Going the distance

I did it.

I signed up for grandmas marathon June 18th.

Scared?

I'd being lying if I said no. Hell I'd be lying if I said just a little bit.

I've been running for about 2 years now. I started, to improve health. I was told I wouldn't be able to run because of knee issues when I was younger (teenage high school stuff) but I had a roommate 2 years ago, that is even more stubborn than I and she laughed, rolled her eyes and said "You can run. Everyone can run."

So I started.

And it was painful.

But I loved it.

And I hated it.

But I loved it.

I would sometimes dread the run in the first few months, but I always felt better after completing it. Not just physically, but mentally. I found myself in much better moods on the days I ran vs. the days I didn't.

So.... here we are almost 2 years later, and I did it. I signed up for the marathon. The farthest I have gone is a half marathon, and that was just for fun, not a race, just the long runs for fun on the weekend.

I started getting "runners knee" from not doing any sort of crosstraining. I mean, waste my time doing something other than running? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Yes.

Very serious.

Went to an orthopedic doc (who's amazing) after calling a copule of places explaining what my symptoms were to the nurse on the other end of the line and being told I should definitely come in and get it looked at.

"ok" I would say. "On one condition, the doctor can't tell me to stop running."

The first 3 places I either got a laugh in disbelief or a scoff folowed by "It's probably what the doctor will tell you, there are plenty of other ways to exercise, running is really bad for you."

"Well then, that's not the doctor for me." I said as I hung up the phone.

Stubborn?

Yes. Yes I am.

Long story short. I was a runner, like many others with "no butt." My gluteus minimus was, well, minimal to say the least. I needed to crosstrain in order to keep running.

So, I am. I started "pre-training" for my marathon 3 weeks ago. I'm slow. But what's worse is I'm impatient. And I'm stubborn. Right. We've already covered that.

I'm not so afraid of being able to finish, but I want to do it in 4 hours or less. So I push.

Last night I think I bruised my sesamoids. I'm going to keep blogging about this adventure, mostly to have something to look back on when I'm done, and maybe to sort out some of the things in my head as I go.

Right now, everything I've read says to rest it.

I don't want to.

But I will. For 3-4 days and we'll see what happens.

Did I mention I'm stubborn?