Tuesday, January 25, 2011

If your friends jumped off a bridge . . . .


Who needs a recovery week?

Apparently, I do.

I ran 21 miles Saturday, exactly one week after completing the Charleston Marathon.

Bad idea!

I did it on impulse, caught up in the excitement of friends peaking in their training for the Run with Donna Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville next month. I’m still toying with the idea of running that race too.

My muscle aches following Charleston were gone by Tuesday. I completed an easy three mile run Wednesday morning followed by a much faster four miles Thursday evening and felt great afterward. My plan for Saturday was to do 10-12 miles but when it came time to turn around and everyone else was moving on, I couldn’t resist. I was feeling too good to turn back.

The first 10 miles went great. During the next five I started to notice just a hint of pain in my right leg. By the final three miles I had to stop and walk frequently to ease the pain.

Now, several days later, I am still experiencing pain in my shin and knee.

I knew better but I was feeling invincible.

It was such a dumb thing to do that I couldn’t even whine to my mother about being sore. Instead of sympathy, I had to face the “If your friends jumped off a bridge would you jump too?” lecture. I guess I deserved it.

Another hard lesson learned.

2 comments:

  1. That's a tough one to learn the hard way...
    I ran with a few people who finished the Charleston too, but we kept it at six and it was slow and easy.
    Now a smart person would leave it at that, but I am also going to race a 15k this Saturday so I may be writing the same post as you next week :)

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  2. I feel like I could see myself "jumping off a bridge" at some point. I just love to race so much that if someone says "Hey Ronda, do this one with me!" then I would throw caution to the wind and just do it!

    Maybe I'll learn from this experience of yours and try to not get too carried away.

    But I can't turn down a medal opportunity! *Sigh*

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