motivated

Well, last fall I ran the Chicago Marathon and completely blew up with cramps at mile 18.  Today, the weather hovered at like 55 degrees and cloudy for the whole race.  This was my second marathon (first one I actually finished running) and had a great experience.  I am from Cincinnati and I do think that being able to train on the course was an advantage.  I had a weird training cycle and definitely did not train nearly as hard as I did for Chicago.  I did manage the race much better this time.  I walked every single water stop, drinking a gatorade and a water at every stop and also I had 5 GU's.  I have had a tendency to cramp in the past and I really think that is because I never really train at race pace more than a couple times in a training cycle and never more than 8 miles at that pace.  I am doing the Marine Corps Marathon in October and am going to be dedicated to following a training program with speed work.  I felt my right hamstring and right calf starting to cramp at about 20 miles but stopped two more times and stretched.  At mile 24 I knew I had to get going but both my legs were cramped up pretty severely.  I stopped one more time and then did the last two miles at about 6:30/mile pace.  I really have to thank one of my co-workers who showed up at mile 23.5 on his bike and made sure I would make it... honestly without him I might have talked myself out of it.  I did the first half of the race at 1:35.31 and the second half at 1:35.05.  The only issue I have is the fact that my garmin had me about 2 tenths of a mile longer than the course.  Everybody around me had the same issue.  I think the course was consequently 2 tenths long but I made up the time anyhow.  According to my Garmin I finished 26.22 in 3:09 doing 7:12/mile.  The actual chip time according to the race was 3:10.36 doing 7:17/mile.  Either way I QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON!!! It was fun.  I now have an extremely sore stomach from all the sugar that I ingested during the race and the pint of Graeter's Ice Cream I enjoyed after the race.  Also, one little note, the race started at 6:30 A.M. and i had to get up at 4:30.  I did not fall asleep until after 2 in the morning and it did not effect me, I assume I will be exhausted at work tomorrow.  My point is I googled "no Sleep before marathon" and was reassured to see that a lot of people have completed marathons without much sleep at all... it is true, it is the night before the night before that matters...  I am going to start posting my training when I begin for the Marine Corps marathon.

No running for me today.  My body feels like it was hit by a truck after yesterday's marathon.  I am going to walk the dog after work, stretch a little and then cook out with a couple beers.  I think I will probably walk again tomorrow and do push-ups and then swim on Thursday.  I will not be running/jogging at all until Saturday.

another day of no running for me. My legs are feeling pretty sore, but my right knee has the start of a little runners knee so I will probably take it pretty easy for a couple weeks. I did 350 push ups this morning and will stretch and do abs after work. I plan on getting in the pool on Thursday probably.

I actually did some push ups and sit-ups though which felt good.

4 extremely slow miles.  It felt amazing to get a sweat and just kind of go ssslllooowww.

I am having a little pain in my knee and my IT band is tight... i will continue at a slow pace for a long while

another 3 slow miles... still having more knee pain than i would want.  I am considering taking glucosamine to help out my joints

3 slow miles and LOTS of stretching

by far my most quality run since the marathon.  I hope this means my knee pain is dissipating...

5 miles at just under 8:00 pace.  Knee pain is still there.  It is tolerant but i want to make sure it is gone completely before getting into my next training regimen.

5 on the treadmill so that i could avoid any up or down hills.  Knee felt ok... still a little annoying.  I know it is just runners knee from all the hills that i do.  I will try to take it easy two more weeks before i start doing any type of speed stuff again... basically a month of rest after the marathon... kind of annoying that i am not building upon my marathon fitness but i would rather heal my knee and stretch my IT band