Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Week 3 of 14 – Jacqui

My body and my treadmill are beginning to feel the effects of all the mileage that has been adding up: 52 miles to date! I have watched my treadmill calorie counter reach 999 – only to then start over at zero! I have also discovered that my treadmill has its own thoughts about marathon running. It apparently thinks no human should run for prolonged periods, as it stops when the clock goes over 99 minutes. This was not a fun fact to discover. As I was nearing the end of the longest run of my life (nine miles), suddenly the treadmill stopped! I suppose I am lucky that I didn’t fall and hurt myself, but I wasn’t thinking about how “lucky” I was at the time.

I am observing the effect running is having on my body. I have developed a bruised toe, which probably means a good pair of running shoes is in order. I fear breaking in a new pair of shoes, but at this point I think either the shoes go or the toenail goes. And after a long run the other day, I also had soreness under my arms. Who would ever think one could experience chaffing there? I have also begun to develop stiffening and tightness down my left leg. I was thankfully able to easily identify the area of concern and initiate a relieving stretching regimen. Though these problems all seem easily fixable, they have opened my eyes to the demands I am asking of my body.

Since I’m burning so many calories on long runs, I am beginning to wonder about other aspects of the marathon – like hydration, nutrition and digestion. I looked for a couple of books on the logistics of running a marathon. There are actually many of them out there. Believe it or not, there is even a Marathon Training for Dummies book! Since I sometimes feel totally clueless about what I have gotten myself into, I figured that was a good book for me. Hopefully next week, I will be a whole lot more informed and slightly more experienced!

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