KeithWikle.com

At the beginning of February my marathon training program was going really well. My miles had been creeping up steadily and I hadn’t been injured. My hamstrings were taught as a kettle drum, but I thought this was something I could manage. My long runs were getting longer and my right knee wasn’t bothering me. Then a number of convergent coincidences all transpired simultaneously. I started having lower back pain about 2 weeks after we switched to a new mattress. This was also the same week that I began upping my miles past 8 on my long runs. I also had a couple of goofy falls some on my bike, some on alpine skis, and one in my own driveway on ice. All of this basically led up to me going to the chiropractor and into physical therapy. I didn’t hurt my back from my falls, but I think from hamstring inflexibility.

My marathon plan for Bayshore is on hold already!

But I am undaunted. After my last injury, I am more familiar with the time frame for the healing process. It will most likely be a few months before I am well enough to run at the level I was at before my injury.

Part of this is also keeping a positive attitude.

When you’re in junior high you’re afraid to tell your friends you like a girl because… well you’re in junior high. They may not like her, it may not work out, she might dump you. At the end of the day you have to live with yourself, and you have to make a commitment with what you believe is right.

Now that I am a grown up, I don’t care what my friends think about my girlfriend, otherwise they wouldn’t be friends. So I have to set a goal and make the summit approach.

This long winded analogy is a way of saying I have been holding off from telling folks that I intend on running another marathon. Most likely Bayshore (again barring injury) on Memorial day weekend. I came in at about 3:40 for Chicago in 2004. I am shooting for about 3:30 if my body will let me do it. My training has ramped up since October and I have been running 25-30 miles a week since then. I need to ramp up to about 35-45 miles if not higher in the end. It’s the long runs that do you in, but that are ultimately what count. They are also the edge of the world in terms of physical endurance, your sanity. You see what you are made of out there. And like fox holes, there are no atheists at the 24 mile marker…

The thing about running is that unless you are superhuman, you know you won’t win. My son once asked me why I ran any of these races if I knew I wouldn’t win. I told him you have to race to see how fast you can go, to see what you’re made of. I hope to find I am made of sterner stuff than I think. Even if I come in at the same or worse than Chicago, it is still the attempt that means everything. If I don’t try, I will never forgive myself.

There is no garland of ivy leaves for the average runner. Each mile is its own reward. If you make it to 26.2 someone might tell you “great job”. But you must want to make it the distance on your own. No one can do it for you. You might have training partners, you might even have someone to run the race with, but really every step is your own.

When I ran my first marathon I trained every mile alone, and then planned to run Chicago with Joe. I never found him in the crowd. I ran the whole distance surrounded by a crowd, but I was completely isolated inside my own head.

I am embarking on this training journey again. I don’t necessarily relish every run. It is sometimes hard to want to put in all the time necessary. It is hard not having someone to run with, but at the same time, moving at your own pace means you never have to depend on anyone else.

All of the miles and training in complete isolation are also tied with a victory that is solely your own. You do not share the proverbial crown of ivy leaves (if you get one) with a triumvirate of team mates. It is yours alone.

Ran 13 miles for the first time since the fifth 3rd 15 mile race in April 2005. Recovery from injury gets harder with every year. Not that I am an old man by any stretch. But I am not a 19 year old soccer hooligan anymore. If I fall it takes weeks to come back. I’ve been steadily increasing my mileage with the thought of doing a race sometime this spring. I was thinking maybe a marathon. Don’t know if I can squeeze it in, because I am actually more worried about my paddling fitness for the Islands of Lake Michigan trip.

Doing 13 Miles felt like my veins had been opened up fully again to let all the good drugs into my blood. No better word for it than purification. Want to feel like you earned your dinner? Put one foot in front of the other for thirteen miles!

Granted the stretching, the IT band massaging afterwards gets old, but it always seems so worth it.