Real David H.

older. wiser. slower.

The final disappointment

✴︎

4.14.2011

I’ve stayed quiet about this, but I should be running a half marathon this weekend. Last year’s “Instant Classic” of the Blue Ridge Half Marathon is taking place this weekend in Roanoke. The marathon portion of the race promises to be even tougher than last year and, quite honestly, I was hoping to run the full marathon.
Well, the history has been written and I’m not running either race this weekend. I hate it. I really do. But instead of sitting a pool of disappointment, I have to look at how far I’ve come. Being obsessed with numbers, my weekly mileage on Daily Mile really popped out to me this week.

In the several weeks following the Richmond Marathon, here’s how my mileage looked:

After getting things going again in January and slowly building my mileage, and then having a brief illness in February, the last several weeks have been pretty awesome with getting consistent again.

Over the next few weeks, I’d like to get closer to 20 miles, hit 20 miles, get a little over 20 miles and then just keep going during training for the Baltimore Marathon. That marathon, by the way, is six months from tomorrow. Then six months after that … well … I sure hope it’s not another blog post like this.

9 responses to “The final disappointment”

Coco

commented on

April 14, 2011

Bummer on the Half, but it's probably the right decision in the long run (oops! sorry for that pun).b

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David H.

commented on

April 15, 2011

Brandon, if you do "downgrade" don't hang your head. A half marathon isn't half of anything. I hear people often say they "only did the half" or something like that. I certainly don't give half the effort in a 13.1 mile race!

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steena

commented on

April 15, 2011

" But instead of sitting a pool of disappointment" <– SWIM IN IT!!!!!!!! Kidding.
So 6 months from now? Really? It takes longer to cook a baby. You have work to do!

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Scott

commented on

April 15, 2011

Those are some great miles you are putting in.

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Michelle

commented on

April 15, 2011

You've been putting in some great miles lately. Sorry the half didn't work out.

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Randy

commented on

April 15, 2011

David, I have some understanding of where you are. After the Thunder Road Marathon in Dec, I tried to keep my mileage up, but due to ice/snow, and sickness, I wound up getting hurt (ITBS) and started over from scratch.

Last week I hit 20 miles, I'll hit 18-20 this week on my way back to the Marine Corps Marathon. It stinks having to rebuild, but you can do it, and hopefully we'll both be stronger for it!

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David H.

commented on

April 15, 2011

Thanks Randy. We need to start a ITB alumni club from the class of 2010. Lots of us out there who came away from training last summer/fall with the same injury.

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Brandon

commented on

April 15, 2011

An ITB alumni club, I like it 🙂

Coming back from an injury sucks (well, not as much as the injury itself, but still). In many ways, it feels like building up starting from scratch all over again. And I'm constantly worried about overdoing it and ending up injured again. I've been steadily increasing my mileage each week, but I'm fully aware of the possibility that I might just not be ready for my marathon in June. I certainly hope I will be, and with the way things have been doing lately, I'm getting more confident about it, but if I end up having to downgrade to the half, so be it.

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Brandon

commented on

April 18, 2011

I totally agree David. I wouldn't be "ashamed" or anything like that for "only" running the half. I've just been really looking forward to running this marathon, as I've heard lots of good things about it. And unfortunately, the half actually runs a completely separate route, so it's not even like I'd get to run part of the full marathon course. But I definitely wouldn't be hanging my head, I'd just be a bit disappointed.

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