My final long run last night – just 8 miles this time. It seemed like small fry, as you might expect. It also tipped the total training miles over 500, which is nice.

Generally, the taper is going great and I’m feeling totally relaxed about Sunday. My only concern is that now when I run I’m starting to feel soreness in my hamstrings, rather than in my quads (which I used to get). There’s also still a definite niggle behind my left knee, which I picked up during the 20-miler.

Does this mean I’ve over-worked my hamstrings, and they will give a delightful "ping" on the day? Only one way to find out. Hopefully, the logical explanation is just that I’ve over-worked a few muscles doing the 20, and with a three-week taper they are slowly getting better. Let’s hope.

Also, a strange thought occurred to me last night. If I’m worried about injury, I think I’d rather go for a decent time and risk blowing it, than be conservative and put in a time I know I could have beaten. I don’t mean going flat out and risking exhaustion, I just mean that I’m not going to take it easy just in case something gives out. I’ve come this far without damaging myself, there’s no reason to expect that anything will go wrong on Sunday. Obviously, if pain starts, I will be sensible and I won’t risk doing permanent damage. But the worst thing would be to finish, knowing that I could have done better.

This week’s schedule is back to the levels of December. Recreational running! Then Friday lunchtime, a trip over to Docklands to pick up my race number. Other than that, it’s plenty of starchy carbs, fruit, vegetables, and water.

---