Marathon Update

I was looking at the calendar today, and the marathon is getting nervously close. Not running in Thailand really put me behind. I tried once, but battling the tourists and tide for beach space or cars and crazy motorbikes for the roads was too hard. I was really sore the first few days back (tried to push it back to a normal level), but found I could still comfortably do about 2 hours. Unfortunately, I did more damage than good by pushing myself, and seem to have messed-up my knee (bringing back an old injury). I think I twisted it back in my soccer days, but it has really been flaring up lately (dangerous when these long runs are important practice). I had to stop running on my way home from Befu last week because I was almost whimpering in pain.
I told Takiko, my running mate, and our coach, her husband (a seasoned marathon runner), and they have been pretty worried about it. If you get injured, it is too difficult to recover. So, as a precaution, I have had to considerably cut down my running schedule, am investing in new shoes (Asics Kiyano’s rock.. but don’t last forever…sniffle), I have been icing the knee, and I had to take two days off (after the vacation!!) to let my muscles rest. I am going to start doing some muscle building exercises our coach showed me, but I am worried about the setback. When you train for a marathon, you do shorter runs during the week and a long run on the weekend. Takiko and I have only done about 2 hours (and I have done about 2 ½ on my own), but we only have about a month before we need to taper-off (stop running so much to preserve energy for the race). We were going to do a 3-hour trip to Akashi and back this weekend with Coach, but with my knee, we did an hour at the track today and are only doing 2 hours next week; and then the long 30k+ is the next weekend.
We should be doing the 30k+ run the following week, as well, but I will be in Hokkaido (with Kristin – yay!), so I’ll have to hit the treadmill (boo) and really only get one really long run with Takiko (and maybe the coach). CRAP.
I am starting to worry that I didn’t plan enough time for training for this thing (and the knee is NOT good), but I am still going to work towards the big day. I am practicing carrying a belt pack now (a hotter version of the one I carried in 7th grade…) and am trying to improve my form more. Surprisingly, the movement class I took at St. Olaf (Susan’s Bauer’s course on Laban movement) has really been an asset, helping me visualize and try to emulate a correct posture. Still not there yet, but closer.
So, it’s been rough, but the knee is ok for now and we’re full steam ahead with T minus one and a half months to go! Keep your fingers crossed!