Reflections on a bad day

I ran (or at least started) my first marathon today, and it went badly. After training for almost six months, I had to quit around mile 18 when the IT bands on both sides of my legs more or less gave out entirely (the IT band is my new worst enemy - learn more about the face of evil here, here, and here). In truth, I probably should have quit sooner - the left knee gave out around mile 10, and I limped around for a while before the right knee gave out. I am probably dumb enough to try to limp through to the end, but luckily Mrs. MSR, who's a doctor, was smart enough to pull me off the course (with the encouragement of Tom, who was running with me and who was cool enough to slow down for me until it became evident I was finished). I'd been carrying this injury since running 20 miles in this race, and while I thought it had time to heal, it just didn't.

As you might imagine, I'm feeling pretty badly about this. This race was my goal for months, and at times it became all consuming. I gave up a lot of Saturdays for long runs, and hauled my tired butt out of bed early four times a week to run before work (and before the NoVa summer heat got crazy). For moths, the W&OD trail was my second home. I also invested a lot of money with lots of folks, like these guys and these guys.

On balance - and after spending an afternoon crushed by disappointment - I think the whole experience was worth it. It got me hooked on running and into a good exercise routine again, and I lost a bunch of weight. I also feel some sense of accomplishment, because I know I could have run the damn thing if this injury had not reared its ugly head (curse you, IT band). But I certainly won't feel a full sense of accomplishment until I run a complete one, which I am determined to do. Endurance sports are addictive, and I am hooked. I have to stop for a while now, both to heal and to refocus, but I am not finished - in fact, until I finish one of these, I don't really feel I've fully begun.
- posted by Anonymous @ 5:35 PM