Marathon Dreamer

I suppose many people are wondering why I ran 2 marathons in 7 days.  I did it as a challenge, and even though I had run the first one and had come down with the flu afterwards, it couldn't keep me away from completing my back to back marathon challenge.  I had signed up to do both races as my oldest son had decided to do the challenge too.  I couldn't let him go into the second race without his crazy Mom, so since I am a nut, I had to be there.  The first 6 miles were a blur.  Cold and rainy at the start, I wondered if I was going to die of pneumonia after running this race...LOL.  I questioned myself standing at the start with my husband.  He was also attempting his second marathon in 7 days.  The first, ended at 20 miles for him.  He was running under a friend's bib that had a last minute injury and could not run the race.  He just wanted to see if he could complete the distance, and he did this time running a 5:35 or so.  Good job!!!   Carlsbad is full of hills and I knew that this would challenge my recovering body.  With some residual soreness in my quads, I ran cofortably never feeling taxed cardio-wise.  The pace was a breeze but my body was just so tired still not only from the previous race but from the flu.  I had missed 3 days of work the past week.  That flu laid me out in bed but suprisingly, I was pulling off marathon #2.  My left foot strain which I had felt a bit toward the end of the RnR AZ Marathon last weekend, felt healed but it came back to haunt me in this race. At mile 14 or so, I found myself running along the coast highway finding solace and pain relief in the soft shoulder of my old running route.  I ran there alone as others ran in the road and I was happy that I had no one in front of me or following me in my foot steps. The last 8 miles became hard for me as my left foot screamed with each foot fall.  The mid arch just hurt the whole stinking time but I changed my stride and found the change helpful in getting me to the finish.  Despite the pain, I ran a consistant pace throughout the race even into the later miles and even with all the hills. I had anticipated about a 20 minute difference between last week's marathon and this one because of recovery, illness and residual fatigue but somehow I managed to run it faster than expected.  I was very pleased crossing that finish line.  Sad to later see that my son could not finish as his left hip was hurting to much to continue on, but he walked about 18 miles before calling it a day.  I am so proud of him for his efforts and sure that rest will serve him well. I feel very confident that the foot issue is just a strained tendon in the arch and that it will heal soon.  I also feel that qualifying for Boston is definately do-able this year if things continue to go the way I plan...God willing.  It is not the most important thing to me, but it is on my "to do" list this year. Happy running!
Split Times
9.4 Mi: 1:29:44 Pace: 9:33 13.8 Mi: 2:10:22 Pace: 9:27 18.0 Mi: 2:53:46 Pace: 9:40 19.9 Mi: 3:11:51 Pace: 9:39