This post was originally going to be, exclusively, about the unplanned rest days I’ve been taking for the last two weeks or so, and why that is why my upcoming half marathon may go poorly. But of course, the universe had to go ahead a provide A Twist.
THIS WAS GONNA BE MY RACE, UNTIL…
The beginning was tragically mundane: a mysterious knee twinge went to something that didn’t affect my run to something that I did feel while running, and I was forced into that most unfortunate of periods: a couple weeks of No Running At All.
That’s the bad news. The good news is, I think I’ve finally, FINALLY, after a good solid decade or so, F I N A L L Y gotten it through my thick skull that I must let myself REST.
No idea why it finally clicked, though. I don’t know if anything necessarily changed in my mindset. It just occurred to me that as much as I hate not running, and as much as I hate not hitting my mileage goals, they are, in the end, arbitrary. If I set out to run X number of miles in a week, or a month, or a year, and then I whiff it, the consequences will be… nothing. That I whiffed it, I guess. That’s it. That’s all.
Oh, and that my Garmin watch will shriek DETRAINING!! DETRAINING!!!! at me like the skeleton (voiced by Rene Auberjunois!) from The Last Unicorn. Shut up, Garmin! You don’t know everything!!
And I don’t like any of that, but you know what I like even less? Being injured in the first place. Maybe if I hadn’t kept running when the knee pain first set in, I wouldn’t be in this position, for starters. I suppose my ultimate epiphany was that if I don’t let an injury rest long enough and run on it too soon, I may find myself forced to start ALL OVER. Yuck.
So I gave myself a whopping two and a half weeks’ rest. I still did my strength training, and I’ve been walking the dog I’m sitting which means plenty of steps, but I didn’t run for a solid, yes, two and a half weeks. That’s crazy. I don’t think I’ve gone that long without running since I busted up my foot a couple months before the Dopey Challenge. (Throwback!)
AS PROMISED, A TWIST IN MY HALF MARATHON GOALS
Oh, and speaking of the dog, he is adorable and I love him but he’s also young and a bit of a cannon ball. He likes to sprint straight at you and into your legs sometimes. Generally he stops just short of careening directly into you, but he managed to clock me with his skull in the exact wrong knee last week, which is oh, just perfect. 😅 God or the universe at large or SOMEBODY has a great sense of humor, no?
Or maybe it’s the dog. I mean, look at this criminal. He does CRIMES.
But I think it’s gonna be okay. Not great, just okay, but that’s better than nothing. I finally went for a run yesterday, and it went okay. Again, not great, but okay. I OK Taped up my knee and I didn’t experience any pain, so I think it’s okay to run this half marathon I’m signed up for on Saturday.
I had kinda hoped to try for sub-2 again, but, uh… yeah. Probably not a great idea. Unless I start running and discover that everything feels fantastic and I am raring to go. Which is not impossible, but I don’t want to push. Once again I think the A goal is gonna have to be Don’t Hurt Yourself.
In conclusion, I am forced to admit that I don’t think this is gonna be my sub-2 half marathon either. What can ya do. Except what I have done, which is pay attention to my body and buck up for the next time. Is this what maturity feels like? I HATE IT. 😛
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