Pulling out of a Marathon - or Confession of DNSen' (and a tiny bit about Disc Golf)

After re-injuring my right hamstring a week ago Saturday, I spent the next several days deciding whether or not I thought I could compete in the Rockin' K marathon coming up in early April. I had finished the injury-causing run after tripping over a rock somewhere between mile 12 and 13 at Clinton North Shore Trails. It hurt, but I kept going following my running buddy, Mike, as we navigated through the final miles. At just over 14, when my calf spasmed, I knew the run was over.  I also knew there was a problem, but I thought some rest and light running might lead to enough recovery to still do the marathon.

I turned a 10 mile run into a 7 mile run a couple of days later (Monday). For the duration of that run, my achilles felt a bit tight and my hamstring protested. Then I spent a couple of days doing 3 miles on the treadmill before doing a 4 miler on roads to end the week. So I still finished the week with over 30 miles and not in too much pain - not too bad.

Saturday (yesterday) I took off to run the 10.4 mile river trail loop with another running buddy, Adrian. I wore a compression sleeve (CEP) on my right leg. Adrian, knowing that I'm a bit OCD, mentioned that it seemed odd that I didn't have one on my left leg as well. As much as his comment was spot on, for me, the discomfort of compression-wear trumps my desire to be symmetrical. For the run, I was able to cruise along at a talking (and for a while, singing) pace with out too much discomfort. The sleeve worked well for my achilles, ankle, and calf issues. The last couple of miles, though, caused my hamstring to tighten painfully. I knew the run was coming to a conclusion so I did not stop to stretch. I finished and felt as if I had quite a bit more in the tank. The problem was my right hamstring did not feel as if it want to 'keep calm & carry on' for one more step.

So, with just a couple of weeks left before the marathon, I've decided to remove any tenseness and pressure to try to train through my injury. While it is an upsetting decision, I'm going to live to run another day, continue to run the shorter distances in recovery, and then sign up for a different marathon later in the year. Training for this marathon has led me through some of the best runs I've ever done - a solo run between the deserts of Joshua Tree being the highlight. Planning for the run kept my base miles up through the winter (coincidentally a warm winter to train in as well). So I don't really feel cheated.

I do feel as if I have let a couple of friends down who are doing the race. I signed up because it is fun to run and do events with friends. The runner I regularly pace in ultras, Paul, had signed up for this marathon. We planned to drive out and camp before the race. While he and I run together in training and pacing, it is rare that we are in the same race. The last race we had both entered as competitors, a 50 K ultra, Paul had been the one to drop out prior to the start due to injury. I had fun on that race, but it would've been more fun to run some of the miles with friends.

So that's that. Nothing of earth-shattering importance, but relatively meaningful if, like me, you sit around and think about running a lot (That last sentence could be read as thinking a lot about running or thinking about a lot of running, interesting). I am, at least, lucky that I can still run while injured. But for the time-being, I simply can't run as far as I would like.

In other news: even with a sore leg, I managed to tie the second best round of disc golf I've played at Centennial Park Saturday afternoon. What started out as a mediocre 3-over on the first nine, developed into a solid 4-under on the back nine (birdies on holes 11, 15, 17, and 18), for an unexpected 1-under finish. I write 'unexpected,' because I had taken a couple of weeks off from disc golf to travel for business and train for the marathon.