RUNNERS should I run this marathon next week?

[burningsage]

Ran Manc in April in a good time (3.52). Entered York but in summer went over on my ankle and strained a tendon so had 6 weeks out. I don't seem to have lost a lot of speed but obviously I haven't been able to train and haven't done a long run since July!

I had written off York but I did the 3 peaks (walking) a couple of weeks ago and felt fine the next day so wondering if I still have the endurance in my legs?

I'm a seasoned runner, about 1k miles per year for the last few years. But have been building back up slowly due to the ankle taking ages to heal. Sticking to 4 - 5 miles so obviously 26 is a big increase.

So should I go for it, run/walk and accept I won't pb, but risk hurting my ankle?

Or would I be really stupid and potentially put myself out for ages?

No. You haven't trained for it, so its just going to be a miserable experience, and you risk seriously injuring yourself. Sorry if its not what you want to hear, but after not having done a long run for so long, I really don't think you should attempt it. Can you defer your place until next year?

No I can't defer as it's too late and I'm doing Berlin next year anyway as well as Manchester in April again. The sensible part of my says wait until April but then I've felt so good on my last few runs I thought maybe I could run 1 mile, walk 1...

Would you enjoy York if you had to run / walk, or would you run and see how far you got? Are you happy to risk further injury that may scupper your training for Manc and Berlin (which you'd be able to run properly if you sat this one out)?

The ankle is my main concern, it was quite an injury and I couldn't walk on it for a while. It didn't play up on the 3 peaks walk but I had quite sturdy boots on and obviously running is more strain. So hard to decide but I know I'm going to feel gutted on Sunday if I don't go, but more gutted if I hurt myself again!

Do they have a sweeper time limit?

If you could walk much of it, then it might be worth going for it. But the follow on question follows on that is, in the excitement of a major event, would you really stick to the plan and walk about say two thirds of it?