Plan C

The conclusion to my summer running goals was supposed to be the Park 2 Park half marathon, which is this Saturday. About a month ago I realized I was desperately not ready and set out an aggressive training plan. When a friend suggested the next day that such a plan might kill/cripple me, I came up with a Plan B.

I made it just fine through the first week of the plan, but by the end of week 2 it was pretty clear I had overdone it. I did something to a muscle along the outside of my right leg, down near my ankle, as if I had pulled it. It’s just now, as of this weekend, feeling better. Short story: no half marathon for me. I haven’t been running any appreciable distance since then; ditto for soccer and Ultimate Frisbee.

Fortunately, there’s Plan C: the Park 2 Park 5K. Not nearly as impressive a feat as a half marathon, but it’s better than nothing. Tomorrow I’ll do a one-mile shakedown on the treadmill to see how it goes, and if all goes well and I don’t kill myself playing my last soccer game against the Rangers tomorrow night, I’ll do 2 miles on Thursday and hopefully be ready. If my ankle cooperates I’m confident I can do the 5K; I just feel like it’s more of a whimper than a bang for the end of the running season, and that disappoints me.

Even with the running season unofficially winding down for me, I still plan to run this fall/winter. Downtown Holland has a good mile or two of snowmelted sidewalk I can run down without fearing life and limb, and I signed up for a work-subsidized membership at MVP that I plan to leverage. What could be better than a couple mile run followed by a soak in the jacuzzi? I dare you to find something better. In the next few weeks after my 5K I’ll come up with a plan for running through the winter. I’ve already got my eye set on two goals for the spring: beating my time at the St. Patty’s Day Pacer and running the 25K River Bank Run.