I am off in Virginia this weekend! Since I’m on the road, I’m sharing some updates from my mom today! Enjoy 🙂

Unfortunately, I have to say the Hobble Creek Half  lived up to its name! After 5 miles of pounding downhills,  I pretty much walked the rest of the course, feeling pretty down and somewhat crippled. (At mile 12, I did perk up enough to take this picture of this really nice horse and the scenery to try to take my mind off my aching shins and hamstring.)

But basically, since this race, my training (even with my innovative 28-day plan) has just not been smooth.

Despite everything, I did manage the first of my 20-mile long runs this Monday, which went surprisingly well. At first I was heartened by this. Then, during a yoga class that night, I finally began to take in the long view. By the morning, wisdom and common sense had won out and I changed my Baystate Registration from the Full to the Half Marathon. Maybe the yoga relaxed me enough to quiet my ego and let the rational person in me speak up. Either way, I’ve finally made my decision and made my peace with it.

It might seem odd that having the 20-miler go well would help me make my decision to switch, but it was the fact that for the first time in a long time, that run felt almost normal.   And the idea that I was just on the edge of getting that feeling  back – and the thought that if I was pushing just a bit too hard, a bit too soon, I would lose it again –  that made me switch.

It was finally time to admit that my earlier plan of running an enjoyable marathon on a familiar course, in nice fall weather had gone out the window. Now, I could only hope to hold on and not make any lingering injury worse.

(Photo from last year’s Baystate where I ran the full and Nora ran the half).

And before the race, there would be another 5 weeks of anxiety filled training runs, stressing over every stretching session, and worrying about icing and taking (or not taking)  anti-inflammatories.

Or, I could stop all this worrying, ease back into my normal runs again, and if necessary  rest as much as I wanted in these last few weeks going into the half at Baystate  (Not looking to PR at this one!). And that just seemed more sensible. I also reminded myself that  my ultimate goal is to be running in my eighties and that means I need to practice  accepting disappointment, and recognizing when I have to tell my ego to take a hike. So I’ll be going into these last few weeks trying some new physical therapy, resting and walking, and hopefully that will get me back on track.

I’m disappointed, especially since I convinced Nora to sign up for the full – but at the same time, I know I’ve made the right decision.   And so this year, after running what I hope will be a pleasurable half -marathon, I will wander around Lowell, get two really great coffees and then head back to the finish line – to wait for my running partner!  And that will be a perfect day! 🙂