Apr 262011
 

I’m scared! 

Not really, but I quit training for our first marathon in 6 days.  My knee was bothering me on each run, so I decided to rest it entirely until we run in the Orange County Marathon. 

I have been getting a lot of advice the last few days about my knee and the consensus is that it is a problem associated with the IT Band.  Wikipedia had some information on the IT Band which you can find by clicking here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome.  But basically, it is what my sister and my brother’s girlfriend’s sister, an athletic trainer, had told me all along.  That I would need to stretch the IT Band and the more stretching that I could do to it, the less likely it would be that it would hurt me in the future. 

Starting tomorrow, I think I am going to go to the gym to lightly work out my upper body and stretch my IT Band and maybe do some brief elliptical work.  With just six days to go I’m a little stressed about the prospect of running a full marathon, but I’m excited as well.  At least I will know that I will have a time to improve on for future races.

Mar 312011
 

My brother and I will be participating in our first marathon in 30 days.  I’m not quite sure how my brother is preparing for the event, but I know that I am going to be devoting a large amount of time to running over the next 30 days.  I want to make sure that I can complete the full marathon running the entire way. 

When we ran the Rose Bowl Half Marathon in February, I completed the entire run, but knew that I would not have lasted any longer.  I actually thought about stopping at around the 11 mile mark, but was able to push through it to continue running.  I knew I only had 2 more miles to go to complete the half marathon.  But, I think mentally I would have stopped knowing that I would have had to run another 15 miles before I could stop. 

I’m excited but nervous about our upcoming marathon.  I know that I will not be as prepared as I would like to be, but I am going to try my best to get in the best shape I can by then.  I am officically starting my marathon training today and would love some company.  If anyone is interested in running daily with me I would be more than happy to have you along.