Running For My Life

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/16/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:39:55.00

I ran 4 miles this morning and was very sore afterwards, but at this point I don’t really care.  My Achilles injury obviously won’t be healed by race day, but it should be okay to go 26.2 miles……..I hope!!

I watched the Nova Marathon Challenge on PBS tonight (thanks for the heads-up on that, Lisa and Brad).  What a great fire-up for the Boston Marathon.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s about 12 people who are not runners but are selected to train and run in last year’s Boston Marathon.  None of them would be considered athletes, but all finished the race (except one who never started due to injury).  The program follows the runners through the entire 40-week training period and race.
With just 5+ days before the race, I am trying to catch up on some sleep this week although I am getting a bit anxious for the trip to Boston so I have been waking up way too early (3:30 this morning!!).  As far as diet, I am doing nothing special yet….still eating lots of fruits and veggies as well as a good bit of junk (I had three tacos for dinner and a handful of Reeses Pieces for dessert).  Toward the end of the week I will start focusing more on carbs and less on fats.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/15/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:34:24.00
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 8:35.76/mile

The last two marathons I ran were done with one intention: to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The first time I failed (bonked at Mile 21, missed by 9 minutes), the second time I succeeded. So my intention for this year’s Boston Marathon was to finish in under 3 hours. I had been training with that goal in mind for several months. But now that I am injured, all bets are off. I no longer have a time goal, and it feels great! My goal is now just to finish the race, and have fun doing it. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly would be nice to set a PR or get close to 3 hours. But if I finish in 4:30, I am not going to be down.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all of their words of encouragement and support lately. It is amazing how people who don’t even know me are helping me to get through this unexpected “twist” in my marathon training. And then there’s my friends, who have also been great. I just got off the phone with one of my clients and he has added me to his prayer list for next Monday morning. Awesome! I have had so many people say that they are praying for me to heal quickly….and amazingly, it seems to be working (see yesterday’s post about being pain-free). I am truly humbled by these gestures of support. And I always thought nobody else knew how important running the Boston Marathon was for me, but it seems that everyone else knew too!

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/14/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:10:00.00

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/13/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00

I did a 5-miler on the treadmill and followed it up with 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.  No pain during, no pain afterward, so I have declared myself 100% ready…..for a 5-mile race.  Whether the Achilles will withstand 26.2 miles, I’ll have to wait another week to see.  All I can say is that I am very encouraged.

Right now the forecast for next Monday in Boston is predicting rain and 56 degrees.  Hopefully that will improve before race-day.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/13/2008
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:43:20.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 8:40.23/mile

I am not sure if I am making any progress with my Achilles injury since it only hurts during and/or after I run, and I am not running much these days. I am continuing to get treatment and continuing to ice and do light stretching and wear heal lifts and all of those other little things that may or may not work.

I had mentioned my injury to a friend who is also running the Boston Marathon and is a very experienced runner (he is marathon legend Bill Rodgers’ running partner). He told me something that I didn’t realize: that by running a marathon with an Achilles injury, I am probably giving up my entire running season. I knew that I would probably have to take a few months off after the marathon (that would be 2 weeks under normal circumstances), but that will curtail my racing for the rest of the spring and probably the summer. Hopefully not the fall, though, as some of my favorite races are in Sept. and Oct.

When faced with this realization, I think running in the Boston Marathon is well worth the sacrifice of my racing season. There will be plenty more of those, but I wonder if I will ever run the Boston Marathon again.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/11/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:09:10.00

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/10/2008
• Time: 17:00:00
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/10/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:39:30.00

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/09/2008
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00

They say that marathon training is a personal journey - one in which you learn a lot about yourself.  While I will say that is true, the normal marathon training program does not compare to what I have been through this winter and spring.  The worst winter weather in over 100 years in this part of the country and a lingering Achilles injury have made my training an extraordinary challenge.  If I can finish the Boston Marathon in 12 days, I can’t imagine the personal satisfaction that I will get (even though I may be finishing 2 hours slower than I had anticipated).  I will feel as if I have won a hard-fought battle.  The difficult part is that I know that it is going to be a painful experience on race-day and there is no sure thing that I will even be able to finish.

This morning I was able to finish 5 miles without any pain, which was very encouraging.  Unfortunately my tendon has been very swollen, tender and sore the rest of the day.   But still, I think it was a positive sign.  I am not going to run again until Sunday to allow for more healing.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/09/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:44:20.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 8:51.76/mile