Yeah… So the goal was to stay injury free. I’ve been successful towards that goal until now. I’ve often had problems with my right leg in general but specifically with my hamstring. From high school and into college, I’ve missed competitions due to severe hamstring strains including partial tears of the muscle. Needless to say, this isn’t a good time for this injury with 3 weeks till marathon time. But, before I go into a panic, let me explain how my week went.

This week started out with another long 18 mile run. The run was going well till I ran out of fluids. I did make it to a little over 17 miles though. Considering how fast I ran the Papa John’s 10 miler the day before, I’ll take that. I was only supposed to do 8 that day and did a 10 mile race. I did more mileage that weekend than I was supposed to do. I definitely feel stronger. The middle of the week was full of short runs just to recover from the high mileage of the previous weekend. I also did not want to push too hard because I had a difficult race coming up Saturday in the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon.

Speaking of the Run the Bluegrass Half, I did quite well! I finished in the top 8 percent and beat last years previous time by almost 7 minutes. Impressive… most impressive! Afterwards, I felt like I could’ve gone another 3 miles at that pace. I was very happy with the results of that race. It’s by far the most difficult course because of the hills. But it’s a beautiful course. My race preparation went well as I got up extra early to get to the site. I had all my gear ready the night before. This was a great marker to gauge my fitness level. Again.. I’m getting stronger.

Now, the bad news. I went for a short recovery run the next morning and couldn’t get to three miles. I felt a sharp nagging pain in my hamstring at about the 1.5 mile mark. I thought I could run it out thinking it was a cramp of some sort but it got worse the more I ran. After another mile, I called it quits and went back to the car. This week was supposed to be the important peak week for me where I put in the last large volume of miles before I begin to rest up for the race. I’m not sure how to rework my training schedule to allow me to rest and get the mileage I need. It’s not a good time for injury right now. I’m even thinking of pulling out of the race.