Day 127 (4/23): 3 miles / 28:58

Another frustrating run... but I'm trying to stay optimistic that I'm headed in the right direction...

I find myself incredibly determined to get back on track.  Usually I rather enjoy an excuse to be lazy, but that's gotten very old over the last several days and all I really want to do is run again.  Only one week to go before my longest scheduled training run before the marathon... 20 miles... and I don't feel prepared for it at all.

Today's goal was 5 miles and, after mile 1, I was feeling rather confident in my ability to accomplish that goal.  Unfortunately, only a mile and a half later, I began to feel a good deal of discomfort and was sure that 5 miles would be a mistake.  I fought through it for another half mile, but I wasn't willing to push it any further.  And so I find myself coming up short once again.

The real problem here is that I'm torn about how to handle this situation.  Clearly, injuries need to be taken care of... they require rest and I'm all for doing what needs to be done.  My issue is that I can't decide what's actually happening here... Am I doing too much too soon?  Should I be pushing through it?  Or am I being a total sissy about the whole thing?  I've never had a very high pain tolerance and don't have many injuries to compare this to.  I don't actually know how much pain I'm dealing with here... in fact, I can't even call it pain, which really makes me feel like I'm going a little too easy on myself.  The fact is, not everything feels great all the time.  It's quite possible that I'm uncomfortable because, during my week of barely running, my muscles tensed up a bit and now need a little work to get back to where they were.  But with only 4 weeks to go before the big day... what if I'm wrong?

With 3 miles under my belt, I opt to call it a day and spend the next hour considering where I'm at and where I want to be.  The fact is, injured or not, I'm running this marathon.  If I have to crawl across that finish, I will do it.  Over the course of the next hour I make up my mind.  I'll do what I can to take care of the injury, but it's time to start pushing a little bit harder.  If I can't handle any pain at all, I'll never make it through the marathon, so it's time to suck it up and see what I'm capable of.  Tomorrow is a new day and I look forward to the challenge.  I'll certainly continue to play it smart... but I'm also going to push myself a little harder.  I'll never know what I'm capable of if I don't try.