Taper Madness...or Something More Sinister?

I didn't blog about my 'long' run this past Saturday, been kinda busy, but it was less than stellar.  Guess it had to happen at some point.  My long runs lately have been nothing short of awesome for someone of my caliber. 

I had 12 miles on the schedule and wouldn't you know it, it was warm (62) and humid as all get out (98%).  Add to that it was like swimming in fog.  It took a lot of effort to even just see a person a mere 40 yards ahead of you and given this was a new route (or one that I dont recall ever running), well I missed a few turns.  If you couldn't see the street signs and you couldn't see the people in front of you, well it was bound to happen.

I walked more than I care to admit on this one.  I don't know if I am just flat out ass tired (probably), or if it was the 'heat' (definitely) or what, but it just sucked donkey ballz.  Somehow I still ended up with an average of 10:38 pace though...somehow...

Add to all of that and the fact that my left foot is consistently numb, especially when running, I just am having serious doubts about going through with this marathon.  I am sure a lot of it is taper madness driven, but I also have to be real about my situation (back/spine).  It just flared up at a bad time and now I have to either deal with it for one more last time (for a while) on a distance of 26.2 or....

Honestly right now I don't have any answers.  No way am I going to a doctor right now because I know what he would tell me.  We have until this coming Friday to legitimately switch to the half, but I already know I'm not going to do that.

Right now my intent is to do this marathon, whether it be a great day of weather, or how I feel leading into it.  I'm approaching it as 'finish'.  After this one, I can rest.

Ah rest...you elude me.  I am at that point in these months (8) of training.  First for Chicago, then Dallas and now Houston.

What the hell was I thinking?

I ran yesterday on the treadmill to give everything a break (also my left knee is bothering me; but that could very well be phantom pains), and then this morning I hit the road for 5 miles.  The next 2 weeks of my schedule is very light and I plan to take full advantage of that.  At least this morning it was cold here again, a bit windy (especially on the way back to where even going down the TCJ bridge felt a bit hard).

And it was a run where again, I felt like it took more effort than it should (mostly mentally), and this is what causes me each time to have doubt.

But at the end of the day, in this thing we call marathon training, that is just something that is a part of it, and I don't think that goes away for anyone.

12 days to the Olympic Marathon Trials here in Houston and 13 days to marathon day....

The countdown begins...and for some (not me), the stalking of the weather on accuweather.com (which yes I did take a peek this morning, and it looks awesome; but I know obviously its going to change a million times between now and then)....