So far, so good

I tried out the new Saucony shoes this morning. They felt fine, but it was only a five mile run so time will tell how they feel over a longer distance. But I was glad they were comfortable for a short run. Even if they don't help for a long run at least I know I'll be able to use them.

My total mileage for September was 163.93. Should have run an extra .07 just to get to a nice even number. That mileage wouldn't sound like a lot to a hard core runner, but that's a ton for me. My previous high mileage month was August with 153.19. Prior to that, I didn't even break 100 miles for most months.

Oh, and at the beginning of the year I set a goal of running 1,000 miles in 2009. As of today, I'm at 1002.94, so mission accomplished. I guess I can stop running for the rest of the year if I want to. :)

New Shoes

I went to the awesome local running shop (Hansons) today and talked to them about how flipping sore my feet were during the 20 mile run yesterday. I am now the owner of a pair of Saucony ProGrid Guide 2 shoes. I bought men's because I have big feet and they felt good.

I'll be doing 15 miles next Saturday so we'll see how the feet feel after that. I hope to God these help with the problem because otherwise I'm not sure how I'll manage 26.2.

Recovery Run

Went out for a nice little three mile run today to loosen things up. The first several steps were tough - my legs were protesting! After that, I settled in and felt good. Running three miles sure feels nice and short after the agony that is a 20 miler. It's amazing to me how much better my legs and feet feel compared to yesterday. I enjoyed running today.

Now I'm going to forget all about the 20 mile agony and pretend that the whole marathon will feel just as great as today did.

20 Miler

I ran 20 miles today. Holy crap, that was hard! I spent the last five miles telling myself that I was going to back out of this whole crazy marathon idea. Then I finally finished the 20 miles and took some Aleve and felt better, and I realized that after all this fricking training I have to find a way to get through the marathon.

But seriously, why do my legs have to get so damn sore? Gah. I'm good through 14 or 15 miles and then I get really sore and I want to give up. I'm definitely having issues with the mental aspect of running long distances. I need to figure out a solution before the marathon on October 18th.

I'm just going to tell myself that after the taper my legs will feel nice and fresh for marathon day, so it will seem easier. Please, nobody disabuse me of that notion. It's all I have to hang on to right now!

Back. Sorta.

Ah, my poor neglected blog! How could I abandon you?

Short update for now:
- I'm still training for the Detroit Free Press Marathon
- I have to run 20 miles on Saturday and I'm dreading it
- I did a 30K race on a freaking hilly course over Labor Day weekend and I did a terrible job and it scared me into thinking perhaps this marathon thing is not for me. But I will keep going and hope that the 20-miler restores some confidence.

In happier news, on Saturday I ran a 5K. This particular 5K was the very first race I ever did, when I started running last year. So this was my first repeat visit to a race. It was fun and I set a PR. Yay!