marathon training: week 8

My left boob looks like a kitty with a cougar’s paw used it mistakenly for a play toy. Not sexy. The three or four blisters on my feet are more than I can handle. One even looks as though it is attempting to callus. Ick. Do I dare talk about chaffing? I am taking a real beating this time around. Running high mileage in hot & humid Tampa, FL ain’t easy either.

I will push through all of this. With 72 days, 9 hours and 25 minutes between me and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, I have to remember to stay focused. That, of course, is easier said than done. Shaving 18 minutes off my previous marathon time is very important. More seriously is running this thing with my mantra always in mind:

“Without ego, without injury & without external competition.”

Some obstacles currently troubling me are all found in the gear. I’m uncertain whether it is my Mizuno Wave Rider 12 or socks causing all the blistering, but I’m not a fan. The socks are high quality running socks and the Mizunos were fine during all my low mile runs. This Friday I plan on purchasing the Brooks Trance 9. I ran in this shoe three generations ago and had zero problems during and after my race. If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it, eh?

Last month I purchased a new running bra top from the Nike outlet and that worked fine. At least I thought it was working fine, but apparently it was rubbing my breast and only my left boob. Placing a band-aid over the area being rubbed seemed like a grand idea, until the Nike sports bra and all the others rubbed the band-aid causing it to rub a new area on the breast raw. :/ This is the main reason I decided not to run today. The breast needs a moment to heal. It’s pretty obvious that I will be avoiding the Nike bra top on future runs.

With 8 miles scheduled for this Saturday and 17 miles for Sunday, let’s hope I can find some comfort in my sole and threads. Next week is the half-way point.