This happens to everyone, right? Right??!

I did something unspeakable yesterday. I bailed on my long run. It's not like I've been doing this for years and years or anything, but I've never had to do this before. NEVER.

I had 14 miles on the schedule...no big deal, I've done 14 before...and considering I did 13 last week (which was supposed to be 12), I wasn't worried at all. I went in a lot more prepared for this than I ever had been before. The hubs and I managed to get to bed much earlier than usual, I really paid attention to my hydration and the type of food I was eating all week...I got all my Gatorade and water and everything ready Friday after work since I was going to be on my own. I really felt good about it. Even though I took it super easy in last week's half, I was really sore afterwards in my quads and ITBs, which I blamed on the downhill. I'd done a lot of stretching, self-massage with The Stick and icing and I'd been feeling a lot better by the time Wednesday came. I'd felt a little discomfort in my shins on my 5 mile run on Thursday and when I do my stretches for my Plantar Fasciitis in the mornings, but I just chalked that up to soreness too....well, come Saturday that was a different story. I did my PF stretches (which are a nightmare to do while you're laying in bed...I usually accidentally fall back asleep while doing them) and I felt the sharp pain in my shins. I figured it wasn't going to be a fun morning.

I got up to Tramway and tried to get started...painful, but I assumed I just needed to get warmed up and would be feeling great by the time I got to my first turn around point. Because I was on my own for this one, I was going north 3.5 miles and then running back to my car to re-fuel, then going south 3.5 miles for a total of 14 miles. By 2.5 miles in I knew that it just wasn't going to happen and I texted my friend to let her know what was going on. I managed to (slowly) make it to the turn around and then to get back to my car for a total of 7 miles and after doing some stretches I packed up and headed up to my friend's running shop for some advice.

It's a bummer. I know I'm not completely out of NYC and unless something really crazy happens, I'm still going to make it. We were able to re-work my training schedule and I'm actually still pretty much on track. Instead of 16 next week, I'm doing 15, taking my regular cut back week the following week, and then I'm back on track. Lets just hope that this is the only little bump in the road and the rest of it is easy (well, as easy as marathon training can be).

Oh, and in case you didn't see, I added a few race pics in the last post. :)