Marathon training was going so well for months! The book, Run Less, Run Faster, inspired me more than I thought a running book ever could. My training schedule has been completely dictated on the exactschedule and goal times of training for a 4:00:00 marathon as studied by the FIRST program at Furman University. I loved the exactness of the training program: I do the specific interval training on Tuesday evenings at River City High Track, early Friday morning tempo runs to work, of 5-10 miles, and my favorite, early morning (to beat the heat) long runs on Sundays, up to 20 miles, on the beautiful South River Road, from West Sacramento to south of Clarksburg, right through wine country, but fortunately, too early to start drinking!

My first goal for this first marathon since the 1980s was to NOT get injured. And as of today, November 1, I haven’t been able to accomplish that goal successfully, as Friday, I strained my right hamstring – with just five weeks until countdown – I am sidelined! Why? More than like, it was because I was NOT stretching and strengthening sufficiently. As a consequence, I had to miss my 20 miler today – my favorite training run of the week. One more 20 miler remains on the schedule. Right now, my under 4:00:00 marathon seems in jeopardy.

My job now is to stay positive – to do everything I can to heal. Is it too late to break 4:00:00 for this December 6 California International Marathon (a 9:09 per minute mile for 26.2 miles)? The next couple of weeks will tell!

It is obvious that being 59 years of age I have lost a lot of speed since my 20s. When I was younger, I was much stronger and much more flexible. I have come to hate stretching and strengthening, with my busy schedule, but if I am going to prevent injuries in the future, I have to change my attitude. Who knows, I may even try yoga! And no, hell hasn’t frozen over, but since I encourage patients to try yoga, maybe I should also give it a try!