I'm still over here attempting to train for the Marine Corps Marathon. But my body is throwing me increasingly more obvious warning signs indicating it might not actually be a good idea.

Take Saturday's long run for example. My training plan called for 10 miles, but I only managed to do 8.



I was a bit apprehensive about the distance since my previous three long runs had not gone especially well.

• I felt faint during my seven miler and ended up walking the last three miles. 
• I had to skip my nine miler because my hip was bothering me. 
• The six miler that started it all off -- well I finished it, but it wasn't particularly pretty.

But I was determined to see the 10 miler through. I mapped out a course the night before, set my alarm for early in the morning so I could beat the heat and laced up my new running shoes, which I hoped would put an end to the knee/hip pain I'd been having.

The first mile felt pretty good. It was an easy pace, my new shoes made it feel like I was running on clouds. I was cautiously optimistic.



By mile three, all the good feelings had vanished and the run felt hard. I think a lot of that had to do with the sun coming out in pretty full force. So I just mentally prepared myself for a tiring remaining seven miles.

Around mile 4.5, I knew I was going to have to amend the course I had planned to do to so I could find some more shade to run in. The parts of the run that happened in the shade were far more tolerable than the miles happening in the sun. I realized on my pre-determined course, the last five miles or so would be completely in the sun with almost no shade.

I called an audible and decided I'd finish my run in a different neighborhood that I knew would offer more shade.

But by mile 6.5, I knew I'd have to cut the run short. My left IT band/hip/glute was not cooperating and running was starting to get really uncomfortable. I should note, this is very different pain than when I had all those hip problems a few years ago. But still, I didn't want to end up with some new terrible injury so I decided to turn around early and head for home.

I still had roughly two miles to get back to my house, so I did a combo of running and walking and finished the run with 8 miles instead of the planned 10.

If I were in a more positive mood, perhaps I'd say, well hey, 8 miles isn't too bad. But since this has been a trend with my long runs, I'm not sure it's something I can keep ignoring. I'm not convinced my body is back in a place where it's ready to train for 26.2 miles.

I'm leaning more and more toward deferring my entry and trying again next year when I have a better fitness base and not every run feels like some form of torture.