I'm A Quitter...

There's a lot of names people can call me... but "quitter" has never been one.

This week I received the results of my recent Myers-Briggs test... I had to do one at work for a management training program I am enrolled in.

For those that know what this is, I'm an ISFJ... Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging person. This means that (not shocking to most) I get my energy from being alone, that I have a lot of goals and deadlines, and that it makes me most happy to achieve them. I could go on and on, but you get the gist of what I'm saying.

So throughout my training, I have strived to reach each "mile" that I'm supposed to run each day. If I have to run a 3, I run a 3. If it's a 4, I run a 4. I've been doing this since the first of the year. (You do realize we're in April and I've been running all of this time....)

Well, tonight I had to run a 6. By golly I was bound and determined to run the 6. My right leg has been bothering me a lot. It hurts to put weight on it... use it to step up on a curb, walk up stairs, or even to get into my truck. I'm pretty frustrated to say the least...

At the gym, I set the treadmill for 78 minutes... that's usually what I do when I'm running 6 because it allows for "walking time" before and after the run.

Immediately upon starting, it was painful. As I was running, I was thinking, "How can you describe this pain? It's just incredibly bad." Recently I read an article in Runner's World that said if the pain is greater than a 3, on a 10-point scale, then to quit running.

Well, the first mile was misery. Pure misery. I then went into the 2nd and thought, "C'mon... you can do this!" I was trying to psych myself up. However, while my lungs are fine when I run, I noticed I was struggling big-time. I was in a "limp" most of the way and my breathing seemed unusually unsteady.

After 3 miles, I thought, "OK... I can do this..." I walked for a little bit and then had some water. I then paused the machine and stretched the heck out of my leg. Then I started back up.

I was doing fine (still painful, but I thought it was manageable) when all of a sudden I came down on the leg and I almost crumpled over. It was so amazingly painful that I saw "white" in my eyes... I couldn't believe it.

I kept on for a bit, but knew this was just not going to be a good run for me. Finally, after 3.5 miles, I called it quits.

This is very frustrating to me... I'm 18 days from the marathon and I've got this nagging pain/injury/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. This really sucks.

Maybe it's time to go see my doctor...