Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Epiphany

For several months I've pictured myself finishing the L.A. Marathon. I envisioned running past thousands of spectators along the Los Angeles streets, then crossing the finish with a big smile on my face as I looked back on my accomplishment. But tonight, I had an Epiphnay. I will not be crossing the finish line with a triumphant smile; I will be crossing it writhing in pain.

I travelled by foot for 18.4 miles today. I can't really use the word "run" because the last 2 miles were anything but. They were more of a walk-a-little, stagger-jog-a-little, walk-a-little. I'm not quite sure how to describe the pain. This was not an injury-type pain, this was more of a tight-muscle sort of thing. I have no idea what the muscle is called in the upper back of the leg (frankly I didn't even know I had a muscle back there) but around mile 15 it started screaming "What the HELL do you think you're doing?!!"

Now here's the scary part. To finish the marathon, I have to go through what I did tonight, and THEN run another hour and a half. I know that everyone says "race day will be different" but things are looking pretty daunting right now.

2 Comments:

Blogger Nancy Toby said...

Way to go on getting that long run done! You might want to take a hard look at your electrolytes and boost intake if you're getting muscle cramping.

4:32 AM  
Blogger Jonathan said...

i won't blow smoke up your ass. race day will be tough. however the training should always be tougher.

keep plugging away and the rewards at the end are well worth the suffering.

if it's cramping you are suffering from, you may want to try salt pills. They seem to work for me, but sometimes can cause stomach distress.

3:50 PM  

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