Marathon racing is a year long process

I know I'm no Ryan Hall.  At least not yet.  So when I read the news that he was pulling out of the Chicago Marathon this weekend to focus on getting stronger, avoiding injury and races ahead, it got me thinking about where I am in my training and how I've been feeling over the past few weeks.  Realistically, I'm not ready to run my best marathon.

I started training for a Fall race almost six months ago, deciding to run in a small race in Vermont.  It looked like a reasonably fast course, it's close to home so I can drive there and only stay one night, and would be a cheap weekend.  Over May and June, I started to recover from my Spring races and built a good mileage base, but the high heat and humidity in July made it tough to keep up the long runs so I turned to shorter, faster workouts. August brought some relief from the heat, and by the end of September, I had run three 20+ mile long runs over seven weekends.  I was gaining confidence in the distance, and feeling like 3:20 was a reasonable goal.

Then, things started acting up.  I've had some discomfort in my foot, leading up through my knee, hamstring and hip on the right side.  This has been an ongoing issue for me since 2005, and it's getting bad at the worst possible time.  I've raced like this before, once, in New Orleans a few years back.  The injury set me back nearly five months, and I don't want to take that risk again.

Knowing that I can still run 26 miles at an easy pace, I'm planning to head to Vermont next week and use it as a good, long distance run.  I'm signed up for Las Vegas in the first weekend of December, so I need to figure out a strategy to keep my distance momentum up, while I strengthen my right side to where it needs to be.
All along, I had planned to race my best time in Vermont, and then enjoy the Las Vegas race, but it looks like I'll be reversing that strategy and need to update my plan.  Distance running for me truly requires long-term planning, and just like the race itself, I sometimes need to adjust my goals along the way.