I’m done building single run mileage for the month. I enter the nomadic zone of The Taper. I don’t know, yet, how I feel about this.
I know that I’ve put in many (MANY) miles. With the exception of something less than 50 total in the last year, those miles have included plantar fasciitis in at least one foot. I know that right now, my biggest risk factor is my left foot which is what has made me stop in each of my last three runs.
I know that I keep learning about food and fluid but I haven’t found something that feels like a magic mixture.
Thinking about that today brought an interesting idea to the front of my mind…. it turns out that I had been waiting for this tremendous amount of work to be comfortable and pleasant. I suppose some day that it might, that certainly became true for the 4-5 mile distance on nice days. Still, somehow I was waiting for the addition of 4-5 miles at the END of an already long run to just be … easy.
I’d like to KNOW that I can do this, and that is unknowable at the moment. I know that I’ve done a lot to prepare and that I’m trying to be diligent about things like food and rest and shoes. I know that on a good day by foot can go a distance, and on a bad day it can do something else. The fact that I didn’t train in rain AT ALL this summer was great as it happened but might not be ideal. The day will hold what it does and I will show up as who I am.
It might work, it might not.
In the end – I’ve worked, and I’m glad for all the moments of it. It would be neat to finish this race, and if it isn’t this one it will be the next one, or a different distance, or a different day.
I don’t get to know if I can do it – I just know that I was absolutely right to try.