Best-laid schemes

With the 100km to be held two weekends from now, I've gone into temple sweeping mode. I'm officially off the skag (big time, and for real this time), will increase the amount of water I guzzle each day, will start to take down some sports drinks to make sure the electrolytes are in order, will cut back to one (giant) mug of highly caffeinated, dark-roasted earthy nectar each morning, will increase the protein consumption, and will start to focus some of my indolent daydreaming on the number of footfalls necessary to circumambulate Ganghwado in the dead of night.

I've been happy with the long runs I got in after the Seoul Marathon, and, up until last weekend, have felt that my fitness level would allow me to get to 70km in 7-ish hours. After that I would be in uncharted territory and hoped just to make it to the finish before the fifteen hour deadline, which seemed imminently possible. But since my knee went sour last weekend, plans have changed. I've been trying not to let my mind wander into WorstCaseScenarioville, where my joint is irreversibly damaged and I can never run again. Instead, I will take it very easily over the next few weeks, run more slowly on race day than I had previously plotted, take many more walking breaks, get as far as I can into the 100km before time expires, and plan to run another day. We'll see what happens.