Monday, March 17, 2008
The Running Groundhog
Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) is a 'holiday' unique to the United States and Canada (at least according to Wikipedia). Who else would construct a holiday around a rodent 'seeing' his shadow as a method to determine how many more weeks of winter remain?
For the initiated, the rule is: if he sees his shadow, there are six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, then winter will end sooner rather than later. I have a bit of a soft spot for one of the more famous groundhogs, Punxsatawny Phil, mostly because I like to say his name.
What does this have to do with running, aside from the obvious tie-in between weeks of winter remaining and suffering through cold, snowy, icy weather? Well, it seemed like a clever way to discuss the last six weeks of my running-life.
You may recall that I was sick, ironically just a few days after Groundhog Day, at the start of February. The Lung Plague of 2008 had me off the roads for almost two weeks. I tried to gradually build up some miles for next two weeks, before my husband was stricken with a Super-Duper Lung Plague which required a couple of days stay in the hospital. Once we got him back home and settled, I got sick again (most likely from something I picked up at the hospital) and was off the road for another week.
Since starting my marathon training 9 weeks ago, I've missed about 4 weeks total of my training plan. I'm approximately 11 weeks out from the June 1 trail marathon and my sparse long runs have yet to be over 12 miles. Saturday was my first time out on the trails in many, many months.
Being out there this weekend served as an acute reminder as to how much harder it is to run trails, as opposed to pavement. I was utterly, completely exhausted for the rest of the day, climbing in to bed extra early, at 9:00 p.m. My ankles bones were scratched up from where I kept kicking myself - as I swing my opposite foot past my stationary foot, apparently I tend to make contact, repeatedly.
By the time I was done with the 2-hour adventure, I was cold, soaked through with sweat and rain, tired and hungry. But it felt good to get a long trail run in the books. It is very clear to me now that this will be a very tough marathon, both from a terrain standpoint as well as a training standpoint. There will be many lessons in humility in my near future, which can only strengthen my spirit, as I learn to push through this new physical obstacle in my path.
Imagine the fall marathon I can have, if I can just wrestle this monster to the ground!
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For the initiated, the rule is: if he sees his shadow, there are six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, then winter will end sooner rather than later. I have a bit of a soft spot for one of the more famous groundhogs, Punxsatawny Phil, mostly because I like to say his name.
What does this have to do with running, aside from the obvious tie-in between weeks of winter remaining and suffering through cold, snowy, icy weather? Well, it seemed like a clever way to discuss the last six weeks of my running-life.
You may recall that I was sick, ironically just a few days after Groundhog Day, at the start of February. The Lung Plague of 2008 had me off the roads for almost two weeks. I tried to gradually build up some miles for next two weeks, before my husband was stricken with a Super-Duper Lung Plague which required a couple of days stay in the hospital. Once we got him back home and settled, I got sick again (most likely from something I picked up at the hospital) and was off the road for another week.
Since starting my marathon training 9 weeks ago, I've missed about 4 weeks total of my training plan. I'm approximately 11 weeks out from the June 1 trail marathon and my sparse long runs have yet to be over 12 miles. Saturday was my first time out on the trails in many, many months.
Being out there this weekend served as an acute reminder as to how much harder it is to run trails, as opposed to pavement. I was utterly, completely exhausted for the rest of the day, climbing in to bed extra early, at 9:00 p.m. My ankles bones were scratched up from where I kept kicking myself - as I swing my opposite foot past my stationary foot, apparently I tend to make contact, repeatedly.
By the time I was done with the 2-hour adventure, I was cold, soaked through with sweat and rain, tired and hungry. But it felt good to get a long trail run in the books. It is very clear to me now that this will be a very tough marathon, both from a terrain standpoint as well as a training standpoint. There will be many lessons in humility in my near future, which can only strengthen my spirit, as I learn to push through this new physical obstacle in my path.
Imagine the fall marathon I can have, if I can just wrestle this monster to the ground!
