So now I rest

See more photos of my run on my Flickr.

Since May 2nd of this month, here is the breakdown of my training so far for Rockford:

May 2: 2.5 miles
May 3: 10 miles
May 7: 8 miles
May 8: 2.5 miles
May 10: 11 miles
Total: 34 miles

I'm tired.

My legs have been constantly sore this past week leading up to today. My mileage has increased from running 12 to 16 miles a week to over 25 in preparation for the half-marathon. Still, I'm happy with my accomplishments. It wasn't until my last 11 mile training run that I started to feel a painful twinge in my left knee, but I think it had to do with me being all tensed up and not pacing myself correctly. Once I relaxed near mile 5, the rest of my run was pain free- for the most part anyway.

Running with sore leg muscles is insanely difficult, especially when the runs are on consecutive days. I don't think I'm hydrating properly, or stretching enough on my rest days to counter the soreness. The tiredness goes away once I'm 2 to 3 miles into my run, but it's the start that is freakin' painful. I can't imagine how the road to 26.2 miles and the Chicago Marathon is going to be. I better stop whining about it while I'm ahead, I guess.

So now I rest. Next week I only run a total of seven miles to stay loose, and to keep fresh for Sunday. I'm traveling to Rockford the day before, and staying at a local hotel since the start time is 7 a.m.

On a side note: My trip to Rockford may be in jeopardy since finding out I will have to work on Saturday to install this beast - part of a major system upgrade my company is doing. Even if I don't make it on Sunday, I'll be OK with it. My journey to running Chicago will be long, and I have a lot of time left until October. I'll just keep going.

See you soon, my friends.