Week 14 of marathon training

Week 14 of my training for the Mississippi Blues Marathon is almost done ... well, except for the little 20-miler that I have to do this weekend.

A few weeks ago, I had the be run of my life. It was the first semi-long run of the training and the weather was perfect. It was sunny and 50 degrees with a light breeze, and I was feeling great. I couldn't have asked for better conditions, and I was able to run 15 miles in just over 2 hours, and I had no pain. I could have easily gone another five miles, but I opted to stop and my scheduled time.

A week later, I ran the Lake Caroline 15K and pushed a little too hard the last mile, and in doing so, I tweaked my calf muscle. Since then, I've battled with some pain. The 16-miler I ran after Lake Caroline was really tough for the last two miles. The pain was pretty intense, and to add insult to injury, my watch stopped working. Was that a sign? Maybe.

I got a massage last week, and that really helped. I think I'll be fine if I can get mentally ready again. So much of this is mental. I was on top of the world after the really good run, and mentally I felt like I could possibly set a PR in the Blues marathon. But after dealing with the injury, my attitude changed, even though I was only a few minutes off my goal pace. So my priority now is getting my head right.

I had a talk with my next-door-neighbor Dean a couple of nights ago, and he got me pumped up. He ran a sub four-hour marathon last April in Nashville, and he wants me to run it with him. He such a good motivator that I'm already thinking about it just as I'm tackling the toughest three weeks of the Blues training. I must be nuts!