New Ground

Well, training was going really well for the marathon for a couple of weeks since my last post. Despite some despicable weather I was still hitting the nice 100+ weeks I was after. Things were feeling good until about 10 days ago. Then, out of no where my Achilles decided to feel as though there were knives stuck in it. At first I did not think it was a big deal. I took a day off thinking I just had overworked it on the snow and a little rest would be enough. the next day that seemed to be true for the first 8 miles but after that things got ugly. Worried, I got a massage and took another day off. This again seemed to help but only for a day as soon thereafter it hurt again. This time I tried a tape job to support the area and managed a decent run on that. However this again was only a one day fix and the next day the same tape job did little and I wound up walking home because I could not even run. This was the low point for me. As I walked home (uphill into the wind) freezing my @$$ off I was pretty certain I would never be able to run again and that I should just give up. I forgot how mentally anguishing an injury can be as this is the first time in 5 years I've ever been forced to take more than a day off due to unusual pain. Needless to say I didn't really deal with it well. Luckily I have a wonderful wife who refused to give up on things as quickly as I did and she knew just who to call. A short bit later hope was restored as she contacted Adrian and Adrian put me in touch with an expert in running related injuries. I was fortunate enough to get in right away and he has me up and running again already. I am no where near my full mileage yet but I am glad to be able to get out the door on foot again and if things continue as they have been I will be back at full mileage next week. I haven't lost too much training yet but I fear I may have to choose another race. I have not yet decided if this step is necessary but I do not want to go into my race with any doubt that I am ready to run my best. Only the next few weeks training can make this decision and I will post again when I know more. Until then happy (and healthy) running to all.