12 days until the marathon

Yep, I can't believe it either. I haven't posted in a while because there hasn't been anything that interesting to talk about. The bodyglide performed as advertised, so anybody out there struggling with chafing issues I highly recommend bodyglide.

I've done two long runs since I last posted. On the 13th I did a 20 miler and it was as hard as it sounds. I felt really really good at first and may have pushed it a little too hard because at mile 14 it all started to come apart. I was more tired at mile 16 then I was when I finished the 18 miler the week before so I'm not sure what was going on. When I was done I had some lingering soreness in the right knee.

During the next weeks training I would notice the soreness at the beginning of a run, but it would work itself out in the first couple of miles and not really affect me.

Then I woke up Thursday night puking all over the place, I felt like crap all day Friday and decided I should postpone my planned 20 miler for Saturday. I woke up Saturday feeling much better and made a plan to wake up early Monday morning and get my 20 miles in.

So this morning at 5:00 am in the pitch black of night I set off on a 20 mile adventure. It was a little scary running in the darkness, but also kind of cool. I've often thought recently that running is how myself and a lot of other adults "play" outside. Because of running I get to see stuff and experience things that I would otherwise probably never do, like running around at 5 am in the black of night for example. It was a neat experience to watch the sunrise (don't know the last time I was outside when the sun came up) and see the world wake up.

That was probably the only "cool" part of the run. I never really got into a groove and had a hard time keeping a decent pace without my garmin (left it at work). Then again at mile 14 things started to really break down. My knee's were the main culprits this time with the right going first then the left starting to feel it as well. So I decided to cut the run a little sort and did a "marathon shuffle" another 4.5 miles.

Now, I have some reasons for my last two long runs being crappy (lack of sleep, illness, etc.) but I'm starting to get nervous. The knee's now are what's really got me worried I feel like I could really use a few weeks off but I don't have that luxury right now. I also feel like I could use another long run before the marathon so I can have more confidence in being able to go the distance. I don't feel like I'm doing any real damage to the knee's but I don't want them to flare up at mile 14 again and be stuck with 12 miles of pain.

I'm just starting to think that 200 lb. people aren't made to run that far.