100 Yards

That's how far -roughly -I ran today. A far cry from the 13.1 miles I was supposed to cover in the St.Lukes Half Marathon but perhaps more significant. I couldn't run the race today but with so many friends and family in the race (both 5k and half marthon) I was there to cheer them on. My friend Naomi was completing her first half marathon. She was very concerned about finishing the race and many of us waited for her to do so. As she and her training and race buddy Mike came around the final turn of the stadium finish I took there picture and then decided I wanted another photo at the finish. So I started running toward the finish. About halfway there I realized what I was doing. I was running....and it didn't hurt. I shifted my focus to my leg/hip. There was ring of tightness around the top of my thigh and my gait was awkward but I was running. WOO-HOO!

I stopped to get my friends' photo and walked with them back to what was left of the food stations. Shortly after I headed bck to my car (walking) to drive home. I still felt the ring of tightness but no pain. On the ride home I felt some irritation on the outside of the hip and it was gone by the time I arrived home. I'm looking forward to the doctor appointment tomorrow. I will begin by asking him not to pop a hole in my happy bubble. :) I still have a ways to go but I feel much more confident of recovery now.
So let me fill you in on some other thoughts and plans. After recovering from my disappointment at the test on Tuesday, I decided that this week I would begin a couch to 5k. I think I mentioned in this blog earlier that my new immediate goal was 30 minutes of continuous running (hopefully pain free) by July 1 so that I can begin training for the PDR in September. I'm pretty sure I can do it in 12 weeks. Coach to 5k will allow me to slowly build up to the running minutes. Having a plan to follow will keep me from doing too much too soon.So I dug up a 9 week 5k program that I had written for our winter group at the end of 2010. I'm excited to have a plan!

So back to the half marathon this weekend (sort of). At the expo there were seminars during the day. I attended three of them. The last was on goal setting. It was very informative. Later at Lunch with Maggi, Russ, Julius and Mark I commented that the one thing the speaker didn't say was what is a realistic improvement goal. Specifically,I was wondering if my 2:15 half by the of the year was reasonable. After listening to Maggi's thoughts on that I decided that I should train to finish the PDR and based on that performance decide if 2:15 in November is realistic. Maggi pointed out that a lot depends on how I recover from the injury butmthe fact that I have done 2:17 before - if I do recover well - I probalby should be able to get to 2:15. It's just a matter of when. It's awesome to have friends to help me think these things through.