Running is a mental sport. And yes I do mean that in more ways than one. In my never ending quest to maintain a positive attitude about my upcoming first marathon, I have convinced myself a silver lining can be found in injury. After taking 7 days off following that 25k run and 5k limp back to the car, I felt there was enough improvement in my ITB and hip to start very short runs. Feeling much like a beginner again, I have completed a 3k, a 5k and a 7k in the last four days. For each of these runs I stopped regularly and stretched. Obviously these distances are not going to prepare me well for the marathon. So what is the silver lining? Well, I have struggled throughout training to run at a slower pace. This makes me sound like I am some kind of super fast runner but I can assure you that I am not. I am, and probably will always remain, the average runner like my blog title suggests. I do though have a certain pace I like to run, no faster, no slower. But right now I am paranoid that I will injure myself more, so suddenly running a slow pace seems like a necessity and as a result is easier. It is also not frustrating me to stop and stretch throughout the run. Normally that would drive me crazy. So a little patience is working its way into my psyche. As that patience becomes a part of my runs, I am finding it possible to go back to my original goal; simply finish a marathon. No time expectations, no worrying about having to walk parts of it. It has become too easy to fall into a slightly bizarre marathon mentality where a 25k run is a huge disappointment because it wasn’t far enough. Seriously…25k, that is in itself an accomplishment and yet I spent a week upset by that run.

As I enter the last 6 weeks of training, still not having run farther than 26k, perhaps my new mantra should simply be “Patience, patience, patience.”