I am always amazed to hear the times of lead runners in any given half or full marathon. One look at the all-time records of marathon finish times for male and female will blow you away. If you go the next step and calculate the average pace, the accomplishment is unimaginable in yet another way. While I am not trying to achieve elite status, I think it would be amazing to be able to run just one mile at the same pace that the elites average over a full marathon.
It is probably that I will never be able to run, even just a mile, at elite marathon pace. I am not even trying for that. I am simply trying to run fast enough to earn my place at the starting line in Boston. That goal has proved to be huge.
Being on the injured list is challenging in a different way. Trying to keep positive and motivated as I let my body heal is possibly more challenging to me then any of my past training. Just as I have found ways to make running on the treadmill more tolerable, I am trying to do the same with cross training during the recovery phase. It takes a bit of imagination.
Today, while spinning on my cycle, I would sit upright for periods of time, pump my arms, and imagine that I was running. At the speed my cyclometer was reading, I was really moving. I was one of the elite runners, if only, for just this run. Not only did I hit the pace for 1 mile, I actually held it for 26.2 miles. Not too shabby for being injured. I even think I made it the the all-time record list.