Wouldn't you know it...

I signed up for the marathon, and just like that….

…injury!  (insert gigantic frowny face)

I was supposed to run 16 miles today for my long run, but around mile 6 I started having some pain on the top of my foot.  I stopped to stretch and then kept running, but at 7.5 miles I decided I cry uncle and called my best friend to come rescue me (thank goodness for besties!).  I figured that cutting my run short would give me a much better chance of recovering quickly rather than pushing through the pain and making things worse.

So now I'm stuck trying to figure out what the best course of action is to get myself ready for this race --without completely screwing everything up.

I'm fairly certain that the pain is from tendonitis in the extensor hallucis longus tendon.  I'm thinking that this week I will stick to strength training and yoga and be sure to ice A LOT as well as load up on the anti-inflammatory medication.  I might try for 16 again next Saturday, or I might just wait another week and skip right to 18 miles the following week.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Doubt and Fear

I'm training for the Long Beach International Marathon in October, and so far, its going pretty well.  On Saturday I completed a 15 mile run and I actually am feeling pretty good.  Not too sore.  No stomach issues.  Here's the thing though:  I haven't registered yet.  And why?

Fear.

Twenty-six point two miles is just so freaking far and I am so afraid that I won't be able to do it.  Not only that, but every other Saturday I face a long run that is farther than I have ever run before, and for some reason I have this incredible amount of fear that almost makes me want to pull the plug on the whole idea.  If I don't try then I won't fail, right?

So, what to do?

Well, a few days ago I was perusing pinterest and found this quote that has been bouncing around my head all week:

Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will

I definitely don't want doubt to kill my dreams.  Of all the reasons for not doing something, I'm pretty sure that doubt (or fear) is the worst possible one.

So here goes… I'm going to go register right now, because I'm going to punch this doubt in the face.