Sad to say, I’ve been a bit lacking in my positive thinking this past week.  With 6 days until Salt Lake City, I just can’t afford the negativity… but hey, it happens to all of us every now and again. I started doubting myself and what I was actually capable of accomplishing, and that took me down a very dark path.

It all began with the knee injury at Lake Sammamish.  I rested a solid two weeks in hopes that my knee pain would subside, and it did, especially once we figured out what was causing it.  But that left me only 3 weeks to come up to par for SLC.  Now mind you… I’ve been training steady since last July, so I didn’t think a 2-week break would do any harm.  That is, until I actually went on my first run after that little break…

Still, I wasn’t thinking much about it because I was actually running “gentle,” trying to baby my knee and work it in slowly.  I didn’t know how my knee was going to react until that first long-run Sunday when I gave it a good stretch.  It held up fine… my legs, however, were not so fine. They were feeling a touch fatigued.  Okay, more than a touch… they were resisting everything in regards to running after the first mile.  And I had the most horrible leg pain at night… twitching, aching… all kinds of stuff going on.  One Sunday night, after laying there for 3 to 4 hours twitching and aching, I finally got up at 1 a.m. to take some ibuprofen and magnesium which I had forgotten to take earlier.  My compression sleeves weren’t even helping me.

And every run thereafter was more of the same.  My legs were tired and I felt as if I had never run a mile in my life.  It didn’t stop me from plowing on, but it was causing me some great concern.  So much so that I was even contemplating dropping back in SLC to run the 5K as opposed to the half.  Jamesy and I discussed some of my concerns, and he felt for my last longish run, I should go out, slow it down just a bit, and then maybe make the decision based on how that run went.

I ran loops around the fields today. This was my friend who cheered me on every time I passed him.

Well, I completed that run today (6 miles).  The best news is I didn’t feel an ounce of fatigue in my legs, they felt normal, and they weren’t achy.  Score!  That brought the spirits up tremendously!  And based on that fact, I came home and announced that I would, indeed, be running the half.  I’ve never been concerned about my pace or being too slow in the past, and I ain’t gonna start today!

I would also like to thank Jackie from A Cooking Pot and Twisted Tales for composing the most perfect positive motivation saying which came when I needed to hear it most.  You can read it here.  “Don’t let your dreams die…”  Nope.  I won’t.

With my little personal crisis being over, onward I go.  Five more days until my normal freak-out post.  In the meantime, please enjoy this little ditty for Jamesy’s Motivational Music Monday. This is Song 2 by Blur, otherwise known as the “Woo Hoo Song.”  And just for future reference, when I comment with a “Woo Hoo,” this is exactly how I mean it!!

Have a great week!!  See you in Salt Lake City!!  Woo Hoo!!