Back on Track

     Finally. My patience was worth it. I am back on track. Sort of. Yesterday was the group's "recovery" run, which was 8 miles of trails at the top of Reseda Blvd. I did all 8 miles, though I did them slower than my ordinary pace. I was hacking a bit, but otherwise, I think all of the medicine I was taking was doing its job of keeping my airways open. 

     I was so nervous to get back into the swing of things with the group, though, since I missed last week's 15 miler. And I had toyed with the idea of doing my 8 miles at the gym, since I figured that it might be easier to get back on track using a treadmill, than tackling hills first thing in the morning.  But I'm so glad I went to team practice instead. Of course, I had nothing to worry about. They are all so supportive and inviting, it's hard to imagine a nicer group of people. And then of course, there was the thought of spending whatever time it would have taken me to complete 8 miles on a treadmill, stuck at a gym watching other people doing the same thing. That sounded pretty boring in comparison to discovering a new trail. 

    Which is a really unexpected perk of training. I'm going to new trails and new parts of Los Angeles that I have never been, much less run, and discovering a lot of natural beauty that I didn't know was so available, or accessible to me. And yesterday's view was pretty spectacular from the 3 mile point. I'll try to post a picture of it.

     But I'm still pretty scared. Next Saturday we're supposed to run 18 miles as a group, but since I missed the 16 miler, the most I've actually run in one setting is still 13.1. So I can try to do 16, but I'm not supposed to add too much mileage too quickly, or I'll be more likely to hurt myself.  But of course, I'm running out of time. The following week will be 9 miles, followed by 20, followed by 10, and followed by 5, and then the marathon. So if I can't do 18, I can't bump myself up to 20 the following week, which means that pre-marathon, the most I can conceivably have completed in one setting is 18 miles. I don't think that's enough. Actually, I just don't know. It seems that going from 18 miles to 26.2 is insane. 

Of course, there was also a time where I thought that running 5 miles was a "long" run. I guess I will be doing a lot of walking, and hopefully that will help me get those extra miles. I'm trying to be smart about my training, but I need to be both physically and mentally prepared, and just confidence-wise, I'm frustrated by my missed mileage. 

On the other hand, I'm really thrilled that I'm feeling healthy enough to continue training. I suppose that I could have been sick for a longer period, or really injured myself, or something. So thank God for my health, the encouragement of the friends and family in my life, and such a positive, exciting goal.