Is it Spring at last?

I left the flat at 630am for my 8 mile run. It was LIGHT, and actually quite WARM. Birds were singing. A few flowers were coming out. Is it Spring at last?? I hope so. This has felt like a very cold, long winter, and apparently it has been the coldest March on record. Not a good year to be in training for the marathon, perhaps!!

So, I ran 8 miles. Struggled for the first few but it got easier after that. Since stopping I have noticed a pain in my lower calf on my left leg. I am not sure what sort of a pain it is, or if it is something I should worry about. I hope not. Hopefully the student sports masseur will sort me out on Friday!

I hope I'm back on track

On Saturday I did a long run. I cut off 2 miles, as my knee/ankle started hurting, so "only" did 14. However, it felt long enough to count as a long run, and some of my confidence returned.

This morning I did a five mile run. I'm actually hoping it was more than five miles as it took me an hour and five minutes. At that rate I will be running through the night on marathon day.

However, until I checked my time at the end, the run felt good. I started slowly and then picked my pace up. I didn't have any pain in my knee or my ankle today. The only problem was sore muscles around my shins, but this was totally bearable and a result of running lots of hills on Saturday (I think).

I am doing the exercises the physiotherapist gave me. One involves lying on a hard tennis ball (a ball for dogs) for one minute on the band of tissue between my knee and thigh. This is fairly painful, and apparently tricks the tissue into relaxing. Not much fun, but I think I can feel it working. The other good news is that I am going to be getting weekly sports massage from a student of the physio I saw, FOR FREE!! And she will be coming to my work to do it. Ideal.

I am getting very nervous about the marathon. Every time I think about the big day, the butterflies start fluttering!