19 miles and the Zobell Syndrome

It's official, we are training for the Mountain Home Marathon in Arkansas on November 21. When I think about marathons, I remember the promise I made to myself years ago, "I will never run a marathon, they are too long and way too boring."

As you can see, my views on Marathons have changed for the better (Call me Mitt Romney). Training officially started this week. We ran a total of 19 miles, with only one reported case of the Zobell Syndrome. The Zobell Syndrome is a sickness similar to that of Montezuma's Revenge. The term was coined by Dr. Mack after our first trip to Peru earlier this year. It is a condition where a runner feels a great amount of abdominal pain about 1 to 2 miles into the run, and can only be relieved by a visit to the restroom. The reason it is different from Montezuma's Revenge or Runneria is because it only happens after visiting Peru, or living in Peru.

Now if you can imagaine Hulk Hogan's face as if he is in one of those death choke holds, you may get a better idea of how my face looked at about mile 3 on our Wednesday morning run. What makes the Zobell Syndrome even tougher to stomach, pun intended, is that Peru has a scarcity of clean, public bathrooms. Since we mostly run in the early morning, we don't have access to the Pizza Hut's or the KFC's along the route.

After a lot of walking, breath holding, and encouragement, I am happy to report that no shorts were harmed in the running of the 5 miles.

A few accomplishments this week to report,

We knocked down the 8-mile run without any problems
I ran a timed 3 miles in 21:19, not bad for the first week.

The goals,

Get near the 18-minute mark for our 3 mile runs.
Qualify for the Boston Marathon, as this race is a qualifier.