Toe Woe

The issue with my big toe continues and after a night of pain that had me up at midnight searching for ibuprophen I decided to skip my morning run. I briefly considered alternatives such as an upper body workout or even the elliptical but I chose to rest until 5:00 instead. It's the season to be busy in the office and that takes its toll mentally and physically. I'll admit to feeling a little guilty about doing nothing today knowing that tomorrow, with an even earlier workday start, will not allow enough time to run. On the other hand, with 11 days left before the marathon relay, these rest days can be considered part of my taper.

The materials with instructions for the relay indicate some complex logistical challenges. The race circles the town of Falmouth and with a couple of thousand runners there is much to coordinate to ensure that the streets are clear of cars at certain points and times. The exchange points need to be reached a certain way and there are restrictions where the team car can be parked. The Woods Hole exchange, which is where the last leg begins, has no parking so the 5th leg runner will need to get there before 9:00 AM and keep himself occupied for about 2.5 hours before the 4th leg runner (in this case me) comes by for the handoff. AG, our captain, is less concerned about it than me and I'm taking that as a good sign. She captained a 182 mile, 36 leg, 12 member relay team earlier this year so this probably seems fairly simple to her.

I'm hoping that by Friday morning my toe affliction will have improved enough for me to go out for another fast early morning run, followed by some hard training on Saturday and Sunday. With only one weekend standing between now and the race I really need to make every workout count.