Plodding my way back to higher mileage

In no way do I want to detract from the racing excitement, but it's been awhile since I've posted...mainly because I have had absolutely nothing to post about.

We talk about "taper madness" but the 3 weeks following the marathon were the worst for me. Without running, I was exhausted (counterintuitive, I know, but oh-so true!) and depressed. Due to my foot injury, I was only able to run 2 miles the first week post marathon and 3 the second week. The third week I was starting to feel better and got 10 miles in that week, and then the next week I got a 3 and an 8 (hooray!) for a total of 11 in before spending the rest of the week in Anaheim.

That brings us to last week. Mentally, it was tremendously challenging to get myself moving. I really wanted to run, but I didn't want to wake up (still exhausted) and then, as you all understand well, the day would sneak away, evening would come, and I was too dang tired to even put my clothes on, let alone run. Tuesday I got 5 out, Wednesday 4, and then I stalled. Friday night I ate a few too many honey shrimp at PF Chang's and, after subconsciously chastising myself all night, I dragged my rear out of bed for a treadmill run Saturday morning. I got going at 6.0 (nice and easy, I cheered myself on), and about 1 minute into it I had to put it to 4.0 and walk. It was a mental mountain, I am telling you, and I wasn't climbing it.

The only thing that saved me was Robin Hood (BBC version), which I blogged about on my own site a week ago. I had only two episodes left of the season, and as it turned out, they were, together, the season finale. After .5 miles, I picked up the pace and started running again (never fast, but eventually got myself to 6.5). I didn't stop until the show did--at 9 miles!!! I was ecstatic, mostly because I had conquered where I was certain failure loomed. This is a rough place to be after running so devotedly 20+ miles all year long. I did get to 18 last week, so I'm shooting for 20 this week. Here's hoping.