I need to catch up!!!
 I have been having TERRIBLE sciatic pain, and when i tried running last week - the only run i have actually done in weeks, it did not turn out well. 4 slow miles on the treadmill, my sciatic nerve hurt with every step, but not my knee or calves or anything else. So i thought all was good.
Then the next morning, i could hardly get out of bed. My knee hurt, my calve had cramping, and my hamstring was very sore, and yes, my sciatic nerve hurt all the way down from my back to  my bottom to my knee. I wore a knee brace all day, ate ibuprofen,  and hobbled around.

I have been doing cycling in the evenings, and once in a while walking, but seriously walking hurts with every step. So my miles have been much shorter than they should be, but now with my ham string.... It is now 5 days after that slow run and it still aches. I walked yesterday 8.5 miles at a pretty slow pace, it ended up taking me 2 1/2 hours which was an 18 minute pace. That is too slow for the half i am signed up for in 4 weeks, and even too slow for the St George Marathon.

For the Timpanogas Half, i have to maintain a 14 minute mile for the first 7.5 miles, they close the road at the 7.5 mile point to runners after 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start. You would think since it is downhill, that would be easy, but downhill hurts everything in my leg right now. St George marathon also has a cutoff at the 23 mile mark  at 6 hours - a 16:00 minute pace.
I go in to the doctor a week from today and get a cortisone shot in my knee, that will be one spot that will be less painful. Then we will discuss the next thing to try for my sciatic nerve. The cortiroids he put me on for the inflammation, did absolutely nothing for the sciatica.

I do not want to walk the marathon in October, the whole thing anyway, that is not my plan and would be nothing but a big disappointment if that is where i am at that point. I have 13 weeks to get moving and get the miles in. Even walking 8.6 yesterday made my legs tired.
I have time to try plans for healing, but not much, and I know there are marathons almost all year long - somewhere.
I might eventually need to decide which way to go.
Walking an entire marathon that I had planned to run/walk would be a failure to me. Walking is perfectly fine, if that is your goal. Mine is to be able to do run/walks interval the whole way. And if it gets to the walking only point for this year, i am pretty sure i am going to wait till next year when i can accomplish my goal.
We'll see, and keeping my fingers crossed for less pain!

Today was a walk. Well marathon training plans called for an easy run, but i am just walking till my leg heals. The pain returned during mile 2 and i almost skipped mile 3. But i want to keep up with the mileage so i slowed down a bit and got the 3rd mile done. The temperature was in the low 40's but my hands were cold and even got a little numb until i pulled my sleeves down over them ~ in June!!

Monday Utah was 20 degrees over the average, even set a new record of 98 degrees, and today we are 16 degrees below average - !!

I also called a Sports Medicine MD and made an appointment to get this leg checked out next Monday.I need to be informed about what the problem with it is, if it is really 'injured' and what exercise i should be doing to help it get better, and if my attempts at running are hurting it at all, or just feel painful.

Then tonight i did a 4.5 mile spin for 17 minutes. Spinning does not hurt at all.

Easy morning yoga - Yogamazing Morning Slow Flow  with Chaz. PERFECT!!!
I really need to do this more because i always feel good when i get a low level yoga session done in the morning!

Today was a 10.8 miles spin - 40 minutes. Slower but higher level today. Leg 'burned' when i got up this morning and it pretty much hurt all day, both the injured area along the inside of my right knee, and the back side from my  bottom down through hammie  because of that sciatic nerve! Pretty much did not do a whole lot all day, tried to stay off my feet because the leg hurt with every step.

Today was an attempt at doing more running. I copied Hal Higdon's marathon training program onto the calendar on my ipad and decided to try to keep up with it. The long miles on the weekend are pretty much  the same as they are on John Bingham's program, but the miles during the week are quite different.
The mid week running is 3 days in a row. The first 2 weeks are 3,3,3. I am doing my running days as Wed, Thur, Fri. long runs on Sunday.
After the first 2 weeks, the middle day of the mid week running days, start to be longer than the other 2 days. The longest running for mid week is 5, 10, 5 - that is a lot of running to do before work, but those days don't come until The beginning of September.
Anyway, so today i started Hal Higdon's plan which i thought was a 5 mile run. It is 2.5 from behind my house down to the library, so i decided to go down the hill, running as much as possible, to the library and there turn around and walk back up.
On the way down i did intervals walking anywhere from 3 - 4 minutes and then running from 2 - 4 minutes, with a final burst of 5 minutes at the end of the hill. Then i turned around and started back up. I actually 4 running intervals on the way back up, 2 -4 minutes each, and again a final 5 min stretch at the finish. I was glad to get some running done and for the most part my sore leg felt pretty good.
This afternoon and evening, it is sore and achey again. Hopefully by morning that will subside.
When i logged my mileage onto my ipad calendar, i realized that i was supposed to do 6 today instead of 5. I had planned on doing my last mile later in the day, but my leg started to ache, and my sciatic nerve being pinched really hurt today too, so i let the last mile go.

3 mile walk in the morning. I tried 3 running segments. Two were 30 seconds each and one was 53 seconds. Doesn't seem like much, but i wanted to see if i could tolerate running in the least. These went ok. The good news is that these micro bursts sped up my time and i averaged 16:17 per mile, which is quicker than i have been walking lately.