The final countdown: M-12

I ran 4.4 miles this morning. My foot seemed OK for most of it (although my heart rate was strangely high), and didn't seem to react badly. I'm taking it on a day by day basis at the moment, but it felt good to be running, I think it's a confidence thing more than anything and I want to keep on reminding myself that I can run.

I also used today's run to try out a waist bag which I bought over the weekend for carrying gels. Normally I do my long runs with a Camelbak and while it's nice to constantly have Lucozade on tap, I'm not sure I want the extra weight on marathon day, when there are drinks available on the course anyway. But if I dump that, I need something else to carry my gels in (usually I just put them in a side pocket). I got myself a cheap, light, breathable waist bag and am trying to take it out on a few runs to see how it feels. I know, I know, I know. I should have tried it on a long run rather than just on the short ones, but I'm doing the best I can with the time available.

I'm still pondering the Camelbak though. It's what I'm used to, and it also means that I can drink something I'm used to on the way round rather than the strange German sports drink I've never tried before which they provide en route. But I know that it will be heavy at the start, and then I'll get to about mile 18, I'll have run out of Lucozade and I'll have to decide between carrying an empty, and annoying, camelbak for the next 8 miles or dumping it when it's almost brand new and I don't want to pay for another one. Whereas the waist thing was cheap enough that if I dump it I won't feel bad about it, so even if it does start to feel uncomfortable maybe I can just decide it's not worth it and carry on without it.