The Dream is Dead..for now!

On my last run on Saturday, when I needed to go 8.5 miles, I didn't make it to the end.  I barely made it a quarter of the way.  I was feeling the effects of shin splints earlier in the week and thought that it might have been some kind of aberration because I was running on the treadmill.  Nope!  I hadn't cleared a mile when I could feel that familiar ache.  I went another mile and then called it a day, then called it the end of my training.

Let's face it, the half-marathon is in early April and I'm sidelined by injury.  I know it'll take time to get through the shin splints and I haven't been able to complete any distance longer than six miles.  That's way too much to overcome in such a short amount of time.  

Part of me wants to be stubborn and do it anyway.  I mean, I don't have to run the entire time, I could do some combination of walking and running and still say that I completed the race.  However, I feel like I would be lowering my standards if I couldn't run the entire distance.  So instead of forcing myself to walk/run through the half-marathon, I think it's best to just wait until the Fall to try racing.

There are some races I could do in early June, but they're not local.  For my first one, I would love for my family to be there to see me do it.  While my wife and kids would travel with me, I know my brothers and parents wouldn't, so doing the first one in Raleigh is important to me.

In the meantime, I can continue to work on shedding some pounds, strengthening my core, and work to maintain comfort in being able to run at the 10k distance.  I'll keep with the modified workout schedule I started to use, that implemented more cross-training into my routine.  I'll still run twice a week, with one of them being a 10k distance run.  I figure that if I can maintain my ability to do a 10k, it will be easier to ramp up and train for the half-marathon when I get closer to the Fall season.  

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for not being able to meet my goal, but I can't ignore the signs my body has been giving me.  Different nagging injuries is just indicating that my body's not ready to handle the rigors of the race.  I'll spend the Spring and Summer building a foundation, I'll likely run at least one, maybe two 10k races before the end of June since I know I can go the distance.

I'll still keep posting!  In the meantime, it just may not be relevant to the half-marathon distance.  But soon I'll get there!