19.5 Miler Felt Fine But Abdomen Says Otherwise

I'm getting used to this. Yet another obstacle in my path towards training for a marathon!

All seemed to be fine this past Saturday morning as I nailed down a 19.5 miler in 2 hours, 29 minutes. My plan was to run 22 miles on Saturday but the Cub Scout in my family needed me to accompany him to a local hike and I wasn't able to get out the door early enough. Why? Because the teenager in my family decides to come home at 12:30 a.m. and wake me out of a sound sleep because he doesn't have a key to the front door. 

Ah yes, the joys of marathon training in a household of five.

So in any case, I wear a waist belt that carries 4 10-ounce bottles of liquid and some gel packs. The belt has served me quite well for a number of years now but over time the velcro seems to not work as well. So I had to tighten the velcro a number of times during my run.

The run generally went fine, though I did have to make several pit stops, which I don't like to have to do.  On that note, it is important to know what parks and other facilities with restrooms on your long run...or you could may run into problems.

So the next day I wake up with soreness in my lower abdomen. Kind of made me nauseous but I ran an easy 5 miles anyway. It was so sore the next 3 days that I thought I might have a hernia or something. That didn't keep me from running, but I've been running slowly, with dull pain in my lower abdomen.

Decided to visit the doctor. Told him my situation with the water belt. He felt the area and ruled out hernia. Appears I simply have an inflamed abdomen that could be the result of an overly tight water belt. Only thing I can do is ice the area to help the swelling and perhaps take some time off. But the doc knows I have a marathon just 3 1/2 weeks away, so unless I'm doubled over in pain, its not likely I'll be taking too much time off until my tapering starts.

Crossing my fingers for Saturday. And I'll be looking for my Camelbak water carrier.