Hi all! So this week is the last week before my taper...my foot and Achilles is feeling significantly better, although there is def. some uncomfort and tightness still present. I was able to do my 12 miler, but chose a flat course in fear that all the hills I had been running could have helped my flare up...only thing that wasn't good was I calculated my pace after and it was 9:25...once again faster than the majority of my slow training runs of 10 minute miles. I did my five miler yesterday with no issues, except feeling some minor aches in the Achilles afterwards. I have no idea what pace I did, as it was literally pouring rain  out so I just went out the door before my brain could talk me out of it.

So, going forward into my 20 miler, just a couple quick questions:

1) I only have 5 miles today and tomorrow to run. I should run these, even though my foot/Achilles isn't 110%? My gait hasnt changed with the uncomfort, so I am thinking with what BOS had told me before, it's ok to do it.

2) I have run a total of 27 miles in my marathon sneakers, including the 12 this past weekend. They are at the point of feeling real good. Do I run my 20 miler in them, too? I am afraid to put too many more miles on them, cause I'm really loving that broken in but bouncy feeling. I guess I could run the 20 in them and then just do a few small runs in the taper with them?

3) should I just stick with mainly flat miles? (I read that hills aggravate plantar and Achilles issues) I did do a significant amount of training with hills before this injury..I just don't know if I should bank on that for the race.

My apologies again if your reading this and thinking...boy, this girl is OCD!! You guys are the best, thank you for helping me along! I'm almost there!!

Linda :)