Back in Business

I'm happy to report that my training for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge is back on!  Well, it was never really off, but for the last 10 days, I haven't run, which when you're training for a marathon, is a bit of a hindrance. It's been 10 days (well, actually 9 as I took a day off) of stationary bike riding.

But today, after an early visit to my orthopedic/sports medicine physician's assistant, he confirmed what I hoped he would confirm: the problem with my left foot was most likely not a stress fracture. Could be a variety of minor issues (key word "minor") and with regular ice, stretching, I can get back to the road, and with 86 days left to Marathon Day, that's a huge relief.  So here's what I've learned from a week off the road.

10. It only took me about 2 or 3 sessions on the bike to realize why I'm running a marathon and not riding in the Pan Mass Challenge. Bike riders will say that it's a lot harder to run 26.2 miles than it is to ride 190 miles in two days. I'm not sure about that. I can't even imagine riding 90-100 miles a day, for two days back to back.

9. Then again, I didn't think I could ride a bike for nearly two hours straight, but I did. Not saying it was fun but I did it.

8. One thing the stationary bike has over a treadmill? You can tweet from your iPhone on a stationary bike. Who knew?

7. 15 minutes, 1.7 miles on the treadmill. Best run ever? Maybe not, but after nine days of not running, tonight's tentative tiptoe on the treadmill sure felt like my best run. Ever since I left the doctor's office this morning, I had been looking forward to the treadmill tonight.

6. So the plan is 50% running this week leading up to an 8-miler next Sunday and if no problems, I'm back full tilt the following week, which means 16-18 miles two weeks from now. Bring it on.

5. Figures it's been relatively mild out this past week. Oh well, if it stays above 10 and the road's passable, I'll be out there.

4. The bike may be easy on the feet and knees, but it's a pain in the butt. Literally.

3. The running went on hiatus for a week, but the fundraising kept going. I officially went over the $4k mark this last week - 3 months to train, $6k left to raise.

2.  I always knew that running was a part of me, but this week proved that to me. The toughest thing about not running for the last week and a half wasn't doing the bike, or taking the week plus off running, it was the thought of possibly not running for 6-8 weeks.

1. My many thanks to everyone for their well wishes as I moped through this last week and a half. All those crossed fingers must've worked.

Happy running everyone.