Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Thinker

Today Ferdinand and I went on a 10 mi ride while Boyfriend went on a 10 mi run (I'm a smidge jealous).  I meandered around Golden Gate Park which was good for my soul.  I haven't been there in a month and a half since I ran the shin-crunching 12.4 miler.  I've been doing all of my comeback running on the sandy shoulder of the bike path along the Great Highway ever since.  It was nice to smell all the Golden Gate Park smells I've been missing.

After our little workouts, Boyfriend and I headed over to the Legion of Honor.  They have a lot of Rodin's work which I was very excited about.  I went to Musee Rodin in Paris back in 2002 and loved his work.  Of course, once you've been to the mecca of his work the collection here wasn't that grand, but it was a nice reminder.

"The Three Shades"

"The Kiss," my favorite Rodin piece


Butt of "The Thinker"

After my last run on Friday I had a little bit of pain that night.  By Saturday it was gone, but it put some doubts in my mind as to how quickly I am going be able to bounce back from this shin thing.  I thought about it and am starting to doubt the sanity of running the San Jose Half Marathon in two weeks.  I have two half marathons scheduled in October and out of the two I'd rather run the Nike Woman's Half.  Mainly because it has better swag and there's also a lottery system to participate and you never know the next time I'd make it.  

BUT, my parents are going to be coming to visit from Hawaii in early October.  They are going to be coming to the San Jose Half.  

My parents have never attended a road race of mine before.  The closest they have gotten was having their plane land in Rome while I was probably at mile 19 of the Rome Marathon in 2007.  They got to see Boyfriend and I at the hotel after with our medals and post-marathon stinkiness, but they've never actually seen me running a race.  At first I was excited they'd be around to potentially see me break 2 hours in the half.  Then after the shin thing, I was just happy they'd be able to come and watch a race.  But now I'm not sure I'll be running.  Boyfriend is attempting to set his own half marathon PR at San Jose this year so either way I'll be there with my parents.  It just makes it harder to drop out when I know they were excited to come out and see me run.

We'll see how things shape up, but it's not looking good for San Jose.


Above is a graph of my monthly running mileage for 2008.  The dip in March represents post-marathon laziness after completing Goofy's Challenge and the Napa Valley Marathon 6 weeks apart.  The dip in April is from a sprained ankle.  The dip in August and the atrocity which is September (it's the TWENTY-FIRST of September today) is due to The Shin.  I know at first glance it looks like I've run zero miles in September, but if you look really closely, you can see I've racked up 4 miles.  Or more precisely, 3.5 miles (the graph rounds up).

Such sadness.  I should print this out and look at it whenever I hesitate to take a rest day when I know I should.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear the shin is acting up again :( Here's wishing it heals soon. Completely. And in time for the San Jose Half :)

audgepodge said...

I was riding in Golden Gate park today too! I hope your leg feels better... my IT band has been acting up which is also making me nervous about the San Jose half. We'll get there! :)

Runner Leana said...

Oh, ouch for your shin! That is so frustrating. Have you tried massage or ART at all? I find when my calves get really tight that I then have shin problems. I might have mentioned it before though, I can't remember.

Aron said...

Rome Marathon!?!? WOW that is so awesome!

thats a hard decision about SJ... you dont want to hurt yourself but it would be so fun to run it with your parents being there and your BF running it too! keep up the rest and maybe it will be better in time to just run it for fun??

ShirleyPerly said...

Yep, my running mileage has been up and down a lot the last couple years too thanks to a sprained ankle, bike crash and a hamstring pull. But recovery is just as important as training, right?

Regardless of whether you run the half, I'm sure you're folks will enjoy seeing you.

RG said...

That is quite a climb out there in May ... perhaps a slower increase .. maybe 10% to 15%/ month would help get your muscles better conditioned