Curse you hamstrings!

I think it’s official. I pulled my hamstring, so I'm going to be out for a while, and I'm definitely not going to run Grete's Gallop. I was really looking forward to those waffles, too. It’s nothing extreme, but again, the goal of this year has always been to get stronger and run better, so I can do the Chicago marathon in 2012. I don’t want to push it now and do something REALLY bad. I’ve had problems with my hamstrings when I was marathon training last year, so I think this has proven that this is a major weakness for me, which I suppose is a good thing to know before marathon training next year. So what’s the plan now for running Lisa? I plan to get stronger and more flexible. This means lots more yoga, some strength training (which means I may ACTUALLY have to go to the gym), and I’ll probably throw in some swimming for good measure. I know that a lot of injuries are caused by muscle imbalance so I’m going to have to work on the leg as a whole, not just my hamstrings. I think this might actually require some sort of workout plan, which I’m not good at. I’m more of a willy nilly kind of exerciser. I'm not sure how to even come up with a plan. What are your favorite leg exercises?

I'm not sure how long I'll take a break from running. I don’t usually run in the winter because of my asthma, but my friend gave me some advice on how to warm up my lungs before running outside which might help, so hopefully I can do a little bit of running before the end of the year. Maybe some small races. Don’t worry, friends. Running Lisa will run again soon!