Sunday, April 29, 2007

Getting my running "mojo" back!

After suffering through a bad run on Friday and taking Saturday off, I decided to test out my new running shoes by going on a light run this morning.
I didn't want to tempt the "running Gods" by going either too far or too fast as I'm sure there was a reason for the poor run on Friday. I decided to just do a nice 8K run. The route I picked was flat and fast as I needed to build some confidence back.
Armed with a few new songs on my mp3 player and a little self doubt, I went out this morning at 8:00 AM.
The weather was amazing and this was the first time in a LONG time that I was able to run in just running shorts and a technical t-shirt.
Running in new shoes is something that I'm not crazy about but I want to be able to wear these for my marathon so I need to break them in slowly. With exactly 2 weeks to go, there won't be many runs left between now and the marathon (probably 6-7) so I was happy to go out today.
The run started out a little rough as it felt like I was trying too hard to fight the memory of my last run. Eventually, though, I was able to find my stride and the rest of the run was great.
Looking back on that last poor run, I really feel that I was mentally fatigued more than anything else. The training that I've been doing has been grueling and I can't wait for the race to start. The main thing I need to do between now and then is not to think about it too much. I know that I've trained as hard as I could and now it's out of my hands.
I will have to see how I feel both mentally and physically on that day as that will determine how well I do. There are factors that I have no control over and I just have to accept that. The one thing that I am looking forward to is resting during my taper week.
Over the next 10 days my training will start to slow down and I'll use the down time to rest up and get ready mentally for the marathon. Unlike other races that I've done, the marathon is something that will inflict pain on my body. It's not a matter of "if" it's more a matter of "when."

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