Becoming a marathoner: Overcoming injury

So I've decided to take on my biggest challenge yet.

Overcoming injury on the path to my first marathon

This is one that I'm confident that I will be able to achieve, yet still not fully convinced.  As I finished the Rock n Roll half marathon last year I was already thinking about running my first full marathon.  At the conclusion of that race I thought to myself..... well.... that was lap 1!  Granted I won't be running a full marathon at the pace I ran the half, but I still couldn't imaging going back out and doing it all over again at that point.

With that said, I knew way back then that I needed to put in some serious work to pull this one off.  So shortly after finishing the RnR half in 2013, I started up running again.  Very quickly I injured myself.  My Achilles started aching a little, and very quickly went from a dull pain to something rather serious.  I spent about 8 weeks not being able to run at all.  The pain would mostly go away, and I would try to run again, and instantly it would be back as strong as ever.

I was pretty much ready to give up when I ran into a friend of mine at the local Tri Club Aquathon.  He happens to be a triathlon/running coach.  When I talked with him he agreed to help me out.  First step was to get healthy again.

After a lot of stretching, self massage for my calves, and foam roller work, I started to feel a bit better.  Carefully we started off with easy 10 minutes of running max.  Gradually we got back up to running a mile, then two, then three.  Difficult to say the least for someone who just ran his fastest half marathon, and was used to hard interval triathlon training.

But with help, I learned to take not just one, but several steps backward before moving forward.

Since then, I have grown so much as a person and as a runner.  I've reached new levels of fitness and beaten times I never thought possible.  I've now run my first 15k race at a pace I never would have though sustainable for even a 5k race.  Shortly after I ran almost that same pace for a half marathon besting my previous personal record by several minutes, and on a harder course.

So now I cross over into the "official 18 week marathon window".  I'm actually 2 weeks in, and the level of the challenge ahead of me is becoming rather apparent.  Last weeks long run was my previous longest distance.  13 miles of just running, and I know I obviously am going to be going up a lot before I get to June and my first marathon.

As of now, 2 weeks into my training window, I'm still optimistic and eager. 
We shall see where this journey takes me and how I feel along the way.


I still have to find a way to reach this goal while taking care of work, family, kids, etc.