Well, the good news is...

My second marathon (also my second LA Marathon :P) is precisely 15 days and 16 hours away. I have not ran in pretty much exactly that same amount of time.

My last run was 7.77 miles at an average 8:38 pace on February 11. (See splits at right.)

It was more like a warm up, up, up then cool back down. I stopped for water during mile 4 and practiced walking through an "aid station" by walking up to the water fountain and then back onto my path without stopping my Garmin. 

If this would have been today, I would be stoked as this kind of run is a major confidence booster. Especially considering 8:38 is, er, was my goal pace for LA.

My 20-miler on February 8 was at 9:20 pace. Definitely a bit slower than I wanted, but I got the miles in and it was a pretty miserable run for other reasons. I definitely remember thinking race day cannot possibly go as wrong as that run and that it was a great toughening-up session. Unfortunately, that run is not fresh in my mind and I missed my redo the next weekend.

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So I promised good news...

I have been keeping up my fitness through recumbent cycling and strength training. The strength training is going pretty well. I have been doing mostly abdominal work but also found a video on YouTube called the "Hurt foot workout" which places no weight on your feet and works your core (back/hips/obliques) like a mofo. And obviously the name of it is awesome. I woke up sore this morning and popped out of bed at 5:55 am instead of trying to get comfortable.

While there is NO substitute for running fitness, the next best thing is general fitness, and keeping it up while your injured is so important for so many reasons.

I discovered today that I have actually spent MORE time doing cardio in February than I did in in the past THREE MONTHS, even though it's not by much and it's not "running specific."

The first graph is my total minutes spent running over the past 12 months. Don't judge my April/May, 'kay? I am only displaying the past twelve months because it's more graphically pleasing. ;)

And then below we have the total time I have spent Running + Cycling. What do ya know?!

As I said, I realize I'm not riding the recumbent bike across the LA finish line (I would rather eat my hand) but this was a major positive realization for me today. And February isn't over until tomorrow!