run a marathon

and I won’t be running :( my knee is funky and I’ve been giving it a rest for the past six weeks. I miss the running, but also feel wary about getting back out there. maybe in homage to marathoners I’ll go out and run a bit tomorrow, as a diagnostic.

still not sure if the LA marathon is going to happen for me on March 20. Left knee feels persistently sensitive. Ran with a knee band and compression socks – both seemed to help. The first couple of miles were the most sore and then for 10 miles legs felt good. Now, a couple of hours afterwards – ouch – both feel ancient, decrepit.

for the first time in over a month. 11 miles felt good. hearing D talk about conditioning put everything into perspective.

the experience of running the second half of the run at a faster pace than the first is now planted somewhere in my body. have to remember to hold on to that feeling.

new shoes felt mostly good, except for tiny blister on the fleshy part of my left foot.

was my longest in four weeks. I’ve been stiff, sore and taking it easy, running 3-5 miles at a time, no more than 2-3x/week.

did about 40 min. of swimming this weekend, which felt great.

morning aches in the ankles and feet have been pointing to plantar fasciitis. plus I’ve developed a pain in my left leg that moved up to my hip and now seems to have settled just up behind my knee.

so broke down and headed off to the running store to get fitted with some more supportive shoes. been joyfully running in minimalist gear, but I think I must’ve hit some kind of limit a few weeks back. new shoes feel like tanks compared to the old. but apparently I’m a mild pronator, so we’ll see if this makes any difference.

longest run, ever.

the weather over about 4 hours varied between misty (occasional) and big fat rain drops (more often than not). lots of crazy puddle hopping. feet and shoes pretty much completely soggy the whole way through. the marvelous D pointed out: we might as well think about this rain running thing as fun, since we’re doing it anyway.

the left arch felt a little sensitive at the beginning, but for most of the run no more sore than anything else. the last two miles were hard, mind over body. I was inspired by S who fell and got a pretty bloody knee scrape at about mi. 13 but hung in there with the group through the end. I really can’t imagine running that distance alone. It was nearly entirely the momentum of the group that kept me going that last stretch.

my gps started going haywire about 2/3 through and I think the itunes were waterlogged too. I also learned that after any kind of stopping for water breaks, or pee breaks, it got progressively harder and harder to restart. the mantra: just. keep. going.

I was a little afraid to look at my foot afterwards. But the damage wasn’t bad – one big blister on my big toe. Everything below my hips feels pretty stiff and creaky.

But no excuse to skip a holiday party tonight, since I’m bringing dessert!

of my long run this weekend, which was meant to be an 18 miler, I had my first ever experience of pain in the arch. yoikes! – plantar faciosis? I walked for another hour, then got on the bus and went home. I hope this doesn’t throw the marathon training for a complete loop.

half of which was up a looong hill. happily, the first half. After our hilly run, it was sheer delight to save the fastest pace for the last 1.5 mi.

or maybe just a bit shy of 16 miles. there was a flood watch this morning, but as it turns out besides a bit of a light mist, it was overcast, cool and dry. comfortable for a run.

it felt a bit long, and breathless, especially mile 10 and mile 15. and then there were a couple of stretches in the latter half of the run when I felt like I was hitting stride. smooth and relaxed. trying to figure out how much of comfort or discomfort is mental, how much nutrition/hydration.

I kind of love running up the steep bridge at the end of our runs. there’s something triumphant about paying attention to form and being able to make it to the top without walking.

I think Los Angeles will be possible!

Just learned about and started watching the amazing Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man it captures some of the crazy, the personal psychological and physical challenge and the very specific connection to place and something ineffably human at once.