Running is 90% Mental, the Other Half is Physical

My knees are killing me, plain and simple. I am on day 2 of recovery from our 18-miler on Saturday and I feel like I need crutches. I need to start taking my own advice from my last post and start taking care of myself with ice and stretching. I did some icing and made sure to stretch more than normal, but it obviously wasn't enough. I even tried to make myself use the foam roller to stretch out my IT band. This week will be different. I will ice daily and I will stretch daily. My running partner is going to have to keep me accountable.

So the run on Saturday started out great. If you were in the state on Saturday, you know the weather was about as perfect as it gets in Minnesota. For running, it simply doesn't get any better, especially for the burly type. The lakes area in Minneapolis is a great place to run early in the morning. There isn't a ton of people traffic and there is something serene about running around the water. I am sorry to get all duckies and bunnies on the bit, but I enjoy that area.

This run was the most challenging physically and mentally than any other I have done. Eighteen miles is the farthest we have run, but I had high hopes from how I felt after last weeks 16-miler. Only two extra miles, right? At some point or another, every part of my legs was in pain. From my hips, quads, knees, calves, shins, ankles and feet, something always hurt. That is part of it and you need to run through it. So many people have told me that running a marathon was more of a mental challenge than anything and now I feel I understand why. It truly is mind over matter and Kelly and I both accomplished our longest training run ever.

So what does a guy do after running 18 miles? Rest? Nope, drive to Le Sueur to play a round of golf with some old football buddies and drink some beers. My kind of training program! To top it off, I ate about 4,000 calories in ribs that night too. I am sure a personal trainer would approve of my post-run diet regimen.

Next Saturday we are running the Bear Water Run in White Bear Lake. It is a 20-mile race and it will be the farthest run before the actual marathon. Kelly and I ran the 10-mile race last year and it is a nice run. Again, around water, we will be running around White Bear Lake twice.