SwanstromFamily

I've got a 2001 1.8t with a manual transmission (114,000 miles). A week ago started to get a rattle from the engine compartment. Sounds like a marble in a tin can and thought it was just a heat shield that was loose. Car drove just fine. Now today I drive the car and I can barely shift into any of the gears. No grinding, just hard to get into gear. Clutch pedal doesn't seem to feel any different. With engine turned off and clutch depressed, first few times into any gear are hard, but then it gets easy. While engine running shifting is always very hard. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.