Mom Against the Marathon

I would love to blog about my awesome race last weekend in B'ham and how I finally got down under 1:19 in the half, but unfortunately then I would be lying.

With the exception of 13.1 miles I ran on Sunday morning, the weekend was a nice get away. I got a chance to room with Meagan, eat expensive/tasteless room service and get 8+ hour of uninterrupted sleep. However, the task I set out to complete Sunday morning didn't even come remotely close to happening.
I dropped out a 4 miles. Not from injury, pain, or puking. For lack of a better excuse, I simply didn't have it in me. Motivation = 0.

I know that's sad. Who spends 6 weeks preparing for one race only to show up and not try. I understand what some people might think, however I do believe that there are some things in life that do not necessarily need to be discussed on a blog, however open diary like blogging truly is, and therefore I really have no further excuses. My heart wasn't in it. As soon as it got hard …

I don't get injured much. Being a toe runner (not a fore-foot runner or a mid-foot runner, a TOE runner) most of my running-related injuries are having to do with my achilles and calf. Non-running related, when I was in tenth grade I took a really bad fall on my snowboard and could not run for almost an entire week. In 11th grade I hurt myself playing rugby that put my on the sidelines for a few days. The injuries you get from everyday life that keep you from running, I despise those injuries.

These past seven days were suppose to be pretty intense, 3 hard sessions with one in the middle of an 18 mile run. Tuesday I ran a speed fartlek in the morning around the inner loop of Sherwood, with warm-up and cool-down it was only about 6-7 miles, so that afternoon I went out and ran a moderately paced 8 miles. Wednesday I took it easy, 8 in the morning, 3 at night. Thursday I ran in the morning and had planned on running the Glow Run 5K on campus in the evening. I felt pretty good throug…

Monday: 1:36 w/ strides

Tuesday: AM: 40 min PM: 43 min w/ strides
Wednesday: 2 mile w/u, 4 x 2 miles, 2 min jog rest, 1 mile c/d (treadmill -under a tornado watch so indoors was my only option) 5:56 pace, 1 incline 5:52 pace, .5 incline 5:49 pace, .5 incline 5:52-5:49, .5 incline   
Thursday: am: 12 min run PM: 72 min w/ strides
Friday: AM: 20 minutes PM: 60 minutes 
Saturday: 17 miles w/ 10 @ 6:30-6:43 (mile 15@6:10)
Sunday: 80 minutes on south farm (felt great) 
(85 miles)
Houston traveled half the week so I had a few more treadmill runs then I would have liked, but i'm not complaining. I really have no problem with treadmill miles when I have access to things like Pandora and Netflix. Still battling the chest cold of death.

This week my running took a turn for the better. I'm finally starting to feel fresh and I had one of the best 4x2 mile session I've ever had. My mileage peaked back up to 85, and I got the sleep I needed and the nutrition. I'm finally starting to feel fresh on my morning runs and my legs are not throbbing when I'm sitting or when I go too long between meals.

Honestly, running is an amazing hobby to look forward to everyday, and I'm so glad I'm good at it, but its not worth being fatigued in all other aspects of my life. Frying myself last fall left me beat up,  lethargic, moody, cramping, sore, and slow. It got a little out of hand, and therefore I'm glad the Fall turned out like it did. I learned another valuable lesson - you can't will your body into shape when it resents you. If you don't listen to the warning signs, it will eventually shut you down.

I spent about half of last year surviving on 6 hrs of sleep and paying zero attention to my eatin…