DONE FOR THE YEAR!!!!

So I accomplished my goal of completing a marathon in 2008. It was a lofty goal, but I attained it. Quite honestly, I think that I could have done a lot better. I just needed to train like I was supposed to. I pretty much jogged the entire thing, posing for the cameras and such (up to mile 17). I guess I'm scared to be fast... or at least dying halfway thru. I had about a 8min / mile pace. That would be laughed at in high school. Yeah, I know this aint high school, and I'm a career oriented family man, but still...

I REALLY hurt my right hamstring and calf during that marathon. It happened at mile 22. All of a sudden, nothing to lead up to it. This was Oct 19 and it is still bothering me to this day. It got a little better, and my quest to get faster got the best of me. I went out and did a couple of tempo runs since then. I felt a twinge, but nothing eye popping. This past Sunday... I decided to push my aerobic limit. Did a 2 mile tempo run at 14:14. Rested a minute just to see how my leg was holding up. NOTHING. So I decided to slow it down a little and run a 7:30 pace for the next 5 miles. Around my 2nd mile in... I had the most excruciating pain in the back of my knee and hammy... and one more odd thing, I had a severe pain on my right hip. I came to a dramatic halt. It literally felt like something tore back there. I had to stop for a good 5-7 minutes to massage my leg, and of course I was like 3 miles from home with no phone to call home. So I trodded my way home.

I have always frowned on people that ALWAYS talked about "dont train to hard too fast, you'll get injured" or "dont do this/that you'll get injured" bla bla bla... I always said, just run through you injuries, it cant be that bad. Now I am injured. I have decided to hang up the running shoes for the year. Today I was in sooooo much pain, and came to that decision while at work today. Its been 3 weeks since the marathon, and I am in as much pain as the day of. Maybe i should have not did the runs. But I never had real pain until yesterday. You can see my training log to the left. I swear, it happened so fast and so sharp and painful, I was sure something had torn. I applied one of those FLECTOR PATCH thingys. Didnt really help too much. Didnt expect the pain to go totally away!! Now as I type this, I am in a lot less pain. I gave myself an injection of lidocaine and cortisone in my hip and just behind my knee. My knee is still painful, but my hip feels better. I'm still not going to run on it.

I missed my run this weekend, it was a dual meet... a 5k and 10k combo. Sounded like fun. I also was to run the last XC meet of the year for my region. Oh well... at least I saved my money, LOL. I am soooo gonna miss running, its my stress relief, my time to just enjoy myself and meditate over the days events without interruption. I keep teasing another runner that is injured and was instructed by her physical therapist to stop running, because her injury could end her racing career and make her a "recreational runner". She keeps running... now look at me. I'm in the same boat. I may just play it by ear. I at least wanted to run the New Years Eve 4 miler at Belle Isle. But I'll see. But until then, I'm going to take it easy and pick up another gig... Chess anyone??? LOL...