Life 1, Marathon 0

Let me explain myself. Sorry for pretty much disappearing for the past week. First, I have obviously stopped doing the Life v. Marathon posts, I have to concede victory to Life. Due to my bum leg I missed 2 full months of my marathon build-up and decided it wasn't the best idea to run a marathon next month. Don't worry, there shall be other marathons.

Second, I've been crazy busy this past week moving. I'm officially out of the hood and in the woods. I realized some people will find time to run no matter what life throws at them, but with my ruined leg and the move I felt it was just something that was going to have to wait. Good news is, with all the rest (or at least not running) my leg feels back to normal.

I did an exploratory 5k in town today and it seems promising, or maybe it was just the change of scenery. From my initial outing it appears I'll be running in streets that are filled with the type of people that will pull up beside me and ask, "Whatcha runnin' from?".

Life v. Marathon Day 95

Another rest day. I could get use to this, just kidding. Everyday that I don't run I feel that I'm doing myself an injustice. I'll be back at it tomorrow with another 5 miles.

Life V. Marathon Day 94

Sunshine beating down on me, every inch of my body covered with sweat (sorry, bad mental picture), it feels good to go on a mid-day run. I did another easy 5 miler today and the leg still feels good, I'm hopeful, maybe I'll be able to run fast again.

I'll do the same thing tomorrow: 5 easy miles.

Life v. Marathon Day 93

Rest day. Remember, I'm only running 5 days this week.

Life v. Marathon Day 92

I did a little over 5 miles this evening and still no pain in the calf. I'm not necessarily the most social guy around, but I have grown to enjoy seeing tons of people I know out running and riding. Most days I can be running and  out of nowhere I hear my name yelled out, I guess that's being part of a community. I'm going to miss that when I move.

What? Yes, I'm moving. To the middle of nowhere, where you'd think the running would be great, but sadly it's not. I will no longer be able to just step outside and run. There's a 3 mile road between me and good running. Why can't I run down this road you ask? Because of the pack of feral dogs that patrol it, and I assume, eat any runner that decides to venture down it.

You're probably also going to ask why I would choose to move to this place where the dogs are feral and the running is a challenge? Well...that's a topic for another post.

Life V. Marathon Day 91

Pizza and beer. Why? Because I ran 5 miles today with no pain in my right calf, and that my friends is cause to celebrate. I'm going to have to remind myself constantly to take it easy. So if I say I'm going to run a 15 miler any time in the next few weeks, feel free to reach through the computer and slap some sense into me.

Tomorrow, more of the same: 5 miles easy.

Life V. Marathon Day 90

Not much running action today. I did go out on the driveway and jog back and forth to test the leg. The test went well, I felt no pain. I only ran 8 miles for the week and took a total of 5 days off.

I'm going to try to run 5 days this week, hopefully, all will go well.

Life V. Marathon Day 89

Another day off from running. Hopefully, all this rest will reset these issues I've been having with my leg. I feel awful everyday that I don't run.

Life V. Marathon Day 88

No running today. Still trying to be as cautious as possible with this leg.

Life V. Marathon Day 87

Missing running with some runners club peeps, I decided to head to the track for mile repeats this evening. Don't worry, I only did 4 miles at 7 minute pace, no fast stuff. I'm going to stick to this low intensity, low miles thing for a while, until my leg is feeling better.

Who knows, if I cancel my marathon, maybe I'll do Lake-to-Lake. Anyone need a pacer?

Life V. Marathon Day 86

It's like starting all over again. I'm going to err on the side of caution this go around. If you've been following, you'll know that my right calf has been bothering me for about 6 weeks now. When I first noticed it I stopped doing speed work for a couple weeks. That didn't work, so I took a few days off. That seemed to work, but a week later I did a speed workout and it came right back.

So now I'm here, I just took 3 days off and for my first workout back I did 4 easy miles. My leg felt okay. I'm pretty far into my marathon training plan, that means my weekly mileage should be way up there, but my body is just not cooperating at the moment. At this point I'm not 100% sure I'll be ready for my marathon on November 27th. If push-comes-to-shove, and I don't feel healthy, I'm going to drop this one.

Life V. Marathon Day 85

Still no running. I will attempt a run tomorrow. Hopefully, no leg pain. Wish me luck.

Life V. Marathon Day 84

Blerg.

Life V. Marathon Day 83

No running today. Not happy about it. Stupid leg.

Life V. Marathon Day 82

I only made it 5 miles out of 10 today. Due to my leg, I may be forced to make a tough decision.