Long Layoff

As a few of you have pointed out, I haven't been blogging lately. As it turns out, I haven't really been running much lately either . . . at least not since the Houston Marathon.

The Houston Marathon was both disappointing and fulfilling at the same time. I suspected early on (mile 15 or 16) that this wouldn't be my day to qualify for Boston, but I kept on pace through about 20 or 21 miles before trotting down Allen Parkway to a 3:14:00 finish. I'm proud of my time and my training effort over these past several months. But the reality is that I wasn't capable of running two fast marathons only six weeks apart, with only ten months of running under my belt. I didn't have enough time to recouperate after the Dallas Marathon, and the break I did take only served to lessen my physical conditioning prior to the Houston Marathon. But I enjoyed the race. I supposed I'll try to write a post-race blog within the next few days and elaborate, but I really enjoyed it even though I missed my goal time by a wide margin.

So after stumbling through the finishing gate on January 13 I decided to take two weeks off from any kind of running or cross training. I felt beat up, slightly injured, and I wanted to pamper myself for a while. I think I needed a mental break from running as much as I needed the physical break.

One week into my "exile" from running I broke down and ran a bit with Julie. I wasn't really excited about running, but I figured I needed to get back to it because I wanted to run the Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Mambo 10k on 1/26/08. If I posted a sub 45 minute time I could qualify for a chip for the Crescent City Classic 10K in New Orleans, and qualifying races are in short supply. A chip is the only way you can win a poster for a top 500 finish, and my goal after finishing the Classic last year was to get a poster this year.

So I set out for a run with Julie on January 20. A familiar pain cropped up less than a mile into the run. I had a strange upper leg pain though the entire second half of the marathon which caused me to have difficulty pulling my right leg forward and taking a full stride. The upper leg irritation resurfaced on my run with Julie, and I limped to the finish with a 8:39 pace over 4.03 miles (34:55).

I didn't run again until the Mardi Gras Mambo 10K in an attempt to let it heal. I'll try to post a race report for the marathon and the 10K within the next couple of days.