Another Marathon...what was I thinking?

I won't go into my usual long rambling posts, where I detail every second of my runs. Although I did have a mishap with a GU packet and it basically exploded all on me. The 18 miler went good the first 15 miles. Then things went south in a hurry. My left hamstring (back of my knee) was bothering the hell out of me. I couldn't figure out if it was an IT issue or just hamstring. I couldn't run more than 0.2 miles before it made me stop. How to describe the feeling? It's a dull pain at first, but if you don't stop it felt like a tendon or something could snap. It felt like the hamstring wanted to detach the rest of my leg from my knee.

It sucked because mentally I was still sane and physically I wasn't tired at all. So I basically ran/walk the last 3 miles. I'm a bit disappointed. Not so much by the time. I felt that was still satisfactory. I was more disappointed that I began to question myself if I was in over my head doing another marathon. Negative thoughts crept into my head....doubts that I couldn't even possibly do the 20 miler in 2 weeks. I started to convince myself that I will never have a good marathon ever. I'm trying to stay positive, but this last run left a bad taste in my mouth.

18 miler By the Numbers:

First 5 miles = 51:45 (10:20/mile)
Next 5 miles = 51:46 (10:21/mile)
Next 4 miles = 41:06 (10:16/mile)
Last 4 miles = 50:37 (12:39/mile)