September 15 - October 9

Yup. I've been a slacker again. Oh well...the important part is I'm updating now, so just be happy with that. :)

I won't bore anybody with the details of my last month of marathon training. I'll do a quick synopsis of the highlights.

The weekend after the Lead King Loop I was signed up for the Buena Vista Autumn Colors Half Marathon. Up to that point I had been ignoring some knee pain for about a month. I didn't know what was going on in there and it didn't really hurt too bad when I ran. When I tried to stretch, however, that was a different story. I could hardly straighten my left leg. The Thursday before the 1/2 marathon I did an easy 3 mile run on a treadmill. The next day, I could barely walk. It wasn't my knee that was bothering me (well, yeah, that hurt too) but the bottom of my left foot right on the ball. Seeing as I could barely walk on Friday night I had no idea how I planned on running a half marathon the next day. I iced and rested and decided to at least start the race. I would've been so mad at myself if I didn't TRY to run it. The 1/2 started at Cottonwood Lake at around 10,500 feet. The first 7 miles or so were a steady down hill. My splits were about 8:10-8:15 for the first three miles. Not too bad, but I knew I needed to slow down if I had any chance of finishing. So I latched on to a guy who was running the pace I should've been running. He was great. We stuck together through mile 12. I had a slight breakdown there - I was just tired. But, I sucked it up and finished strong. It wasn't my best time, but it wasn't my worst either. I took a couple days off after that to figure out what was up with my knee. The best I could figure was that I had a slight tear in my MCL. I M.E.A.T.ed it. That made all the difference. Now my knee is in pretty good shape. I just need to remember to keep it loose and stretch.

Moving on. The weekend after BV I raced in a local 5K, which was actually the sight of my first 1/2 marathon just a year ago. I didn't have any huge expectations for this one, I was hoping for a possible age group place or win. I ran with a new friend of mine who is a great runner. She's running the Denver Marathon too. Anyway...I was very surprised with my finish on this run. My time wasn't particularly great, 24:06, about 2:30 slower than my fastest 5K, but it was good enough for 3rd place (women), and 10th place overall.

This past weekend I went to Denver with some friends from work to participate in the Komen Race for the Cure 5K. No racing, no timing - yes, I wore the Garmin, but nothing official. My splits were decent after I got out of the crowd. The most exciting part of this trip wasn't the 5K but the chance to do my last long run on part of the marathon course. I printed out a map and everything. Problem was - I lost it in the first mile. I sort of had an idea of where I was going but only did about 7 miles on the actual course. I did get to see the "hill" and found my way around two of the parks. I ended up doing 13.5 miles in Denver on Saturday. It was reassuring to run the distance and see some landmarks. I am a little worried that I didn't do enough long runs toward the end of my training. In the past month I've only done a 16 and 2 13's.

Oh, well - whatever happens, happens. I have just 10 days until the magic moment is actually here. I can't say that I'm too nervous, excited, worried, or anything. I did watch 'Spirit of the Marathon' last night and that did get me a little excited, but I know it'll be about 100x the emotion when I'm actually in that position.

I have a couple more runs left to do. I was supposed to do some speedwork today, but didn't get home early enough. I'm planning on doing it tomorrow and throwing out a 4 mile recovery run. It's impossible to "make it up" at this point and I don't think 4 miles will make or break me on October 19th.