Half-Marathon Update

Injury:
It started on my recent 10 day underway off the coast of San Diego. As with most places as fall settles in, the seas were choppy. Not bad, but choppy. I, in my gung-ho running state, decided to give it a go despite the conditions, so three times I jumped on the treadmill for a 3 mile run, only to be thwarted each time. Running while inside a steel (actually aluminum) superstructure is not a good idea, especially with the swells.


The fourth day I tried, I pushed through the heat inside the skin of the ship and the swells and finally got my 3 miles in. But my ankle started hurting almost immediately after. I did it one more time before pulling back into San Diego. Both times I know that my right ankle suffered under my large frame and the ocean swells.

Long story short: I have my first injury. I think it’s just a stress-type injury to the muscles around my ankle, nothing serious. However, I took it easy today, the first day of my actual 10 week training program.

Test Run:
On Saturday I will run my first moderate distance race (10K-6.2M). My goal is to beat 1 hour. If I get 59:59 I'll be happy. Of course, I'll be happy if I just finish, but I really want to beat the hour mark for this. I will run up in Temecula, California at the Sun Strides Temecula Turkey Trot.

Overall Status:
I ran 14.8 miles last week, my longest run on Sunday covering 4.8 miles according to my car's odometer. I haven't lost any weight, but that's because I can't stop eating. I have started justifying my eating habits because of my running. If I can lick that, I'll start losing weight for sure. I'd like to be 20 pounds lighter by January 24th, the day of the Half Marathon. We'll see how it goes!