The Devil I Know

How was your Christmas?

Mine was pretty good. Good food, some decent photos, and my favorite present, a pair of TempurPedic slippers. Billed as the most comfortable slippers in the world, they may just be. I've hardly taken them off since I got them. Great for aching feet which I seem to have a lot lately - go figure.

My right shin's actually been rather sore the last couple of days. Although I'd toyed with the idea of running yesterday, a combination of the injury, the slick roads, and Christmas spirit kept me inside. Today the decision was harder. The temperature inexplicably shot into the 60s, and it took all I had to resist wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and getting in my scheduled 5 miles, but when I failed the back yard test, good sense won out. The last thing I need is to risk exacerbating something now, particularly on a pretty meaningless short run. The shin is the devil I know, and experience tells me that caution must reign supreme with a huge Sunday just around the corner.

When I started this thing, there were several landmarks before the race that I had in my head that I felt like I had to get through successfully in order to make it to Arizona.

KC Marathon Relay -- I was already signed up for this, so it was the first thing on my to-do list. It also, obviously, was my first marathon experience, so it gave me a little insight into the atmosphere of such an event, and even into such minutiae as race etiquette.
10 mile run -- As well as being a "double-digit" run, this would also mark my longest ever distance covered, 9 being my previous record. Occurring on the same day as the New York Marathon, completing this was probably my second-proudest training accomplishment so far, behind the....
Half-Marathon -- I initially thought this would occur in training, but it of course ended up being an actual race, and so far has been the unquestioned highlight.
15 mile run -- First time I'd covered more than half the marathon distance. My early morning canter in the cold wasn't my most comfortable run, but coming when it did, in the middle of a stretch of nine weeks of double-digit long-runs (assuming the next two longies go according to plan), getting through it was all that was really important.
40 mile week -- This wasn't actually a goal starting out, but for whatever reason, many training plans call for the peak week to be 40 miles, so it's a notable distance. Although it sort of happened by accident, a result of rescheduling a couple of runs, I managed it twice, the second time getting as high as 48 miles.
100 mile month -- Fell just three and a bit miles short in November, but had no trouble surpassing it in December. In fact, I have a shot at ending the month with about 140 miles in the bank.

Only one still remains.

The infamous 20 mile run. Part of me is honestly amazed that I've even made it to this point, but now, here it is, my very next run, set for Sunday, only 40-odd hours from now. Yes, I've done 18, but is it just me, or does 20 sound like a lot more than that?

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