23 Days

it has been 23 days since my last run, the mississippi blues marathon. i was taking off 3 weeks to rest my knee. i guess i still have not really blogged about the marathon either. the marathon started off pretty good. we were ablr to walk to the start/finish line from the hotel room. i was feeling pretty good, a little worried about the knee. we started and it seemed like a decent downhill and then a lonh uphill, it seemed like the entire race was up and down. lee, todd, and i started out and they were pacing me. they were supposed to help me get under 5 hours. however, i think they messed up their paces and were trying to get me under 4 hours. i know around mile 9 we were around a 4:20 pace and i was feeling pretty good but could tell at that pace the hills kept getting harder and taking a toll. around mile 16 i was spent. i spent lots of time walking after that, especially after mile 19. my knee started hurting around mile 19, not long after that the bottoms of my feet started hurting very bad, it was killing me to even walk. lee and todd kept trying to get me to speed up and run a little, i just couldn't do it. then we saw the finish line and i knew we were still too far away to run, even with all of the insults lee and todd were throwing at me. finally, we got to the spot where i thought i could finish strong and maybe even pass a runner or two ahead of me. i started running and it actually felt good, my legs felt better running and stretching than walking. i actually begain running at a pretty good pace, for maybe 75 yards, and then all of the pain and aches came back and the last 20-30 yards was a rapid decline in pace to the finish line. after the marathon i was checked by a dr. at the aid station and he said i likely had bursitis in the left knee, rest, ibuprofen, and ice were the recommended treatment.

so, 23 days later, i headed out for my next run. i was going to do 3 miles to take it slow for a week or two and make sure my knee was up to it. so i did 3 miles in 29.04. i still haven't quite figured my new gps out so i don't have the splits. i felt pretty good, not as easy as i had hoped, but i guess 3 weeks of inactivity (except laying laminate floors in the house) made it a little harder.

thought of the day: duck season closed yesterday and i had only gone duck hunting a total of 3 days. i went deer hunting a little more than that but i think i can truly say i ran more than i hunted this year. and there really isn't any season open until april. for the last several years i have taken about 2 trips each fall to hunt. the only extended trip i took this fall was to run a marathon. we'll see how that keeps up.