Marathonot

I registered to run the Salt Lake City Marathon, a 26.2 mile race beginning at the crest of the University of Utah, wrapping out to Holliday, and ending at the Salt Lake Gateway.

After only three hours of sleep (Tiff and I were having way too much fun twirling in the kitchen at 2am), Mom and I packed into the white van and raced up the mountain. I walked onto the course two minutes before the race gun went off.

Soooo.... I made it, then why this face:


or this random picture of my leg:


when I should really look like this:


or maybe appear like this, with a medal around my neck...

?

Summed in four words: mile 18 IT band. I developed a complication in my running last year where my IT band cramps up so tightly that it actually pulls my kneecap off tract, and I can't bend my knee. I cramp all the way from mid-quad to mid-calf, and there comes a point when I am physically unable to lift my knee.

I could feel the syndrome starting up again (I really do need to stretch), so I called it quits. I still want to train the rest of the summer rather than be in recovery mode for three months.

Moral: Some things that used to be worth it (i.e.-pushing through till the end of the race) aren't worth it anymore, in lieu of new aspirations (i.e.- training for and completing an Ironman).