Testing the Waters

This turtle of a runner will be testing the waters today after a week off of no, none, notta, zip running. I must say, I am anxious. See, thing is I've already put in 695.10 miles which translates into 107 hours, 6 minutes, and 3 seconds out on the roads running in heat, rain, wind, sleet, ice, bitterly cold temps, and snow. That's quite an investment and, if my leg won't allow me to continue training for this April marathon and I have to take an extended period of time off to rehab it... I will have to start training all over again from square one for a fall or later marathon.

Again, don't get me wrong, if I can't do this race, I can't and I'll be ok with that. It's just that it would be a big disappointment to have come this far not to have all those runs and training time culminate into a successful first marathon. I am astonished at what I have accomplished in my training alone to date and very proud of myself for that, not to mention some of the conditions that I have accomplished some of these runs in this winter. A couple of years ago I would not have envisioned myself running a 10 mile race, let alone doing a 16 mile run in post snowstorm conditions!

If this morning's easy run goes ok, I will be cutting back on the days of running and miles in my training program to try and endure the rest of the plan enough to allow me to complete this race. Only time will tell however. I did go to our local running shop yesterday after church and consulted with Liz, who I found out yesterday attends our church with her family and I didn't even know it (we have a rather large congregation - around 2,000) at Dave's Performance Footgear. She re-evaluated my feet, foot strike and reviewed my situation. We did determine that I, and Tammy, need to change up our running routes more due to the camber/pitch of the roads we run on which may be contibuting to our leg issues. She suggested I do my long runs in my ASICS vs. the Mizunos since they are wearing better and more of a stability shoe where the Mizunos are neutral. No new shoes needed, which was good because we have to discretionary money to spend right now.

I'm going to Bedford's (our local school) track this morning to do my test-run, 4 or 5 miles depending on how I feel, because it is flat and also has a rubberized surface which will be less impact on my legs than running on the roads and shoulders around here. I'll let you know how things go...