Richmond Marathon

The Richmond Suntrust Marathon is Saturday.  And I will not be running this year, as originally planned (insert frowny-face here).  My stupid IT band has struck again (the same injury that I had during the marathon last year).  Since I already ran 26.2 miles with an injured ITB, which affected my time and my ability to exercise after the marathon for several months, it seems silly to do it all over again.

Last year was different.  For one, it was my first marathon and come hell or high water, I was running that thing!  For another, I thought my ITB injury was "cured" when I started the marathon.  Which, turned out to not be the case.  And quite frankly, that was pretty naive of me to even think that.  Ahhh, inexperience!

However, I can no longer use any of those excuses!  For one, I have experience.  For another, I know that my ITB will hurt - there is no way I can log 26.2 miles on this injury and come away unscathed.  Period.  And I'm unwilling to forfeit the next several months of running for this marathon.

I've been thinking this over for several weeks.  And I've gone back and forth.  I want to run it.  But I just don't think that would be very smart.   I am very sad that I will miss the experience this year.  I was so close to the starting line!  The feeling of completing a marathon was like no other.  It was an accomplishment I never thought I would achieve.  Heck, I'm approaching 40 years old, I have three small-ish children, one of which has special needs.  Finishing that marathon, I felt like a super hero!!!  Who the heck wouldn't want to feel that again?

But, I know the smart thing to do is to run the Half Marathon instead.  I'm not happy about it.  And I must admit, sometimes I think to myself, "God, considering what you chose for me - why couldn't you just make me a natural runner?  Would that have been so hard?"

I think Tom's pretty happy about my decision.  Training for a marathon is a family commitment - it affects us all.  The worst isn't even the time it takes to run.  It's the time it takes to recover.  That's where I feel the biggest challenge.  When I come home from running, I have to hurry up and get busy with my other duties.  Normal running/exercising is usually energy-producing.  Marathon training (in my experience) is energy-depleting.

And this fall especially, I need every ounce of energy I can get.  Harlie starting kindergarten has really taken a lot out of me.  Between the stress of how she's doing, and is she receiving the service she needs and is supposed to be getting, and finding a nurse... I have very little time, energy (and even less motivation) to go out and run a long run.

Yes, it was a wonderfully, awesome experience to run 26.2 miles.  And I hope to feel it again one day.  But, for now my goals have to shift a bit.  I want to work on some other things - not just distance running.   Goals that are less time consuming will be good for me - much more realistic and less stressful.  Maybe something that doesn't require my body to get a lot of rest.  Because I have to stay up late to get some quiet time - and to blog.

Okay, I just went and found my Marathon Recap from last year so I could link it in the first paragraph of this post and now I'm even sadder that I'm not running it!  It's so comical to me that even though I just read all about how incredibly painful it was - I still want to do it!  Runners aren't right.

But I am not going to let my emotions get the best of me!  When I signed up for the marathon this year - I had two goals.  One - to beat my time from last year.  And two - to run it healthy and without injury.  As awesome as it was to run it last year, I really don't want a repeat of that exact performance.  And then there's that voice inside that keeps saying, "What if..."

But I'm not.  Period.  I'm going to run the Half.  And as of right now, I say no marathon training next year.  So, we'll see...

I did go back and read all the awesome comments I got on my Marathon Recap post.  Loved every one.  Thank you very much for posting them.  And the next crummy day I have, I'll come back and read them again to remind myself that I'm not so bad.  Thank you for that!!!

Hopefully I'll have a good Half Recap for you.  Now, to get excited about 13.1 miles!  WooHoo!!!

Thanks!
~Christy