Friday, August 15, 2008

The Sun is Always Brighter

Well, it’s been a month since the Boilermaker in Utica (picture of my finish to the left) and the slight injury I got just doesn’t want to go away. I took a week off and the foot was feeling pretty good. Then, in a dazzling attempt to defy any semblance of intelligence one might assign me, I ran a 400 meter race on a whim which, as you may have guessed, ended badly. I made the injury worse and took another week off.

I got some inserts that have helped and I have been running very sparingly over the last two weeks. I have discontinued a Jake Logan staple of flip-flops and have taken to wearing shoes with the said inserts all hours of the day – I even put them in my dress shoes.

Running on it doesn’t agitate my foot, but it’s also just not getting better. I went to a podiatrist, who has run four marathons himself and he told me I should just run through it, so run through it I shall.

I have been taking it easy. To give you a point of reference, I had run more than 25 miles a week the entire month before the Boilermaker. Over the last four weeks, however, I haven’t even run 25 miles combined.

I didn’t realize this until just recently, but the drop-off in activity has had a dramatic effect on me. While I haven’t gained a lot of weight, the weight has already shifted. For some reason, my already suspect sleeping habits have once again deteriorated, putting me at less than five hours a night and, most upsetting, has wreaked havoc on my moods.

I am to start my 16-week marathon training plan Tuesday, August 19 which includes a13 miler that Saturday. I have every intention of diving in to this program and we’ll see what happens.

Some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks; I ran 4 miles in Atlanta with my sister-in-law. I ran 4 miles through campus at the University of Virginia and 7.5 through a very hilly BJ Park in Richmond. Additionally, I purchased a road bike to try and do some cross training and maybe get started with Triathlons. We shall see.

The bottom line is, the sun is always brighter elsewhere and despite all the whining running rampant through the rest of this update, all will be well. This will get better or it won’t and I’ll further adjust my expectations. What I know is, I will get through this marathon; I’ll bounce back from it all as I refuse for this last year to be a sunset soon forgotten. In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated.

1 comment:

Karen said...

Exciting news about the bike. Have you started swimming as well? Joey has been asking me to teach him the "proper" swim strokes as a result of the national fascination with Phelps. Hope your foot heals soon.