Today we are doing an 18 miler at 8 minutes to 8:20 per mile. I don't know if I am recovered enough to complete this run successfully. At 57 years old, my body doesn't recover from these workouts as quickly as I used to. If I can't take the pace, I'll back off to a 9-minute mile to complete the run. We will run in about an hour. When I get back, I'll update how the run went before I post this.
As far as injuries go, I'm not doing too badly. My left ankle has had a little bit of soreness in it for the last year or so, probably arthritis. The bottom of my right foot has been hurting since Monday. I've been massaging it with the Marathon Stick to speed up healing. It's hardly noticeable when I run. It hurts the most in the morning. I know it's not plantar fasciitis. I've had that many times. It's more like a strain in one of the tendons on the bottom of the foot. I've discovered over the years that runners are always battling some kind of injury. If we would rest for every little ache or pain, we'd never get any training in.
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I just got back from the 18 miler. Surprisingly, we ran a 7:53 pace overall. I was shocked. It's possible that we are getting used to the once-a-week long runs. My training partner has a Nike GPS that we depend on to give us our mileage and averages, although I do complain that the odometer in my head is more accurate. These long runs are incredibly important to marathon preparation. We will do another 18 miler next week, run a 5K race the week after, then a 20 miler that week after that and one more twenty miler before the marathon. I hope and pray this old body holds together. Have a great running week --- Joe C. Ellis
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