March On, March On

[El Gordo]

That's very bad luck. Not an experience I've had, but I can imagine the frustration of going through all the hassle and self-sacrifice only to have the door slammed in your face. Especially for a marathon, when the training has to be 'special' i.e. not like a 10K or half marathon, where (if you're moderately fit and accustomed to these distances) you can pretty much decide the day before the race that you fancy taking part. The marathon is a 4 month hole in your life, and in exchange, you expect -- and deserve -- the compensation of the feeling of triumph and satisfaction. The feeling that yes, the training was tough and the race was murder but it was all worth it. To invest so much, and not get the reward, is cruel indeed.

It's hard in the short term, but your friend has to try to be philosophical about it. The big question she has to ask: what went wrong? Given her impressive time improvement and the variety of diagnoses, sounds like a classic case of overtraining. My idleness saves me from overuse injuries. Your pal has no option but to learn from the situation. Sounds like she needs to mix up her training a bit, combining running with cross-training: swimming, cycling etc. Joining a gym would help, and encourage her to use different muscles to spread the stress around her body a bit. And she might even consider a sports massage from one of the evil people you associate with.

It's no short-term compensation whatsoever. Missing the FLM when it's only 3 weeks away is desperately disapointing for her but in time she will realise that she has learnt a valuable lesson. Running puts you in touch with your body like nothing else, and it sounds like she has suddenly entered into deep negotiation with hers. Life can be cruel.