The Countdown Has Begun or Are We There Yet?

Well, after trashing my knee a little more than a week ago, I don't seem to be any worse for the wear and tear.  Counting Monday the 14th (fall day & 31 miler), I knocked down 77 miles last week. I did a twelve miler 3 days post fall and felt good.  No problems with the knee at all.  On Saturday (5 days post fall) I did 24 and felt good, except for some soreness on the bottom of my feet.  The wound seems to be healing nicely with no signs of infection.  Thankfully I didn't injure the joint. 

I have a 26 scheduled for Saturday.  I hope I don't have to play chicken with ATV's on my training road.  It's a holiday weekend, and I'm sure there will be a lot of them out.  The other challenge is going to be the heat.  It's supposed to get into the 90's in town, so I plan on hitting the road by 0730.  That way I should be back before it gets brutal.  It's that time of year I suppose, and at some point I'll need to become acclimated.  Much of my route is protected by forest canopy, especially in the morning.  The road follows the East side of the Shavers Fork River and is also protected from the morning sun by a fairly high ridge line situated to the East of the road.  Nevertheless, I'll have to be sensitive to fluids and 'lytes, in addition to nutrition.  I stashed a two liter soft drink bottle with water last weekend.  I used half of it on my 24 and hope no one has messed with it.  It's pretty well hidden, so I should be OK.  (as a side note, I hate the fact I'm leaving that crap out there--to me, that's major littering)  It almost seems funny, but I'm essentially going to run a marathon Saturday, and I'm not even thinking much about it.  I guess that's a good sign.  I really am feeling stronger and am probably in the best shape of my life.  That's saying something for a 65 year old fart.  I still have brief moments of self doubt, but they are fewer and farther apart than 2 or 3 months ago.  I think I'm good to go, or will be come June 16.

This is the last big mileage week for me.  Next week my long run is only 16 and the following week, the "serious taper" begins.  I'm not going to do a bonk run.  Back in the day, I used to Carbo Load and I absolutely loathed the depletion part of if.  I'll just keep eating and managing fluids.  200 cals/hour or more.  That's just going to have to do it.