Wednesday, March 4, 2009

eight weeks to ‘M’ day….

Less than eight weeks now and I will run that first marathon that has been eluding me for years now thanks to injury. I’ve been a blogging slacker and I apologize to all 12 of you who read this! I’ve had a bit of a week or so and have taken the stance if I can’t write something nice then I won’t write at all. Frankly I just wasn’t in the mood. But now I will blather on and on and on all about me and how I run, so hold on and enjoy.

Last week I decided to do all my runs alone and try and push to see what I could do. It paid off and I learned what I needed to know. I can push myself to run faster and further. I’ve only been back to running since the first week of January because of my injury, and I haven’t had times I’m happy with yet, so last week boosted my confidence and helped me feel like I might be able to finish that little OKC marathon!

On top of that I had a spectacular 16 mile run on Sunday. I have previously done all my long runs with Emily and Kristen the running lawyers, but I was solo this weekend, just me and the Zoo Park 4-mile loop. The 16-miler was a milestone for three reasons: it is my longest run to date, it is the same run last year on which I acquired my evil-was-on-crutches-for-five-weeks-metatarsal-stress- fracture, and it was my fastest long run in the history of me!

The first four miles were brutal and lonely, I ran all four thinking to myself how can I get through three more laps of this four-mile route. I will be here forever. I am going to die in the middle of the Zoo Park, no one will know, and the monkeys are going to come and find me and steal me away to eat me as a snack. I’m doomed. Luckily I made it back around to the parking lot in tact, no being stolen by the monkeys. I stopped for some Gatorade and Watermelon Sport Beans (thanks to my sister Kris, she sent them as a birthday present, I highly recommend them) and something in me kicked into gear and I hit negative split after negative split for the rest of the run. I was stunned, and confused, but happy to be hitting my stride and feeling great! I finished those 16 strong and like I could have kept going.

I got home took an ice bath, stretched and proceeded to go stuff my face full of delicious taco pizza at Knolla’s with Ed, trying to replace the 2000 calories my Garmin says I burned. It was a good day. Cheers to marathon training, my friends.

5 comments:

Aron said...

great job on the running!!! 8 weeks will be here SO soon!

Oz Runner said...

awesome job on the 16 miler....that marathon will be here before you know it, and it sounds like you are doing great with your training. keep it up.

RunToTheFinish said...

thanks for the comments on the massage that makes me feel better! So have you decided against doing the Olathe 1/2 marathon? Looks like you are well on your way to kicking butt in OKC

Aron said...

Answering your questions...

I have gotten faster since my first marathon, I had JUST started running when I was training for #1.

I also do still get sore sometimes, it just depends on the run. But I do find that I hold up a lot better now. After my long runs for marathon #1, I would be WIPED out... whereas now I don't get as wiped. I can definitely tell a difference. Some runs still do me in though :)

californiameaghan said...

do you use a nutrition belt or stash water/energy beans/gatorade or whatever somewhere when you run? as it warms up here my spiffy running jacket with zippy pockets is getting too warm and i dont know what to do with my cell phone and house keys. what do you do with your stuff? do they make t shirts or tank tops with zippy pockets? you are obviously the expert because you ran more in one day than i run in about two weeks.