Happy Birthday Mom, 11 Miles Hurt and I’m Running a Half-Marathon on Saturday

Happy happy birthday to my Mom! She has always been so supportive of everything I do – this marathon included – and I’m very lucky to have such a wonderful mother. You finally made it in the blog mom!

Yesterday I got up early to run 11 miles. I made the mistake of not eating anything before my run as I thought drinking some Gatorade would suffice. ROOKIE MISTAKE. My run actually started off really well. I was happy with my pace and how I was feeling through mile 8. Around mile 8 is when I started feeling the pain in my left hip. My left hip has been slightly sore after the last few long runs but nothing to complain about. Once it started hurting I could not for the life of me stop thinking about it as I kept unsuccessfully trying to push it out of my mind and focus on something else.

When I hit 9.8 miles I started to walk and did the walk of shame for .2 miles. I really regretted doing that and felt like a complete failure as I have not walked any part of my runs since my “six miles sucked” (3/17) run. When I hit the 10 mile mark I forced myself to finish the run. Words cannot describe how painful it was to restart running. Honestly I’m not sure how I managed to run that last mile but I am very proud of myself that I did. Eminem did not let me down as his two songs – “Lose Yourself” and “Till I Collapse” – got me through that last mile.

While I was happy that I finished the run, overall I was very disappointed. My time was OK (even with the .2 walking) but not quite where I wanted it to be. I was on pace for the time I wanted up to the 8 mile mark. I also realize that I was an idiot for not eating before the run. After the run, I was also the most sore I had ever been up to this point, particularly my left hip and right knee. I had a nice ice down when I got home.

Today I’m feeling much better than yesterday but I still feel the aches and pains. It’s really made me question whether I can physically withstand what is necessary to complete a marathon. Don’t worry, I’m absolutely going to keep going but I’m not feeling as confident as I was last week. I’m just praying for a good week of training to help change my mind.

This week’s training is: 4-6-4-12 (I will be running 13.1 instead)

This Saturday I will be running in my first half-marathon! It happened to coincide nicely with my training so I entered it. I enjoyed my 10k race so I’m hoping to have the same result with the half-marathon, but I have to admit that I was more excited about the prospect of running a half-marathon last week before my 11-mile run. So wish me luck!

This week I will try to focus on each run as it comes up and not look too far ahead. I need to focus on staying healthy, injury-free and strong so I can continue to train hard and successfully complete this marathon.

SF Marathon Here I Come,
Suzanne