21.2.08

What to do, What to do!??

Need advice as I'm in a huge pickle. Quick explanation (well sorta quick): Recovery has been rougher than expected in some ways, i.e. ENERGY. My days at the moment still always have to include either sitting down for long periods or taking a nap because I'm too exhausted to get through an entire day. I get dizzy and light-headed frequently and the chronic pain surrounding the original reason why I had surgery is back with a triple vengeance (stress probably doesn't help). I've done some exercise since my surgery, mostly A LOT of walking and last week I did 1/2 hr yoga and a few short easy jogs. This week I've gone gung ho and done yoga and 3-4 mile runs nearly every day. The reason for this madness is I'm seriously panicking about the London Marathon we've committed ourselves to which is in only SEVEN WEEKS!!!! This is only the first joy of it all cause we've been signed up for ages for three running races in March, the first one being a 10k in a weeks time and the second race a half-marathon (15 miles) the weekend after. By this point, I should be running 13+ miles without a second thought and I'm huffing & puffing for 3. The problem is is that it took a lot to get a spot this year with a charity and we've committed ourselves (signed things) to raise money in exchange for being able to run (fundraising isnt going well either but that's another story). If we drop out (does happen w/people), it may be another 3-5 years (seriously) before we'll get a spot because its THAT COMPETITIVE! I've wanted to do the London Marathon for like the longest time ever and I'm not the type to just quit and not follow through. But, this damn surgery took more out of me than I wanted and I'm worried that physically I'm just not going to be able to do this. The hard part is that I could be fine because I am making drastic improvements every day and its hard to predict how I'll feel in a week let alone 7 weeks. I don't want to make any drastic decisions but want to be fair to myself & the charity too. I know I'm being hard on myself because it hasn't even been a full month since the surgery and I'm already running 3-4 miles which is pretty darn good.

So what do you think I should do? Drop out now or wait and see how I feel? Part of me wants to just see how it goes but I'm freaking out that I'm making the wrong decision. Do you think its possible to make up this lost time in training, i.e. maybe doing two sessions of exercise a day? Am I crazy for doing this and worrying too much? Anyway--could use any and all thoughts/comments.

3 comments:

Michelle said...

christine - is there any way that you could WALK the majority of the marathon? i'm not sure how the rules of running races go, but i would think that would be your most viable option at this point. it's probably not the best idea to kill yourself off physically with overdoing it on workouts! i wish you all the luck in the world!

sherrie said...

yeah def don't overexert yourself! go with your instincts. give yourself some credit, you just had surgery, perhaps your body just needs more time before you do this. can you call a doc and get advice?

christine said...

Thanks for the advice ladies---Don't quite know what I'm going to do yet. At the moment, I'm just continuing training and seeing how it goes. Part of me thinks it would be worse if I quit than if I finished the marathon in like 8 hours or something. I'll have to just see what happens I guess. A lot can happen in 7 weeks.