gokennergo.com

18!!

I did it, ran the whole way. 3 hours, 36 minutes, 1 second. That includes bathroom stops and drink stops.

18 freaking miles. I'm bushed but glad to have done it. I will write more later.

-K

posted by Kenner Estes at 11:49 PM

Time has really grown to be a commodity this week. Between the dog, the marathon training, work, my girlfriend, and my plans and preparation to start a Master's program here in Chicago, I've just been unable to update this log.

I do have good news to report, however.

My sessions with my PT seem to be going in the right direction. I have continued to improve, especially my IT band. My hamstring is still giving me trouble, but we have isolated the problem and are working specific solutions. I actually saw a different therapist at the same place on Monday, but she seems good so I'm not concerned. My upcoming appointments actually go back and forth between the two therapists.

Today was a 6-mile hill training workout with Team In Training, but my PT said not to do that, so I didn't go. I walked up to Fleet Feet on North Avenue later in the day to pick up some Clif bars and gel shots, and I ran into one of the TNT coaches who was working out on the sidewalk with Fleet Feet to sell bottled water and Power Bars to all of the people passing to and from the air and water show this weekend. I talked to her about my improvement (at least, on the injury front) and also told her of my plan for this weekend. I was going to go to the gym today but I just didn't get there before 6 so I decided to go for a run instead. I followed my usual path, North Park to North to Sedgwick to Clark to Diversey, but instead of turning left at Diversey like I usually do I continued on Clark up to Belmont. I then turned around and went back down Clark to Halsted, then ran down Halsted to Diversey, then just ran on Diversey back over to Clark and returned on my normal route, Clark to Sedgwick to North to North Park. All in all, about 5.5-6 miles. That way I at least matched the distance of the group, and I would say that I didn't feel any pain at all from my right IT band until the 4th mile! My hamstring was bothered but I felt really good about the IT band. I stretched out immediately when I got home and I currently have no pain in my IT band.

I have decided to attempt a long distance run tomorrow (Sunday). I'm going to head over to the lake armed with a water bottle and a heavy dose of attitude. I'm not looking forward to doing it without my group, but I really feel like I need to get in a long distance run before we tackle our 18 next Saturday. I'm going to shoot for 16, but I'd be content with 14, so you'd better believe that I'll be bringing cab money -- just in case.

Okay, I just looked at my last log entry and realized that I already described my plan for the long distance run. Well, so now you know that I decided to do it on Sunday instead of Saturday. I just hope that my running today didn't cause me irritation that I will feel tomorrow when I try to run. If I start feeling the pain too early I will just stop and then work out hard this week to try to prepare for the 18. I don't want to let my good feelings about my "pain" progress lead me down a path of self-destruction.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well! Thanks for checking in. -K

posted by Kenner Estes at 12:42 AM