Runfessions – September Edition

It is that time once again. Time to runfess and unburden your soul – running-wise.

My biggest runfession is that I didn’t run at all for nine days this month, and I am registered for the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October. This should be prime training time, with mileage well over 40 miles per week. I had a good excuse, though – hubby and I visited Italy. The place we visited had no good place to run and it was an anniversary trip. We just wanted to focus on having a fun, relaxing time. I gave myself permission not to run by reasoning that the time off would give my hip injury time to heal.

The region we stayed in for most of the trip is called Cinque Terre (literally, five lands). Cinque Terre is composed of five small, picturesque seaside villages on the Ligurian Sea in the Tuscany region of Italy. Before I visited the region, I had never heard of the Ligurian Sea. It’s at the northern tip of the Mediterranean. Look for a future post about my trip, but here is a preview: we spent a lot of time doing this

 

Seafood pasta

 

and this.

 

Visiting a local winery

 

My next runfession involves my doctor. I, um, sort of inadvertently lied to her. I asked my doctor if it would be alright for me to walk my upcoming marathon and she said yes. I don’t know where I got this idea from, but I thought the Marine Corps Marathon had a seven-and-a-half hour time limit. I did the math and I am pretty sure I could walk a marathon in seven-and-a-half hours.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Marine Corps has a strict seven-hour time limit. I don’t actually think I can walk the whole thing and finish in under seven hours, so I am now planning to run at least some of the race.

I could go back and tell my doctor, but I honestly don’t know what she would say, and I don’t want to take the chance of her telling me “No!” This way, I technically haven’t been forbidden from running a little bit of the race. I have been practicing the walk-running part, and my hip feels fine. Mostly. Moving on to my next runfession.

Sadly, I have to runfess that I decided to give up Body Pump until after the marathon. Now, I love Body Pump. I look forward to the class I usually attend two or three times per week. The instructor is fun (actually, a former student of mine), I have made friends in the class, and it just feels good to strength train. I went from not being able to do even one push up from my toes to now being able to do 10. I like the kind of fitness activity where I can see progress.

I finally had to admit, however, that doing the squats and lunges in Body Pump made me sore at exactly the same place that my hip hurt. I tried doing these leg exercises with just body weight (no dumbbells), but the soreness remained. I have to put the marathon as my priority right now so I will go back to Body Pump class in November. Sigh! I will continue doing push ups and planks at home.

Thank you for allowing me to runfess. My soul is unburdened. See you next month for October’s Runfessions.

I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday 5, and Marcia’s Healthy Slice for our monthly Runfessions.