I ran 6.6 miles last night with Travis along the Ocean Front Walk in San Diego – I’m pretty sure I would run there all the time if I lived here. So beautiful!
As for the run itself, not as beautiful. I don’t know if I’m just getting out of shape (in 2 weeks!) or if it’s the humidity but last night’s run felt HARD. My calves felt very heavy and sore for the first couple of miles but that went away so my legs actually felt good for the majority of the run. Even my knee threatened to act up but didn’t so I was able to run the whole distance with no pain – not even the inkling of it beginning. That makes me optimistic.
But what doesn’t make me optimistic is that pace-wise, I felt like I was running like the wind. I felt like I was running at least a sub-10 pace. I mean, I was cruising. Sure, most other runners were passing us but they must’ve just been phenoms, right?
Wrong.
Depressingly, I just figuring out the pace we were running and it was 10:58/mile. I really felt like I was running so much faster! What I don’t understand is that just last week, I was running 11:30s at a very easy, relaxed pace. Now I’m struggling to even run a 11:00 mile. Stupid.
I do know, though, that my slacker-ness of not working out at all has not helped me. I need to get some heart-pumping cardio in and not just do nothing even if I’m not running.
But the more days that go by, the more resigned I am to the reality that the marathon, at this point, is most likely out of the question. Even if I get to the point where my knee doesn’t hurt on longer runs, I would no longer have time to train sufficiently. Moreover, I have to make the final decision about switching to the half marathon by October 15th – according to the race organizers. That leaves me 2 weeks.
Most of me thinks that I should just admit defeat now and let go of the pressure. I mean, I haven’t run over 10 miles in a month. I haven’t run over 7 miles in 3 weeks. That doesn’t bode well for a marathon in a month and a half.
But then I think, I have a month and a half. I can totally increase my mileage to at least 18 miles by then – right? Well, over the next 2 weeks, I’ll try 2 more long runs. If I still get stopped at mile 7 or 8 by my knee, the decision has been made for me. I can muscle through 5 or 6 miles with a gimp knee – but I can’t muscle through 18 or 19.
And there’s always next year, right?
