Listerine

Ever had one of those weeks where you just wished that you could press the reset button and have a do over. For my running this week, I wish I could.

Things started so well with my Tuesday workout but have went downhill ever since.

In all honesty, things really started to go bad when I decided to race my 800s on Tuesday rather doing them as normal workout. I pushed way harder than I really should have been doing.

I finished the workout and felt great. Confidence was a bound that I would race well today. Later that day, I noticed some lingering soreness in my Glut. I didn’t think anything of it. The 800s had been a tough workout.

Wednesday, I noticed my legs didn’t feel so great. Things continued to go downhill Thursday and Friday. Even thou, my mileage dropped each day; the pain in glut was worse.

Friday night I had serious doubts as to whether I could even run on Saturday much less run a marathon. I tried to keep a positive perspective. I would go and attempt to run it. It was  always better to make an attempt than to not try at all. Even thou, my common sense told me otherwise.

Just before the race I attempted a few strides. The pain rippled through my Glut and down my hamstring.

I have run with pain many times. With each injury I try to gauge whether the pain stays the same or increases. If it stays the same, I keep pushing. If it increases, I make it through a mile or two and stop.

Today, I went through the mile. It hurt badly but it was a constant pain and not an increasingly worse type of pain. I focused on relaxing. My miles were dipping into the 6:10 range. Aside from my Glut and hamstring, I felt great. I felt like I could run the entire distance at this pace.

We circled back by the starting line at 8 miles. There nothing new to report. My glut and hamstring were pretty much the same so I kept running. I hit 10 miles in 63 minutes. Just 16 more miles, I can run this.

I passed through 13 miles. Okay, I am half way now.

I ran through 14 miles in 6:17. Just 12 more miles, I can do this now.

Over the next 6+ minutes, I went from feeling positive to standing alongside the road at 15 miles. It was as if someone had flipped a switch. I stopped to massage my glut and then attempted to run again. I didn’t make it two strides before stopping.

I just looked at the ground and wondered what might have been. I was finished. I would DNF the second race of my career.

I cannot begin to express how disappointed that I am.  So much time, energy, and work spent for nothing. There is just an awful test in my mouth that an entire bottle of Listerine couldn't fix it.

To make things worse, my Glut and hamstring are so “jacked” up that I can barely walk.

Life can be so frustrating sometimes.

But what frustrates me the most is that I did it to myself.

When I got home, I took my race number and placed it under a magnet on my refrigerator. From this day forward I will look at it and use it as a constant reminder - “think before you do something stupid again”

 

The Cool Down Runner