As I mentioned in my recap, my Houston marathon did not go according to plan which leaves me with plenty of thoughts. It also has had significant impact on my fitness plans. This post will contain thoughts about both starting with the refleciton.

I want to start the reflection with positive thoughts, what I’m thankful for. After how my back felt on the Saturday after the initial tweak, the fact that I could make it through all 26+ miles pain free and actually feeling better at the end makes me so grateful. Instead of having an experience where I had to wait in the hotel while Mom ran or starting the race and having to drop out, I got to run the whole thing. Wearing that finisher shirt which we picked up only after finishing, felt so good. I definitely focused on that gratefulness rather than hypothesizing about what could have been, something I will never know.

As soon as I finished, I knew that I wanted to come back. I loved the atmosphere of the race and how well put together the whole race was. On top of that, I saw that the course had enormous potential for fast times, something all the American records set there also attest to as well. I finished feeling grateful but knowing that I have unfinished business with the course.

What does that mean for my plans?

First, I need to buckle down and address the muscle imbalances that lead to the tweak in the first place. Over the years, I have had periodic issues with that spot in my back. I also, since starting to get regular ART treatment, have learned that my hips tend to rotate (with my left hip going forward) leading to the issues I’ve had before. The person I see for ART has also mentioned that my glutes don’t seem to be pulling their weight in my stride which obviously affects the whole chain. I want to do everything I can to rectify the problem and become even stronger.

This means making things like stretching and targeted strength training part of my regular habit, part of my routine. Once I start feeling better, I often forget to make a point of adding these things to my routine. As I write this, a mere week and a half out from the spasm (the written form, not the typed version going up months later) and the subsequent marathon, I have already forgotten to stretch at least one day and almost forgotten another. (I have not tracked how many more times I have forgotten since I initially wrote this entry.) It becomes really easy to make excuses and to procrastinate my way out of habit building. Working on this entry has helped me remember as has subscribing to a stretching app to provide financial motivation. (The sessions have also shown just how inflexible I am and how much I need to work on this.)

Second, I have decided (and so has Mom!) to return to Houston in 2024. I really want to give the race my full attention so I will likely not run another marathon in 2023. The early January timing means that unless I ran a spring marathon (more on that in a moment), any other marathon training would start in the height of summer, not a great idea in the South, especially for me.

So why not run a spring marathon? I have two primary reasons. One, as much as I love marathons, the training can overwhelm. During the last few weeks of Houston training, I looked forward to the lighter weeks. Second, I had already decided to purposefully train for a fast half marathon (or faster than I have been running at least) in May.

Between May and September, I do not know exactly what my training will look like, probably targeted base training. Here’s to what’s coming next!