No excuses...

I'm not going to tell you that it was freezing cold and I wasn't dressed accordingly. I'm not going to tell you that my joints were achy and I'm certainly not going to tell you that my head just wasn't in it.

But...

It was freezing cold! I got up at 4:50am on Saturday morning and put on my marathon outfit. While I was getting dressed, I was thinking to myself... it's supposed to get into the 60s today... I hope this underarmour top isn't too hot. When I got to the park and got out of my car, the sun wasn't up yet and it was probably low 40s, but it was windy and it was chilly. I couldn't wait to get started and get warmed up. First, I was telling myself... okay... you can make it, once the sun comes up, you'll warm up... and then... when the sun came up, I told myself... okay, you can make it, once you get another couple of miles in, you'll warm up. And then after another couple miles, I started telling myself... damn, it's never going to warm up... you've always got next weekend to run 20 miles. I just couldn't get my body warmed up... and my joints were starting to ache and when your joints ache on a cinder trail, that's not a good sign. So, when I got to the point where I was supposed to strap on my hydration belt and head out into the streets to run the last 12 miles, with my head not in it... I got into my car instead and quit at 8 miles.

I was disappointed, but this is no guilt training. All weekend my left knee ached down into my shin. And the ball of my foot on my left foot felt like it was almost bruised. I was just starting to think how great it was to feel good while marathon training, but I guess I started thinking that a little too soon. This time though, I'm listening to my body and trying to give it rest when it cries out with aches and pains.