Back Running and swallowing my pride

This could only mean one thing! I went shoe shopping today, back to trusty Active Feet with a request for a good high mileage stability shoe that is not too chunky, I don't ask for much really do I? My Saucony's are on the way out and while they have served me well I always felt like I was running with a couple of bricks on my feet. The salesman remembered me from when I bought my Zoom Elites in there a few months back which impressed me. So I am now the proud owner of a pair of Brooks Trance 5 trainers, I won't say what they cost!

So it goes without saying that I had to take them for a spin today. After 2 days off I was champing at the bit for a run and drove to the Koonung Track with a sense of excitement. Though erring on the side of caution I decided at the start just to make it a slow easy 5Kms, well, stuck pretty close to plan it was a slow 6.2 Kms (5:45 pace). The legs felt a little heavy but all things considered I felt pretty comfortable and the new shoes, Fantastic, love them already.

Now, why am I swallowing my pride? This blog was originally started to track my progress to a Marathon in October. There as been alot of soul searching and will I won't I conversations with myself over the last 2 days. The decision, and it almost pains me to type this, I am not going to enter the Marathon in Melbourne in October, I will enter the half instead. I love distance running and I want to be able to do it for as long as I can, so I need to be good to my body. So far I have been able to avoid injury, it may be that I have a good physiological make up, or I may have just been lucky, or a bit of both, but I do not want to tempt fate.

Anyway, rambling, I don't want to sound like I am justifying myself because I am very comfortable with my decision. I want to join a club next year and I want to improve my 10Km and 21Km performance, therefore training needs to be geared for those distances, if I chuck marathon training on top of that something may well break. I believe that a wiser choice will be to work more on my endurance and speed and continue to build a good mileage base. After I have been running solidly for a year I will be in a better position to put my body through the rigors of a Marathon, possibly the Gold Coast Marathon next year, that seems to fit in OK with the AV winter schedule.

So, the journey continues, just on a slightly different path.