The Seven Mile Snob

It’s funny. Today I was reflecting on my running miles and remember when I found 7 miles scary. Seven miles is nothing. I laugh in the face of 7 miles now. HA I’m so over 7 miles. I’ve turned into a seven mile snob. I can do seven any day. It’s the high miles that kick your butt. 13-14-15-16-17-18. Here it is finally. This is what the marathon is about. Not 7 miles. But double digit, humid, hot, hilly, long miles. Here they are. This is where you are tested. The miles really challenge me physically. I’m still having issues with my left calf and right ITBand. I had to opt out of the Patrick Henry Half. It took me 4-5 days for walking to NOT be painful. Why run another half only to suffer the same another week. What is the point of running if I’m injuring myself. I decided to skip it. Run at home. Let my body heal a big and then try the Va Beach rock n roll half next weekend. Give myself a rest. Then run a half and see how my body feels. And run slower. It’s a flat course. Gee, maybe I need to start listening to my body. What a novel idea. I don’t want to. I want to run the marathon and I want my body to shut up. BUT that’s not what’s happening so I have no choice. I’m late to the knowledge that you should run 1-1:30 slower on the long runs than your normal pace. I think I heard that once mentioned early in training, but I really didn’t get it. “A lot of first time marathoners make that mistake.” Okay. Think I'd better implement that into my training plan. I may even move to a novice level running group. Why run 20 x 3 during training as an intermediate and risk hurting my obviously moody bones, muscles and ligaments. Novice only do 20 once. I found the slowest group and may be joining soon. I’d rather make it to the starting line healthy and slightly trained and ready to run. But not so broken I can’t even start. What is the point of running if I’m hurt the whole time? It’s so frustrating having to deal with the constant issues of injury, PT, and wondering if I’ll be able to run it. We'll see! Stay tuned and find out what will happen in the Saga of Karen Runner. My whole marriage I was so attached to my maiden name, Brodie. Rarely used Runner. Now that I'm running I find it irresistable NOT to call myself Karen Runner. It's funny.