Not a dirty 4 letter word

Writing this blog has been fun, but so has my training recently. It is not a coincidence that the 2 year gap from my first attempt at a blog to this time around coincided with an injury that had me in and out of running, and definitely not running marathons. So after the adrenaline from Sunday's race wore off, and the hip that had sidelined me for those 2 years started feeling sore, I debated whether or not to write about it. Partially because I didn't want my #1 fan (thanks Mom!) to worry, and partially because I didn't want to admit anything was wrong.

Anywhere else, my hamstrings, calves, shins, and I would brush it off as tired muscles, normal aches and pains of being 3+ weeks from the marathon. But not my stupid hip. I could not get up to pee in the middle of the night without evaluating how it felt with every step.

So I did what most runners hate to do. Rest. I tweaked my training plan for this week and cross-trained when I was supposed to run and rested when I was supposed to cross-train. I also squeaked in a massage last night as well. My plan was to test it out tonight with our usual Thursday night run from Woodland to Crossroads.

Well, it seems to have worked. I felt awesome from the start of my run. It could have been the new shoes, but I had a spring in my legs that made me feel light and quick, not lumbering like the past few weeks. I even decided to include a bunch of 30 second pick ups in the second half of my run. Better yet, it has been several hours since I finished my run and all still feels great.

I run with a training plan because I am good at following instructions when given to me. And while it pains me to deviate from that plan (Type A much?), this week's adaptation could have been the best thing I have done for myself in my training this year.

23 days to go and 23 miles this weekend. I am far from done. The psychological boost I got from running well today was huge. But the reminder that resting when my body needs it, even when it's not on the schedule may be what gets me to my goal on race day.