The Long "Run"

So as mentioned previously, I am currently waiting the results of my bone scan to determine whether or not I have a stress fracture in my left foot. In the meantime, the doctor told me that I could bike and swim to keep my cardio up. Since my hope is to still run the marathon in seven weeks, I have been mimicking my run workouts in the pool and on the bike. Today would have been a 3-hour long run, so I spent 2 hours and 15 minutes on a stationary bike and then 45 minutes swimming laps continuously.

I go to the gym, catch an hour long spin class, and then just stay on the bike, working like a fiend, while everyone else packs up and goes home. It's awkard. I keep waiting for the day when someone comes up to me, thinks I must be deaf, and tells me I can get off the darn bike already. So far it has yet to happen, but I do receive a few strange glances as people make a break for the door. Luckily most of the instructors know me by name, and also know my reasons for staying aboard. Oddly enough, spending the last hour or so in the pool is kind of nice, albeit even more difficult. I did swim team for many years as a kid and early teen, so the repitition takes me back to summers spent working hard in the mornings and then playing at the pool all day. My swim cap and goggles are both blue. I must surely look like some sort of derranged blueberry, swimming back and forth, back and forth.

The marathon is seven weeks away. I'm afraid I won't be ready. I understand that this won't be my last chance to run a marathon if it doesn't happen. I also understand that there is a lot to be gained from the journey, even when the journey doesn't go as planned, but after all the planning, hours of work, and mental energy devoted to this one thing I can't help but continue to go after it. Seven weeks from today I want to run across the finish line as an official marathoner.