How has it been so long since I’ve posted to the blog? Perhaps my ‘surfacing’ claims were a bit
premature. Despite continuing to try and
fit 10 pounds of life into a 5-pound capacity calendar, I’ve stuck like glue to
my training plan. Midway through week 11
of the plan, with 6 weeks to go until the Marine Corps Marathon. Crossed over 750 miles running for the year
this week, and I’m mostly still holding together. My right knee is giving me some attitude,
which wouldn’t be overly alarming except that’s the knee that unraveled 2 weeks
out from my last marathon, so I’m paying very close attention to what it’s
trying to tell me.
Knocked out a great 21-mile training run this past
Sunday. Decided to really test my
fitness, and ran it on the path used for the Umstead Ultra, which is a
12.5-mile loop that the runners do either 4 times for the 50-miler, or 8 times
for the 100. This is a path known for
hills, both the long gradual rolling kind, and the steep, abrupt,
bikers-stop-to-walk kind. My long-run
training partner is on IR with a calf injury, so I was going this one
alone. I ended up falling in step with a
guy for about 7 of the middle miles, who I learned was training for his 5th
100-miler. Very interesting talking to
him about his path from non-runner to ultra-runner. Have to admit I’m intrigued by the notion of
an Ultra, but I’m staying 100% focused on MCM and trying everything I can think
of to stay healthy – or at least my version of healthy.
Another cool development that came out of the drunken fiasco
that was our Fantasy Football draft is that one of my best friends growing up,
and the best man from my wedding, is going to meet me at mile 20 of the
marathon and run with me to the finish.
He ran his one and only marathon at the MCM about 8 years ago, and still
does some running and shorter racing.
Should be a good time, and we may have to sample an adult beverage or
two for proper recovery.
Hoping to get back into more frequent blog updates as we
move into the Fall. I’m way out of the
loop as far as blog reading goes, but eagerly looking forward to catching up.
