After a somewhat disastrous 2 weeks, the final week of heavy-duty training begins.

A major gout attack killed training for 5 days and, while the group had some fun at a local 10k last Saturday, I was barely able to stand up and walk. As the long runs resumed, I desperately needed a decent 18 miler yesterday and fortunately got one, though the rain and cold left me drained and as exhausted as I've ever been after a run. The drive home was painful as I couldn't stop shaking and my fingers did that weird draining of blood thing where they go paper white. It took an extra long soak and lying in bed to watch a recording of England's 4-0 win over Slovakia, to revive me.

Actually, when the two weeks between the 17 and 18 milers is looked at as a whole and compared to my original training plan, there was very little lost in mileage. It just felt that way and the runs I did do were completed in some pain, but now there's just one more long run to come before I enter the tapering pre-race period. Once that's done I think the race itself will start to become a reality and then I can start to really panic.

I'm  glad I have last years Tacoma marathon under my belt or I might have just felt overwhelmed by the difficulties this year. I've had to evolve ongoing strategies to handle the various foot pains I've experienced. This week saw me running with padded straps to handle my Plantar fasciitis and a gel pad for my Mortons Neuroma and I now stop for a couple of minutes every 3 miles or so and massage the toes of my right foot so that it stays pain free. Perhaps custom orthotics is the way to go, but so close to the race is not the time to start down a new path. It's a case of finding what works and going with it. It's also possible that years of gout have left my right foot weakened enough that I'll never run long distances pain free and I just have to accept that. One things for sure, my goal is simply to endure to the finishing line and forget about time.

So on to next Saturday and Point Defiance park for 4 times round Five Mile Drive. At least it will be a change of scenery, though the rotten weather looks set to continue. Damn but it's been a miserable spring so far. My understanding is that last years race was rather warm and a lot of people had problems coping with it. That would be bad news for me, us red-heads don't do well in the heat. But there'll be time to worry about that after next week.

I told Ben that my next venture after London will be to get my sky-diving license, my daughter Christa and I did tandem jumps last year. He thinks this is a silly idea but did understand my reasoning that, in the worst possible scenario, it only hurts for a second.

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