7 Bridges Marathon Recap: It Just Wasn't My Day

Some of my swag from the 7 Bridges Marathon

It's amazing how you can pour hours upon hours into your training, run hundreds of miles to get yourself prepared for a race, but then to have things not coming together like you planned or hope on race day.

Such is the life of a runner.

Some days just aren't your day. And this was certainly the case for me as I ran the 7 Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sunday (October 21).

There had certainly been some hiccups in my training - like injuring myself while trail running, but in the weeks leading up to the race, I had every reason to believe another sub-5 hour marathon and quite possibly a PR was in the cards for me.

Alas, it just was not my day.

Funny Thing Happened Along The Training Plan ...

My knee after my tumble.

Everything was going so well, so smoothly and the miles were piling up.I was closing in on a career-high monthly mileage total. Marathon training was going great. It was as if it was too good to be true.

Then reality hit, and it was too good to be true.

Actually, reality didn't hit. I hit ... the ground ... hard.

On August 25, I decided to take my marathon training to the trails. I was getting a little bored running on the roads, so I thought I'd mix things up on the trails. The plan was to get 20 miles in, but those plans got changed shortly have mile 3.

Things were going great. It was a comfortable morning, temps in the low 60s and the humidity was very tolerable for August. It was dark when I started at 5 a.m., so I was a headlamp. I wasn't going too fast because it was dark.