Things as usual were going well with training, as I wrote yesterday, and then today, I feel like i’ve strained something in my upper back once again. It isn’t as bad as when I had pain back in November, and nothing like at the end of December. Its a dull kind of ache, but it does bother me when I run. I seem to have developed it during a ‘nature call’ of sorts this morning on my 8 miler. Thankfully I only had less than 2 miles to go when it started bothering me … I’m not sure what this means, but I am certainly going to take the warning signs and NOT PUSH IT like I did last year. I have 4 weeks until the Pocono marathon, and 3 weeks until the Half-marathon (if I can make it). I’m supposed to run tomorrow (4 miles) and be off Friday and the hit a 20-miler this weekend. My guess is that I’ll take tomorrow and Friday off in the hopes that it will heal by then (or at least not bother me).

It just seems that somehow, someone doesn’t want me training … I had a GREAT run yesterday, and now this. I might not even get that 20-miler in this weekend if things don’t feel great, I would rather not push it at this point if I don’t have to. I can always miss a long run (gulp), but its better than being out for 2 weeks with no running at all (and missing all my scheduled events).

We’ll take it a day at a time here with the back, gotta watch what I eat and what I do to ensure I don’t cause pain like I did after Thanksgiving. I realize that its hurt (feels like a pull), just gotta let it heal. I intend to just take it easy.