And I did on Saturday. At mile 9 my myriad injuries made it very obvious that I was either going to take it easy, or I was likely going to spend the next six months trying to rehab a torn achilles and a ruptured calf. Not surprising, considering that two weeks ago I didn't think I was going to even go to Utah for the race and five days ago I didn't even think I was going to line up.
I ended up finishing in 4:57, which is more than an hour slower than my last race. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed - I trained harder than ever and am - on paper - faster than I've ever been. But I'm proud of finishing in spite of all the reasons I shouldn't have. And I have a new appreciation for all of the 5 hour marathon people.
I am especially proud of my brother, however. He ran his first marathon (we ran together for the first 9 miles until I told him to go without me) and he finished in an amazing 3:32. Couldn't have been more proud.
As for me, I'm going to take a month off of running and then start trying to train up for a half ironman in October.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Health issues
I've mentioned before that I've been struggling with shin splints a bit over the past few weeks. I've been cycling and swimming to give myself some rest, and still feel like my training has not suffered much.
Last Saturday I was goofing off with my almost five year old son when something far worse happened. I was aimlessly jogging along when I felt something give in my right calf. I had an immediate spasm of pain and couldn't do anything more than hobble.
All of my symptoms have me with a pretty textbook calf strain. Thankfully, it's not a full rupture or even a very serious strain. A week later I'm confident that I'll make the starting line for the race next Saturday morning. How far or fast I'll be able to run is anybody's guess, and I'm not sure I'll be able to finish. But I'll line up at least.
I took complete rest over the past 7 days, and I plan to continue until Thursday morning. Hopefully that will be enough. Thankfully, this race has a natural bail-out point - my parent's house is at mile 2.5 or so on this route. If I am having major issues by that point I can drop, and I think I'll know pretty quickly if I am having serious issues. It's a bummer to go into the race with this much uncertainty, especially after having trained so hard. Prior to my calf issue I was hoping to smash my PR. Now I'm just hoping to finish.
Last Saturday I was goofing off with my almost five year old son when something far worse happened. I was aimlessly jogging along when I felt something give in my right calf. I had an immediate spasm of pain and couldn't do anything more than hobble.
All of my symptoms have me with a pretty textbook calf strain. Thankfully, it's not a full rupture or even a very serious strain. A week later I'm confident that I'll make the starting line for the race next Saturday morning. How far or fast I'll be able to run is anybody's guess, and I'm not sure I'll be able to finish. But I'll line up at least.
I took complete rest over the past 7 days, and I plan to continue until Thursday morning. Hopefully that will be enough. Thankfully, this race has a natural bail-out point - my parent's house is at mile 2.5 or so on this route. If I am having major issues by that point I can drop, and I think I'll know pretty quickly if I am having serious issues. It's a bummer to go into the race with this much uncertainty, especially after having trained so hard. Prior to my calf issue I was hoping to smash my PR. Now I'm just hoping to finish.
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