Back. Again.

You’d think I would have learned the first time.

I really should not do a marathon without training.

Quick version of catching up to today: as you may recall (or read from the last couple posts), I was injured through my marathon in South Bend, and started taking some time off from running. Some time became a lot of time, which became pretty much not running at all. These things happen.

Unfortunately, I had already paid my entry into the Chicago Marathon, including airfare, and I wasn’t about to forfeit that, so I assumed that my youthful invincibility would continue to carry me, and I ran it last week.

Now, I hurt.

Oddly enough, though, I don’t hurt in any of the places that were previously injured. My heel feels better than it has in months, my knees aren’t giving me too much trouble, and all the little bothersome irritants have faded into the background of the INCREDIBLE pain that is shooting through my quads.

But it’s all okay. Why, you ask?

Because this morning, the wife and I went out for a nice little 1.5-mile run. Because I completed Sunday’s Chicago Marathon (race review soon to follow) in a time that allowed me to really enjoy the race itself. I didn’t stress about my time. When I needed to walk, I walked. I made jokes and high-fived kids and celebrated like crazy when I came across the line, and I felt something I hadn’t felt in the last three months of sleeping in an extra forty minutes every morning.

I felt strong.

The fire’s been re-lit. Yes, again. I’ve got a new training plan put together that mimics what I was doing when I was so successful for the first three months of this year. I’m running the Austin Marathon again in February in order to qualify for Boston. I will do so this time.

And all it took was one little marathon…

Mileage:

Today: 1.42

This season: 1.42

This year: 1,050.62