Blergh

I've decided I'm running through this cold. It's not on my chest at the moment, and anyway, I really can't afford to keep putting off my long slow runs because of my rubbish body. So today I set off dead slow with the intention of speeding up gradually throughout and listening to my body. I covered 18 miles in just over 2-and-a-half hours and felt OK, if a little heavy legged. Of course, I'll be zipping around Paris much more quickly than that, but pace wasn't the objective today. In fact, I'm glad I'm being forced to take it easier: this way I'm on my feet for longer, which is better practice for the big day.

After the run I was exhausted, but stayed on my feet for most of the day in a bid not to seize up like a rusty old bike. While I'm a little frustrated at how much the run took out of me, I can see it stands to reason, not only because of this cold, but also because I put so much into my half marathon last week (probably too much). So the plan for this next week is to carry on ignoring my body (well, listening to it, but mostly ignoring it): a 10-mile marathon pace run on Tuesday, a tempo run on Thursday, perhaps a recovery run in there somewhere, and 21 miles next Sunday. Then I'll start tapering - time is scarily short.

If anyone sneezes or coughs anywhere near me over the next few weeks, I'm going to punch them in the face. You've been warned :-)