Grandfather Mountain Marathon

It was time to run another marathon with Steve! This one was promising to be quite different from the first one. Instead of 20,000+ runners, there would be less than 400. Instead of running through the nation's capital, we would be trudging up and down mountains and traversing the famed Blue Ridge Parkway. For a couple of reasons, I knew it would not be a race for me to get a new PR. The stress fracture in March prevented me from training at all in May. It was the beginning of June when I could start running again. I tried to get myself in shape quickly with the Sawtooth Relay and the RHTA runs. But these were just not good substitutes for weeks of 30-50 miles per week with speed training. A couple of weeks before the marathon, I foolishly tried to get myself in shape by running Sunnyside Hill once on a saturday and then TWICE (two laps) on the next day. That almost put me back on the injured list, as I developed a nasty case of tendonitis in my injured leg. All I could do at that point was rest and hope for the best during the marathon.

Well, I didn't exactly get "the best." The first 13 miles felt fairly good. I finished them in roughly 2 hrs. At that point I was hopeful for a sub 4 hr marathon, which would have been excellent on this course. But steadily, pain started increasing in my legs and hips. The downhills dried up, and it was a brutal slog up the hill to the finish. I found myself walking for long stretches, absolutely unable to bring myself to run. In the end, my time was a very disappointing 4 hrs 27 min. I did make the cut-off to get a finisher medal. But I still had a huge feeling that I had taken a step back in my running. The lesson to be learned, I think, is that injuries cannot be rushed back from. And training cannot be cut short to rush yourself to be ready for a race. It would have been extremely depressing to pull out of a second race in a matter of months. But that is probably what I should have done. I could have still gone to the race and cheered on Steve. He did quite well, of course--beating me by about 10 minutes. That's what sustained, injury-free training can do for you!