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Constant knitting and typing have taken their toll, and I find I'm having to take an unwanted break from Avast (tendinitis, I'm afraid). I'm stuck on sleeve island and have only completed 8 inches on the sleeves! that's 12 inches more to go...while DH's chest measurement isn't anything to cause me to cringe while thinking of knitting him a sweater, he's built lean and has long limbs - like a climber or what I imagine a proper running physique to be. It's nigh impossible to purchase clothing off the rack to fit his inseam length or his arm length - if the inseam or arm length is correct, the poor guy is usually swimming in the clothes - thus the reason for the sleeves that will go on and on :P

Sadly, knitting isn't the only thing I'm being forced to take a break from. I'd been happily training for a Half Marathon, and was halted mid stride by the odious pains called Shin Splints at the tail end of last month - I had hoped with active rest (cross-training), ice and NSAIDs I'd be well enough to compete as scheduled - I am now coming to the slow realization that this may not be the case. My type-A personality is wanting to try anyway, but my mind (and numerous other athletic friends including the DH) are telling me it's just plain foolish and I'd be asking to damage myself worse. This sound advice has been confirmed by my physician as well as the Physical Therapy place that I've been told to schedule an appointment at. *sniff* My very first Half Marathon shall have a DNS.

Anyhow, I've continued hunting for information to improve the quality of my training as it would seem that I've been going about distance training all wrong - and as I have been told before, I may have rushed into this whole Half Marathon business without the appropriate base mileage. This has been confirmed in my latest read: Marathoning for Mortals. I wound up learning several things from this book, some of which I'll include for those of you who may just be starting a running program, so hopefully you don't have to get damaged or derailed.

As a relatively new runner, I apparently should have allowed myself a minimum of a yr and a half of base training to prevent injury. I also probably should have started in with the cross training earlier in the program rather than getting myself forced into it - all that pavement running apparently took its toll and I find I am regularly now visiting with misters Dreadmill 1 (the treadmill) and Dreadmill 2 (the stepmill) along with Mr. Bike and Mr. Ostrich Machine (elliptical trainer) in an attempt to maintain my cardiovascular fitness. Lastly, I have discovered that I apparently didn't read No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running very well - or perhaps I just didn't take it to heart as I have been doing all my races at what is referred to in running-speak as tempo pace - needless to say, long slow runs - the ones that were really supposed to form the meat of my training needed to be just that - with an emphasis on the Slow part. Ah well, live and learn :) and here's to being even more prepared for the next race, whichever it may be.