13 mile No Go

There seems to be a bad pattern forming in my blog post titles.

Seeing how my calf hated me after 1.5 miles a week ago Wednesday, I gave my legs a 7 day break. I planned on running 3 on Wed but I knew it wasn't going to work. Thursday I actually felt like there was significant improvement but it was Genine's B'day and a run wasn't in the plans. Friday I figured I'd better attempt a short run to see if going into NYC on Saturday for 13 miles was going to be worth the effort. I didn't even run a mile, but I didn't hurt myself in the process either. I could just tell that my calves were going to revolt if I kept going. So I walked home.

What can I say. I tried to cram for a marathon and it's not going to work out. Tomorrow is the last day I can defer my entry to 2012.
So the question is, do I defer? You have to pay again, it saves you nothing, it just allows you to pay for 2012 and race.
Or do I go get my swag bag I've already paid for, and then make sure I run the rest of the NYRR races I've signed up for so I qualify for 2012 using the 9+1?
I'm leaning towards the 2nd option. Mainly because it gets me into the city for some events and keeps me focused on getting back on track.

I'm sure some people will read this and think, why not just run/walk the marathon? That's not how I want it to go. Surviving it has never been the goal. It's about getting into proper condition to actually run a marathon. Also, I'm tired of being sick and injured. I'd rather go back to Swim/Bike/Run + Yoga and Weights at an "off season" level, rather than "running it" and getting injured.

So I went to the pool today and swam 1000m. Let me tell you, after 8 weeks off, you have no choice but to start back slowly. My right shoulder is still not 100% but swimming doesn't seem to have any negative effects. I can feel it while I'm swimming but it's not painful or inflamed when I finish. I'm hopeful that it will be pain free eventually.

Alright, hopefully that's the end of the "bad news blog". Next post is going to talk about something positive.