It's come at a price though because the little and next-to-little toe toes on my left foot are mashed, to use the medical term.
Whilst out doing my hot and sweaty nine miler on Wednesday evening, it felt like my left little toe was taking a bit of a pounding. This is not unusual, as both my little toes are really crooked, to the extent that they curl underneath their bigger neighbour and tend to get trodden on quite a lot. This has been compounded by my increasingly more forefoot strike.
Anyway, I didn't think much more of it on Tuesday but found myself hobbling a bit as Wednesday progressed.
Upon inspection, I discovered that my little toe had doubled in size owing to a rather impressive blister. Because it was impeding my walking, I decided to drain it and it had been merrily drying out since and causing me no bother, even during my eight mile pingo run - although I did tape it beforehand as a precaution.
Owing to today's distance, I decided that taping was the order of the day, but it became apparent at 12 miles that all was not well. Either the tape had come off or something else was going on because I couldn't strike with my left foot without very sharp pain.
The was no alternative but to stop briefly, remove my shoe and sock, investigate and resolve the issue and get cracking again.
Long story short - I dispensed with the tape and didn't pay too much notice to the state of play down there!
It was only when I took my sock off after getting out of the post-run ice bath that I discovered that my strapping tape had rubbed on the side of my next smallest toe, resulting in another red raw, angry blister!
Despite all of this, the run itself went ok. It was warm again and the monotony of the Greenway wasn't doing much for my motivation levels, but I knew this was an important milestone in the training schedule.
There's an old quote by famous Kiwi runner, Barry Magee, which states:
"Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count."
Quite right, Barry. Quite right.
The body can do some extraordinary things beyond the twenty mile marker, so it was important to push past it today and feel the associated pain.
And there was pain. Not specific injury-type pain, just general limb-numbing, dragging your lifeless body along, pain!
However, we did it. And that was the objective. Final long run in the bag and now the taper down to the marathon itself begins.
Rest and recovery are now just as important as running - no additional fitness will be gained by putting in unnecessary miles. The past thirteen weeks have been amazing but it'll be nice to let the legs heal and strengthen, knowing that the hard work has been done, the plan has been followed to the letter and I am ready!
Clearly, Guinness is also a vital tool for recovery, so I'm having one tonight. Or two. No work tomorrow - so maybe a couple more?! Cheers!
I'll leave you with a gratuitously unnecessary shot of my manky toes.
Next series of Embarrassing Bodies?!
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