I should be running now. Instead I’m on the sofa, writing this blog. Why? Because last night I felt pain. A little bit of pain, but still pain, next to my right Achilles tendon. It’s a week before the Run Forest Run Ommerland trail marathon, which means at this moment I’m afraid of every little bit of pain. 

It’s stupid and it’s probably nothing. Maybe tomorrow it will be gone, maybe at the beginning of next week, but it worries me. I have no time to recover. This is the moment to be fit, to be ready. 

Taper week

A run would have been nice. I still like to run in the last few weeks before a marathon. I mean this is my taper week, but tapering is not doing nothing. Tapering is taking it easy. Today is not taking it easy, today is doing nothing. That’s too much of easy. 

Tomorrow I don’t have time to run, Sunday I have other plans; hiking in Zeeland. Hiking with a bit of altitude, so that’s a nice training. An alternative training. It’s also a preparation for the Run Forest Run, as tomorrow we will walk through the sand dunes in Burg-Haamstede and next week I will run through the sand in Ommerland. 

Withdraw last minute

I think it’s normal in the days before a marathon to worry a bit. I mean, it’s a race that takes a long time to prepare. Nobody wants to withdraw at the last minute. Yet, injury is often the main reason people withdraw. 

At the same time, injuries are part of the game, and they have been part of mine. I have had some setbacks with my right shoulder and left knee, and had to adjust my training plan. I think that’s normal. It took me a year and a half to get here. That’s a long period to run injury free.

Yet, I feel fit now. Or I felt fit. No, I still do. It’s just this little new pain that causes me some worries. At the same time, it’s not something I can change now, so let’s just wait and see. It’s only a week before the trail marathon, and at the same time, it’s still a week. That can be enough for a little bit of pain to go away.