worse and didn't go away. In fact, after my run was over my calf was REALLY sore. OH GREAT.

So I took some Advil (Advil by the way is becoming a part of my daily routine--I take a multivitamin and then Advil...and then later more Advil. I know it can hurt my stomach but I don't care. My whole body hurts and it helps so there. I swear Advil is what keeps me going most days. Is this addiction? Can you get addicted to Advil? Hmmm...)

Advil sort of worked but just to be safe I decided to skip my run the next day. Thursday I ran with Stacey, who has just returned to running after quite a hiatus due to plantar fasciitis, and I was really looking forward to running with her again. I made it 2 miles before the pinch returned and had to stop and walk for most of our run! At that point I was getting really frustrated and really scared too. I took another break the next day and STUPID ME---wanted to still go ahead and try to do my long run that Sunday--13 miles. Surprisingly I made it 8 miles--and felt great! Then just into mile 9--the pinching came back. But instead of stopping, I wanted to see if I could go just a little further. I barely made it 10 miles. Which, looking back was probably pretty stupid.

Finally, I got in to see a Physical Therapist. She is a runner too--in fact she's run 30 marathons and almost qualified for the Olympics! She made me feel a LOT better--I was afraid she would just tell me to quit whining and take a week off, but she didn't! She actually wasn't too concerned about my calf. She it is likely just an overuse injury and that from here on out I can expect that every time I run SOMETHING will probably hurt. She advised me to keep running, but to STOP as soon as the muscle starts to cramp. (Oh Stopping...huh...what a concept!) Then go to the gym and finish the run on a bike or elliptical machine. YUCK. But at least I don't have to quit running altogether. (and yes its weird that I didn't want to be told to stop running. Hey...I've made it this far--why quit now!) She said that at this point in the training I'm essentially ready (HUH? Ready? I don't feel ready!) but that the important thing is to keep up my endurance, heal this injury and prevent any further injuries.

Thankfully each run this week got a little better. I was able to go a little further each time without cramping and I did cross train one day on the elliptical and the bike, which was boring but seemed to help.

Sunday was my longest run yet---19 miles. Anthony had to run 20 and I figured "Hey what's one more mile?" So I decided that I would aim for 20 and if I had to stop at 19, well then I did what I was supposed to do. We ran the Big Papio trail again--we started around 7:15 AM and finished around 11:00 AM. I felt pretty good most of the way. The hardest part of long runs is that they are boring. Yes I was with Anthony, but after 3 hours of running, you start to run out of things to say! But we soldiered on--we met another runner along the way who was training for the Dublin marathon! And I am happy to report that I was able to eat a Powergel without any...uh...stomach/bowel trouble. (Gross, I know, but hey there is NO bathroom on the papio trail!) I actually think that the gel is what got me through the last 6 miles. So I'll be trying that again during my 20 mile run.

At about 18.5 miles my calf muscle started hurting again. I was mad, but also thankful that I had made it that far without any trouble. I pushed myself to go to 19 and stopped and walked the rest of the way....okay, okay so I ran a LITTLE more, but I didn't get all the way to 20. Oh well! I did what the schedule said!

After the run I was sore, of course. My calf muscle hurt, but not nearly as bad as it had the past week, but I do have a new sore spot on my left shin. I'm icing it as I write this. My new best friends: ICE & ADVIL...oh yeah, and Ice Cream!

So this week--its 5,8,5 and 12 miles...then the following week will be my highest mileage week yet culminating with my longest long run of 20 miles and then its time to taper! I can't believe I'm already at this point! 18 weeks ago, October 11th seemed so far away and now its just over 4 weeks away. If I survive this training I think I can survive the marathon. But I still have a ways to go.....117 miles to be exact.

18 MILES!!!!!!!

Yesterday I ran 18 miles. 1-8 Miles.
When I told my cousin Kelli that I was running this distance this weekend her response was "Geez why don't you just run to Gretna!"
Hmmm....
To give you an idea of how incredibly far this is---I went ahead and mapquested the distance from my house to Gretna. Surely that can't be 18 miles. Gretna is at least a 25 if not 30 minute drive from my house. Gretna has got to be MUCH further than 18 miles.
Nope! Apparently the route that Mapquest chose (which we all know is probably unnecessarily long) Gretna is 18.6 miles from my house!
For those reading this that are familiar with Omaha and the surrounding areas this might be impressive. For those of you not familiar with this area--just go ahead and be impressed that I ran this far...
Thankfully Anthony ran with me again. I seriously don't know what I would do without him on these runs--it would be sooooo boring! Its not that Anthony dances, sings, or provides any other form of entertainment while I run, but we can at least talk and take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this running millions of miles thing.
That and he has a Garmin so I don't have to think about where I'm going. I just run till he tells me to stop and turn around! Its nice. It would be even nicer if I had my own Garmin. But I digress...
Anyway--Anthony and I met at 7am at Peak Performance on 78th & Cass to run the keystone trail. We ran north to Fort street and then ran back to our cars to catch a drink. As we were getting our drinks I told Anthony that I didn't want to know how far we'd gone. In fact I decided that I didn't want to know any distance till we turned around again to head back to the car.
In my mind I thought "we've probably gone at least 5 miles." So even though I didn't want to know our distance the entire rest of the run I tried to estimate where we were in mileage. BAD IDEA.
After this pit stop we ran south on the trail.....and we kept running...and running...and running. I kept saying "are we there yet?" and "Okay so have we gone further than 10 miles? Yes or no?" Anthony would NOT give in till we stopped. But I started to get more and more worried as we passed certain "landmarks" along the way. Again for those of you familiar with Omaha--here are some "landmarks we passed" Pacific Street...ok no problem. Still feeling pretty strong. L street--piece of cake. Q street. hmm. Fun Plex--ok...shouldn't we be turning around by now? And then I said to Anthony "we don't have to run all the way to Seymour Smith ballpark, do we?" And he was like "NO! No way. We'll be done before we hit that."
LIAR.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, Anthony stops. "We can turn around now!" he says. "Oh and by the way...there is Seymour Smith ballpark. I guess I was wrong!"
Yeah I GUESS!
So then I think to myself--we've probably done at least 13 miles. Only 5 more to the car. NO. We had only gone 12 miles. (I know "only" 12 miles! But when you are running 18 and you still have another 6 miles to go...hello! I was pissed!)
But I knew it would be ok because I didn't have to wonder anymore--"when will we turn around? When will this be over..." blah blah blah--because I knew where the end point was.
So we turned around and ran...and ran...and ran. And at about mile 14--there was no more talking. We were both just really ready to be done.
We finished the run in 3 hours 12 minutes! Whew! And I can't tell you how incredibly happy I was to stop running! Overall I felt pretty good. Sore and tired, but hey, that's normal, right? Its not every day one runs 18 miles.
THANK GOD.
But I have to say I am proud that I finished the run and that I felt good. Even though my last week of training sucked and my runs didn't go so well, this long run went well and that is the important thing. I consider 18 miles to be a HUGE milestone in my training. One step closer to being ready for 26.2!
This weekend is a "break" in the long runs. We only have to do 13. HA! Just a half-marathon--no biggie!

This kind of sucks

WARNING: (this is mostly for Jeremy) THIS POST WILL BE VERY NEGATIVE. I KNOW THIS WAS MY DECISION TO DO THIS F-ING MARATHON THING, BUT I REALLY NEED TO WHINE RIGHT NOW.

Yeah. There. I said it. This kind of sucks. Training for a marathon actually kind of sucks. Its a roller coaster! A running roller coaster! Everything is up and down--one day you run 5 miles, the next day you run 8...in the middle of the week! One day you feel great...the next day you feel like your legs weigh 500 pounds each and 5 miles seems like 10. One day you feel thin...the next day you eat everything in sight and gain 5 pounds even though you just ran 17 miles!
WTF people?
Ok. To be fair I should not be surprised. I've read the magazines, the books, have friends that have been through this and they all say that this is normal. But its hard to manage! The training takes up lots of time, energy and battery power on my ipod. I feel as if I only ever think about running. Sitting in a meeting at work I think "Man, I can't believe that I have to go home and run." or going to sleep at night "Ok I MUST get up at 6 am when the alarm goes off and run." eating dinner "I shouldn't be eating this because it might hurt my stomach during my run." I'm becoming one of those people who is obsessed with running--only I STILL KIND OF HATE IT!
I seriously have to schedule meetings, time with friends, meals, and sleep around my running. And most Saturday nights I am in bed by 10:00. Its not too fun. True story: Last week I was actually LATE TO WORK because I got up too late and forgot that it would take me MUCH longer than 30 minutes to run 4 miles (because--REMEMBER--I'm SLOW). Yes this could cost me my job!
Also...this may sound crazy...but I have seriously (no, really-SERIOUSLY) GAINED WEIGHT. You would think that the god of running or whatever would at least let me lose some weight after all I go through. Running is NOT a pretty sport. You sweat in places you didn't know had sweat glands, you STINK more than you ever thought you could, your nose runs, you chafe anywhere on your body that clothing touches you (yes that's right--go ahead...picture it) you run in rain, in extreme heat & humidity (poor Kim!), you run even when your ipod stops working, when you run out of Gatorade...hey...you have to drink Gatorade! (Yes you really have to--otherwise you'll die...or you'll feel like you want to die). And you go through all this 4 days a week and...STILL the jeans don't quite fit!
So I could eat less....but hello I'm STARVING! If I'm not thinking about running...I'm thinking about food! See? ROLLER COASTER!
And the really great part? One of those 4 days running--you get up horrifyingly early--usually on a SUNDAY while everyone else in the universe is in bed, or reading the paper or hell--even going to church--to run...A LOT. For example:
Last weekend I was scheduled to run 17 miles. You don't just walk out the door and start running 17 miles. You have to plan. So I got online to figure out how many miles the nearest trail was. Then got in my car and drove to the trail to see how far it was from my house (some of us don't own a Garmin, ok?) then had to calculate how many times I would have to run the trail, turn around and run it again. THEN I had to schedule Jeremy to come bring me water which required me to estimate my pace (which again..hard to do when you don't have a Garmin) so to be safe I overestimated how long 8.5 miles would take me--I figured 1 1/2 hours would be PLENTY of time. But I was WRONG. It took me almost 2 hours and THEN after that I had to run ANOTHER 8 MILES!!!!!!!!
But I did it.
OK....well....I almost did it. I think I was very close...Jeremy's friend Jake who is training for the Omaha Marathon was running on the trail and I begged him to PLEASE run with me because after 12 miles I was really tired of my ipod. So he ran with me and we talked and I totally lost track of where I was in my miles. Anyway--if I didn't do 17 I know I did at least 16 and at that point it was O-V-E-R, I was done and 16 was going to have to be good enough Hal Higdon!

But I have to say in all honesty...that run wasn't THAT bad. The first 8 miles...Wait for it...

I actually felt pretty good! But by 14, 15 I really started to get tired. Which is ok and totally normal and the exact reason you do long runs--to build up your endurance. But at one point when I was still in the first 8 miles I actually--now this was VERY brief--I actually forgot I was running. It was so weird, yet so wonderful! For a brief, shining moment I wasn't thinking "this is boring. this is boring. my legs hurt. i hate this." I actually don't know what I was thinking about, but before I knew it 1/2 a mile had gone by. It was awesome! Who can I pay to make that happen this weekend...for 18 miles? Is that a runner's high? Or maybe that's just my runner's high--temporary amnesia or something.

Ok now on the bright side: I'm getting excited for the race! I watched "Spirit of the Marathon" last weekend about the 2005 Chicago Marathon and I almost cried like 5 times. I haven't been that sore after my long runs, and its kind of fun to be able to say "Yeah last Sunday I ran 17 miles" (shush, it was CLOSE ENOUGH ok) Yes its technically bragging, something I normally despise, but hello--after all the sweating, chafing, Gatorade, time away from my husband and T.V. AND my jeans not fitting...I think I've earned some bragging rights.

Loooong Runs

So the last two weekends my long runs have surpassed the furthest distance I've ever run--which is 13.1 miles. I've trained for and completed 5 Half-Marathons so you'd think that one or two extra miles wouldn't be that big of a deal. BUT IT IS.
You see there is a big difference between training for 13.1 miles and just running that distance as part of a training program. The furthest I've run while training for a half is 10 miles. So I wasn't really looking forward to getting up SUPER early last Saturday to essentially run a half-marathon...by myself.
When I'm getting ready for a race its much easier to prepare--I've tapered my mileage for the week before and gotten lots of rest. But since this is just another week of training I wasn't tapering...during the week I ran 15 miles...and I wasn't feeling all that rested! I was sore and I was really crabby that I had to get up at 5:30 to get the long run out of the way. From now on these long runs are going to take well over 2 1/2 hours...yikes! So I'll have to go to bed early on a Friday or Saturday night, stay away from alcohol, eat only healthy food, and not make plans to go out or put myself in any situation where I might injure myself....which for me means walking down stairs in high heels...Sigh.
But I DID IT!!! I got up early on Saturday...well not as early as I wanted...the alarm was set for 5:30 but...well...come on its SATURDAY! But I wanted to be done with the 14 miles by 9:30 because we were leaving to go camping with friends at 11:00.
The run didn't start too well. I was feeling really tired, lethargic and bored. I brought my ipod but decided to leave it in the car for some reason. After about 10 minutes I regretted that decision but there was no way I was going back for it. But after the 4th mile, I started to feel better! I've officially decided that it takes me 4 miles to warm up. After that I get into my groove and feel pretty good. I wouldn't exactly call it a "runners high" or anything, but I feel like I really settle into my stride, my breathing...its almost peaceful. ALMOST. Don't get me wrong--if someone came up to me at mile 7 and said "I will pay you $25 to stop running now." I would seriously consider it.
After I had gone 11 miles I stopped to get a drink. Which wasn't the best move. You'd think that after 11 miles another three wouldn't seem too bad. But while it might hurt to run, it hurts even worse to start up again. I was really getting sore and tired and, YES--bored so I decided to put on my ipod. DUH. I guess all I needed was a little Rhianna and Black Eyed Peas to get me going because those next three miles flew by! And before I knew it--I had run "the furthest I've ever run!" Woo hoo! I'll be saying this a lot from now on....its exciting! Especially when its over!
Today I ran with Anthony which made things MUCH easier. We definitely ran faster than if I had been by myself but he had his SUPER COOL Garmin GPS/robot/personal trainer thing with him (which I REALLY want and NEED by the way.) so it was fun to be able to accurately track how far we'd gone, our pace and the best part...how many calories we burned!
Anthony is one week ahead of me in his training schedule so he only had to run 11 today. But at least I had someone to run with for the majority of the time which was great. According to his Garmin we did 11.6 miles together. So after he left I did the rest of my run--about 3.5 miles....ok...truth be told it was probably just under 15 miles but I really didn't care at that point. The point is its done.
And next week I only have to run 11 miles! Ha! That is so funny to me...ONLY 11 miles.

I told you so....

Well as per usual I have done a really terrible job of keeping this blog up to date. But things have been busy these past few weeks! The first two weekends in July Jeremy and I were in Iowa--first for his cousin's wedding then for his 10 year High School reunion (oh he's such a youngin'!) Then I went to Colorado for a week and just got back yesterday.
But this blog isn't about the fabulous jet-set life of Jeremy and Erin Stoll--its about running so I guess I should start talking about my marathon training progress....or...er...lack of progress I should say. You see I hit a little bump...well...a big bump actually. Here's the story:

If you have ever been to our little bungalow of a house, you know that it was built in 1950 and that houses built in 1950 have attic space or as its sometimes called "dormer" rooms upstairs. Well this is where our bedroom is. Anyone that has been to our home has commented on how steep and narrow the stairs leading up to our bedroom are.(see picture) "wow you should really be careful!" or "Wow when you are pregnant there is no way you should be going up and down those stairs" ok, fine. Yes we know--they are steep, the steps themselves are pretty shallow and they aren't carpeted so yes...we need to use caution going up and down the stairs. But we've lived in this house for over 2 years now. I've been up and down those stairs a million times--in the dark, with laundry, carrying the dog, barefoot, with socks, hell I even managed to carry an extremely large and heavy suitcase down the stairs in the dark at 4:30 in the morning when I surprised Jeremy last year on his birthday with a trip to Washington DC. All of these treks up and down stairs were incident and injury free. In fact, up until this point the only Stoll family member who hasn't fared so well is Gus. Sometimes he overestimates how many steps he can jump down before he lands face first in the hallway.
But three weeks ago this all changed.Jeremy and I were getting ready to go to our friend Brandon's going away party at The Max--a super-duper gay dance club. So of COURSE I HAD to wear my most fabulous, high heeled, knockout shoes to this event. Here comes the "I told you so" part of the story. So lately Jeremy has been asking, telling, begging and insisting that I NOT wear my shoes (which 99% of the time are of the high heel variety) down the stairs. He claims that this is a safety precaution, of course, but he's also quite concerned with the state of our wood floors. Upon close inspection of our treacherous staircase you will see....um...hundreds? No---dozens of pockmarks on the stairs....yes these are from my high heels. Ok I admit--no one to blame but myself here. I understand his concern for our stairs, but really I've become quite good at making it down our stairs in heels just fine, so for weeks--I've been ignoring my husband's request.
HOWEVER....the night of the party at The Max we were running late (of course) so I was hurrying about upstairs trying to build an outfit around my silver snakeskin, four inch, Michael Kors shoes that I love, love LOVE. (Look, when you love a pair of shoes that much--yes, you build the outfit around them. Just look at the picture...hello.) As usual, Jeremy is yelling at me from the sofa "Hon, we are supposed to be there now!" So I get myself together and hurry down the stairs and then....

I slipped.

I slipped and slid...yes SLID down 4 stairs before finally stopping just before the hallway. My left butt cheek hit the edge of one of the stairs as did my left elbow and the outside of my left ankle scraped along the side of one of the stairs as well. OUCH.
I think I screamed a little, but of course Jeremy heard the entire thing and probably felt the whole house shake, lets be honest. But I heard him yelling "Ohmygodbabyohmygod" and he reached the staircase in time to see me land...if you want to call it that. It hurt so bad that the pain didn't really even register till a few minutes later. Sort of like when you stub your toe and it takes a few seconds for the pain signal to really reach your brain. Why does that happen anyway? Well the pain was like that times 10.
We assessed the damage. My butt was sore for sure but only red at that point. Same thing on my elbow and the ankle was fine which was surprising considering I've sprained it like 17 times just walking down the street...in completely sensible shoes I might add.
So what could I do? Get up and go to the Max of course! I was sore, but not overly so and since the ankle was fine, no need to change the shoes! In fact immediately after the fall the staircase looked worse than I did. There is a 3 inch long groove or as Jeremy likes to say "skid mark" that my heel made in two of the stairs from when I slipped and another stair has a hole--yes HOLE, from my right high heel when I finally landed. Sigh.
So the next day I reassessed the damage to my body...mainly my er...bum...and oh dear god was it bad. I didn't take any pictures because, well, there are just things that you don't need to see, my bum bruise being one of them. So I'll just paint you a picture: The bruise, which Jeremy lovingly referred to as "The License Plate" was nearly 7 inches long, 3 inches wide and roughly the shape of Madagascar. And it was black, yes BLACK in the middle (where the cheek first hit the edge of the stair) and then various shades of blue, purple, green and yellow around the edges. And oh did it HURT.
But have no fear--I figured that since it only hurt when I was sitting and not walking that running should be fine too. Oh dear god was I wrong. Two days later (on 4th of July) we were planning to leave for Iowa at 9am. I was scheduled to run 11 miles that day so I got up at 6:30, got ready and headed out for a quick 11 miles.(hee hee--I'm totally joking of course. This distance would take me at LEAST 2 hours, who am I kidding?) From the very first running step I knew that the damage on my butt went way beyond an external, Madagascar shaped bruise. With every step it felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife in my left butt cheek. I thought maybe if I kept running it would feel better...not really. Going up hill, running on a flat street and downhill--it didn't matter. The stabbing pain was intense and there was no way I would be able to keep going for 11 miles. So I had to go home and walk on the effing treadmill. I've never been so mad and so frustrated! Its not that running 11 miles is great fun, but when you are training for a marathon, its important that you do the long runs--this is how you build endurance and they are the most important runs you will do in your training. I sent a quick text to my virtual running partner in Houston, Kim with my dilemma. "You'll be fine!" She said. "We've still got 14 weeks of training to go. Don't keep trying to run because you'll overcompensate with your other leg and end up in worse shape." She had a point.
So needless to say--running took a back seat (no pun intended) for the better part of 2 weeks. I had to skip my 11 and 12 mile long runs. During the week I walked, biked and swam (which was HARD let me tell you! I've never been so tired than after 45 minutes of swimming! No wonder Dara Torres looks so amazing!) But slowly, I've been able to run a little more.
This past week I was in Colorado, so slightly out of shape and in extremely high altitude I decided to try and run anyway! WTF? The most I ran all week was (I'm hoping) 3 miles. But I was S-L-O-W and felt like I was working really hard due to the thin air. But I noticed that as I ran, my bum would actually start to feel better and toward the end of the runs the pain had almost completely gone away.
I'm reading "Marathoning for Mortals" and it says that if you miss a workout, to just keep going and don't try to make it up. So I was scheduled to run 9 today, but tried to eek out 10 miles just for the hell of it. It was not easy. I'm guessing that I did closer to 9 just by the time, but I'm thankful to be able to run again--although I'm slow as hell.
So did I learn my lesson? Hell yes I did. And I'll let Jeremy keep this "I told you so". But will I stop wearing heels? NEVER.