Work will win when wishy washy wishing won't

Monday's are always nice and easy recovery time for me.  Felt great this morning.  I'll be doing a longer tempo tomorrow, so I'll enjoy the ease of today.

Ole' hubby/coach took me on an 8 mile tempo run today.  He was able to go into work an hour early so he could take a longer lunch to help me out on this.  Thanks for having a flexible job/boss Tom!  I met him in at Novell and we started with a 2 mile warm up.  We then did the 8 miles at an average 8:25 pace.  We finished up with a one mile cool down and a good cold drink of water!  I tried to focus a little more on a quicker turnover.  It seems to help take the strain off of my IT band when it starts feeling a bit overworked.  

We had a fun time at our neighbor's 4th annual fish fry last night.  They had 120 fish fillets along with chicken and hot dogs for the non fish lovers.  Everyone brought side dishes and dessert.  There was even a live band there.  There was about 130 people and everyone, young and old, seemed to have a really good time.  Thanks Tuckets for hosting a very fun family home evening!

I am keeping today, tomorrow and Friday all pretty low mileage so I don't go much over 50 for the week after my 22 miler on Saturday.  I REALLY don't want my IT band telling me I ran too many miles in a week at this point!  

My dog, Rui, was happy as could be to go out with me this morning.  He was actually mostly well behaved.  He's a psyco small dog that likes to be excited for all reasons so he's usually kind of hard to take running.  We kept it at a 9:30 average pace.

Tom and I went out for a quiet morning 5 miler.  Too much traffic on the river bottom roads this morning!  

I'm working on a list for the marathon.  I am going to dedicate each mile to someone.  I am also associating a hymn or primary song with each one of the people.  I am going to make a little paper bracelet to wear so I can be reminded who each mile is for.  As I run that mile I will think of that person and how they have affected my life for good and how the song reminds me of them.  I will also picture that person cheering me on through that mile.  

Tom has the day off today so we went out after the kids left for school.  I was wanting to keep it closer to five but we over shot the distance a bit.  After my 22 miler tomorrow I don't want to be much over 50 for the week.  Tom is still out getting a bit more in.  

We had Nate come over for our Thursday night massage.  I'm glad we decided to have him help us out a bit.  Hopefully we will be feeling nice and fresh and relaxed and ready to run on Oct. 4!

Time to reevaluate my SGM.  Today I was suppose to do 22 miles.  My left IT band only likes to do 18-20.  I had to stop out in the middle of nowhere and then walk 1.5 to a place where I could tell my son how to come and get me.  Usually if my IT band starts hurting while I am running it will feel OK while I walk.  Not this time.  Pain with every step.  Frustration along with the pain of each step.  

Tom is trying to console me and tell me that the taper should help when it's actual marathon time. I will try to believe that is the case, but I also must face reality.  When I tried to start running in 2006 my IT band took me completely out of the running scene.  It is the weak link in my running and I need to realize that "just finishing" may be what I should shoot for.  

I am going to break my running streak of 6 days a week on Monday and take an extra day of rest.  I think ice and rest are my best help right now and I will do what it takes to try to do MY best come Oct. 4.  I'm still excited about the marathon, I just want to play my cards a little different.  I'm not going to let the excitement of trying to hit any certain time take away from my first, (and who knows...possibly last), marathon.  I am happy with 1/2 marathons and 10 Ks, maybe that will be what is best for me.

Life is good.  I am not just a runner.  I also have many other things that define who I am.  Whatever happens with my marathon and running in general will be the best that I can make it. And life will go on!  Have a great day!  :o)