Will I run a fall marathon? I don't know.

During today's run was the first time I admitted to myself that there's a good chance I won't run a marathon this fall. I ran ten miles, with two miles at marathon pace. The marathon pace runs were difficult (and I was running with the wind) to complete, which is not a big deal because I'm coming off a high mileage period and am still feeling some fatigue from Monday's tough workout. The main reason, I'm questioning my ability to run a marathon is that I'm still feeling discomfort in my groin/lower abdomen when running. When running at marathon pace the pain wasn't bad. It was more of a tightness than pain. However, I'm smart enough to realize that any minor injury will only get worse if I try to race 26 miles without properly healing first.

The big question now is what's next. For the present I'm not ready to definitely cancel my marathon plans. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll continue to log my scheduled miles and try to build up some marathon pace runs. If I feel up to it, I may even run a couple of miles faster than marathon pace. If I can get to my taper feeling healthy, I'll probably ask more experience runners for their opinions, and then decide what to do. For now I just keep logging miles.