Parents, a princess and a pirate

Tapering Madness

So, we're 5 days away from the marathon.  I've been training pretty much for 12 months.  I don't think it's a coincidence that the date of this marathon is the same date as the first 5k I did after I finished healing from my stress fracture last year.  My main goal that day was to finish without walking, which was very difficult considering I had only been given the ok from the dr to run a week beforehand.  But I did finish and actually finished 4th in my age group. 
Anyways, back to the present time.  This marathon has been a long time coming.  Much blood, sweat, blisters and tears have been poured into it.  I mean, a marathon is like one of the most difficult physical activities that you can put your body through.  Only 1/10th of 1% of the worlds population attempts to run one.  That's mind boggling! 
My training has gone very well but has had some ups and downs.  I reached the 1/2 marathon goal that I set for myself in May at the Indianapolis Mini.  So after that, I concentrated on building my stamina and mileage for the marathon.  I followed a plan designed for first time marathoners but tweeked it a little bit.  I couldn't have the high mileage weeks that were recommended since I can only run 3 days a week for risk of injury.  But I did run those 3 days faithfully, all summer long.  I did not miss a single workout.  I ran on vacations, I ran in the rain, in the humidity, in the dark and in the blazing sun (2010 was the hottest summer in nearly 30 years).  I read magazines, websites, books, anything I could get my hands on about running.  And things were going really well.  I had a few bad runs but I had more good ones that keep me encouraged.  I knew that, baring injury, I was going to run this marathon.
But, injury did happen, as it does for so many runners.  I noticed my left knee hurting for the first time in late July but it would go away after a few hours.  But after I ran the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in Chicago on August 1st, I was limping for 2 days.  Some research showed that I had ITBS, which is when a tendon that runs from your hip to your knee gets irritated and doesn't stretch well.  It's the most common running injury.  I did some yoga, stretching and rested, and the pain went away for the most part. 
I continued my training, August was my highest milage month with 130 miles.  My knee would occasionally bother me during runs but I could run through it.  I had two 20 mile runs, one was terrible and one was exhilarating!  After completing those runs, I knew I could finish the marathon.  Three weeks before the marathon, I ran in the Hood To Coast Relay in Oregon and felt strong the whole way (IT bothered me during part but I pushed through).  I was ready to "taper", which is a running term for the last few weeks before a marathon where you cut your mileage down to allow your body to rest and recover. 
Two weeks before the race, I was running 14 mile slow run at Eagle Creek.  Things were going great, knee wasn't bothering me and I was making good time.  Suddenly at mile 11, I felt like I stepped on a knife!  The pain was sudden and sharp, on the bottom of my foot from the heel to the pad.  I was 3 miles from the car so I had to keep running just to get home.  The pain lessened some but was still unnerving.  I googled "foot pain" and found that I most likely had "planter facitiis", another common running injury.  Again, it involves a tendon that gets irritated in your foot.  I'm limping for a few days, stretching, rolling my foot on a frozen water bottle, on a golf ball, use fancy athletic tape and rest for the whole week. 
I'm feeling pretty down, wondering why the heck am I getting injured when I'm following a good running plan and being smart about my training.  But life happens and so do injuries.  By the following Saturday, one week before the marathon, my foot was feeling 90% so I decided to go on a short run, just to test it out.  I figured that if I was going to be running 26.2 miles in pain, I wanted to know about it before I started!   The first 1/2 mile was painful on my foot but once it warmed up, it wasn't bad. My IT band gave me some problem at the beginning as well but warmed up fine too.  Six miles went pretty quickly and my mind relaxed.  Brett and I watched "The Spirit of the Marathon", a documentary about 6 people training for the Chicago marathon.  It was pretty good and got me in the right frame of mind. 
I iced my foot and stretched my knee.  My foot was pretty sore today, Sunday.  I called my friend who used to own the running store in Avon and explained my injury.  She has dealt with the same one herself and recommended getting insoles so I ordered a pair from a running website she suggestion, using her discount.  I'll rest the remainder of the week and should be good to go for the race.
I don't know what to expect from this marathon but I know that regardless of how fast or slow I cross the finish line, I will be forever changed.  I'll be a Marathoner.