Respect

I've struggled to be healthy this running season. Like a teenager, I felt immortal. Nothing could stop me. If I was running in Brooklyn and got hit by a car, I'd just roll off the hood and keep going. If I was in the Adirondacks running and a mountain lion jump out of the woods and tried to kill me, I'd beat it down, and keep running. If I was in a big open field during a horrible storm with lightening striking all around me, I'd dodge the bolts, and keep on running. Part of me still foolishly believes these things.

Then I remind myself that though these things may not stop me, disrespecting my body will. I set my goals fairly high this year, relative to what I had achieved in the past. My spring training started slow, but ended with a glorious half marathon in Boston where I surpassed my expectations and had a blast with some excellent running friends. So I celebrated by turning it up a notch... and over doing it... and screwing with my IT bands. I won't get into that again. You can see my earlier blog entries if you want to read more whining from me.

I don't think I set my goals too high. I think I just disrespected them. I wanted to qualify for Boston (3:10:00) and was already reading up on the US Olympic trials (2:19:00). I wanted to run the NYC Marathon fast and was dreaming of the Lake Placid Ironman in 2011. Every run, I did fast. My "recovery" runs were fake. I didn't have recovery runs. I didn't see the point. When I ran and felt pain, I ignored it and ran through it. "My body is strong and can recover from anything," I thought.

But really, I was just disrespectful. I took my body and its strengths for granted. Like running an engine into the red repeatedly and expecting your car to not break down. Or making a great starting pitcher throw 150 pitches and assuming he will stay sharp (I'm watching the Yankees right now). It's like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. My body is the goose and the miles, to me, are golden. I got greedy.

I have eleven days until the NYC Marathon. My new goal is to get healthy and run pain free. In the back of my mind, I still want to be fast. But I need to be realistic. There is nothing I can do at this point to make myself faster. I will take these few days left to stay loose, get healthy, and prepare myself mentally.