Off the rail on an icy train

So running on ice sucks. I let my demented running partner talk me into running our scheduled 10 miler on ice on Sunday, and now I'm paying the price. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to let out his inner-Boitano, though, because he kept trying to hit a triple lutz during our walk breaks. Fine by me, but I drew the line when he wanted to practice lifts. Not even sure I want to know who was lifting who, but I digress.

Back to the run. Everything was going pretty well for the first 5 miles or so, and we even got to get some dumbass unstuck on Division. Then, during the 4 1/2 to 6 mile loop, when I slowed down for (yet another) walk break, I damn near busted my ass 3 times in a 10 foot stretch. I'm not sure which time it was, but I hurt my left knee and calf in about 4 different places trying to remain vertical. For some reason, I decided that I could make it another mile and a half, and almost made it before taking a 6 block shortcut while Aaron was making use of the frozen solid (!!) port-a-potty.

Needless to say, I am done running for a week or two, while I ice my leg. Now, if I could only figure out where to find ice. Hmmmm. It is pretty frustrating, because the week I took off to take care of the Mrs. let all of the little aches and pains I had built up heal. No foot pain, no hip flexor pain, no nothing. A definite lack of strength and endurance, but no pains. I feel like a total moron for letting myself get hurt while running on ice. Not one of my better decisions. Turns out I should have listened to Pascal. I thought maybe Belgians had an irrational fear of ice. What do I know?

The bottom line is that I need to shift focus a little bit. I've decided to give up on the 4:30 marathon, which really doesn't bother me that much. I don't want to worry that much about time anyway. I just want to enjoy my first marathon, and the 16 week training program (15 now), that leads up to it. If that means running a 5 1/2 hour marathon, that is fine with me. The downside to this decision is that it probably means running less with Aaron. I don't have his level of focus, and consequently, I still outweigh him by 50 pounds (and I'm fine with walking and taking days off!). I've started becoming obsessed with splits and speed, and it keeps getting me hurt, and makes running a little less fun. I'm not sure how this is going to work until I can get myself to his level (which has to be by the time he joins my age group), but I need to figure out a way to waddle 26.2 miles without getting myself hurt.

I guess I have a week or 2 to map out my path to OKC before I am back healthy again, so in the meantime, it looks like Aaron is going to have to skate solo...