It’s 33 days until my marathon, and wouldn’t you know that life just throws all of the curveballs that I can at me? Last week, I had a horrible stomach flu. I just wasn’t feeling right as I walked my dogs in the morning, then I made it to my 6am videoteleconference, and then I made it to my other office. It was one of those things where I kept on feeling like I should be feeling better, but I felt worse throughout the morning, until the entire contents of my stomach started finding their way out of me. I’ll be as polite as that.
So, that had me out of commission Monday & Tuesday…I could barely stand for periods of time, didn’t go to work, really didn’t do anything. Wednesday, I made it back to the office but running was far from my radar…Thursday, too, though I managed to actually feel like myself for a little bit. Friday saw me run for the first time all week, 4.5 miles without pushing myself – it felt good to be back.
My plans were to run a half-marathon on Saturday, and then run 2-3 miles on Sunday, just to get my legs back under me. I just got my Vibram Bikilas, I had just been sick, I didn’t want to push myself too much, bring myself back too quickly (and I’ve conditioned myself well enough that 13 miles really isn’t a “big thing” for me . . . my plan is to get that number to 25 so that I could run a marathon with minimal training, but I’m nowhere near that right now).
Alas, plans got in the way, and I only had 90 minutes to run, and try as I might, that’s not enough time for me to get 13.1 miles out. But, I did run 9 miles . . . and gave myself a tremendous blister. No running Sunday – in fact, now, Tuesday, it’s just starting to feel closer to back to normal, but it’s still uncomfortable.
My schedule keeps me from running Monday & Tuesday, so I’ll be running tomorrow with moleskin on my foot. Training setbacks are to be anticipated, but I really hoped to have completed a 22 mile run by this point . . . I’m not worried about the marathon just yet – but why can’t bad shit happen in the middle of the winter, when I don’t have the “big thing” on the horizon?
I wish I had words of comfort but DAMN, that is SO the way it goes down, isn't it?
I usually tell myself that illness/injury in training is my body telling me to slow down and rest – my own way of looking for the silver lining. I rationalize that the break is good in the long run.
But the truth is, getting sick during the height of training is awful.
Still. Every race is different. You can have the perfect training experience and not "feel it" the morning of the event.
Hang in there. Don't push. And maybe you'll surprise yourself.
Ugh. I had a terrible stomach flu as well. I need to get back into running.
Good luck with your training!
Of course it has to happen at the worst possible time!
I'm impressed that you are running a marathon. Running is not something that I can do.